Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus Review – Perfected or astray?

Last year’s Galaxy S8 and S8+ were excellent but not flawless smartphones. Samsung had molded probably the best-rounded devices, with unrivaled display tech, blazing fast camera performance, and a feature-packed design. However, a couple distinct things were hard to overlook, most notably the terrible fingerprint scanner placement.

The new Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus come out as refreshes to address those imperfections more-so than introduce something new, apparent from their highly recycled designs. There’s more than meets the eye, but it’s a subtle fact. We’ll go over what you can expect.

Design

We got our hands on the Galaxy S9 in Coral Blue and S9 Plus in Midnight Black.

Most onlookers won’t tell a difference between a Galaxy S8 and S9. The most obvious differentiation is the change in fingerprint scanner placement. But it’s not exactly the same phone; tweaks are actually aplenty.

For instance, the metal frame is now matte instead of glossy. It’s a visual improvement (to our eyes) but in actuality, of little consequence usability. The finish is very smooth and still slippery. Coupled with the limited grip area due to the curved sides, this still is far from the easiest phone to hang onto. But it’s one of the prettiest, that’s for sure.

Frame comparison between new Galaxy S9 Plus and old Note 8.

We like the aesthetic tweaks Samsung made.

We noticed quite a bit of heft when picking up the S9 Plus the first time. A spec sheet comparison confirmed that it packed on 16 grams from the S8 Plus. Some of that is probably due to the extra camera sensor on the larger model (the standard S9 is only 8 grams heavier). Digging deeper reveals that the Gorilla Glass 5 panels on the phones are 20% thicker. Samsung probably sought to improve drop impact resistance.

Read more: What are some of the best Samsung Galaxy S9 alternatives?

Additionally, the upgraded main camera module (which we’ll talk in-depth about later) seems to also have a thickness consequence. A camera hump is reintroduced (although, very slight). Mind you, the rear sensors retain their recessed protection.

The slightest camera hump.

As touched on earlier, the fingerprint scanner can now be reasonably utilized, at an easily reachable location underneath the rear camera. It’s a little too low on the smaller S9 model, but nothing hard to adapt to. Another particularity is the unconventional shape of the scanner. It’s horizontally narrow, resulting in you registering more of your fingertip than an entire finger. But it doesn’t hinder functionality and is quick and reliable. It’s also nice to have the alternate options of IRIS retinal scanning or a combo of IRIS and facial recognition (looking at you, Apple).

Whereas last year the two models had the same camera offering, the S9 Plus now has a secondary 2x telephoto lens advantage.

We love Samsung’s maximized but un-notched screen-to-body ratio. The front of the S8 and S9 look the same, so many won’t know that Samsung actually reduced the bezel slightly. The bottom bezel lost roughly 2mm of width. Another fun fact is that the phones are about 1mm shorter. Very small improvements, but we’ll take them.

Galaxy S9 (left) and S9 Plus (right).

Performance

Suffice to say, the Galaxy S9‘s actions are speedy throughout. Executions and scrolling are all silky smooth and carried out briskly. The common Samsung UI stutter shows up occasionally, but as it’s minimal as it has ever been. You really have to pay attention to catch it. Google, naturally, still technically takes the cake for seamlessness in the software with its Pixel phones.

The bottom port layout is the same as last year, with a headphone jack, USB-C port, and speaker. And all extra features we love continue: IP68 waterproofing, microSD card slot, and fast wireless charging.

That said, the Snapdragon 845 doesn’t feel like a drastic step-up from the 835. We’re getting very minimal performance gains now. And the extra 2GB of RAM on the S9 Plus (4GB on the S9 vs. 6GB on the S9 Plus) is of little consequence. We wouldn’t know it if we weren’t told.

A day and night’s battery results on the S9+. Very consistent drain on T-Mobile network and WiFi, and superbly minimal in standby.

Battery life is additionally a similar experience as last year, which is unfortunate. Not that the S8’s battery life was bad. It’s just that since the Note 7 disaster, Samsung has stopped progressing in this area. We think the S9 was the time for the company to move past the mishap, but they didn’t agree. The S9 and S9 Plus have the same capacities as their predecessors, 3,000mAh and 3,500mAh, respectively. And the Snapdragon 845 didn’t bring as big of battery optimizations that the 835 did, so battery life results have been about the same in our experience. The S9 Plus has been consistent in getting us through the day with moderate-to-high usage, but not much more. The S9 trails slightly behind the S9 Plus. It shouldn’t be a struggle to get through the day, you just have to be mindful.

Read more: The five best Android smartphones you can buy right now

One of the big upgrades this year is the additional external speaker. The earpiece now doubles as a loudspeaker, in tandem with the bottom-firing one that we’re used to. And boy, we forget how much of a difference a speaker pointed towards the user makes. It’s not the superior, dual front-facing setup, but it makes a world of difference compared to the previous single, bottom speaker. It makes for a more rounded, immersive and louder video watching experience, especially with Dolby Atmos enabled.

Display

Little has been updated in the S-AMOLED display tech from last year. Proportions like the screens sizes (5.8″ and 6.2″, at an 18.5:9 aspect ratio) and QHD+ resolution (but still set to FHD out of the box) stay the same. And we see an equivalently crisp picture, vibrant but accurate colors, and unfazed viewing angles. This is fine; the display quality is perfect in our eyes. Samsung still is the clear king of smartphone displays.

Galaxy S9 Plus

Galaxy S9

But we can’t forget about brightness – a tricky subject in mobile displays. In the Note 8, we saw Samsung make a big upgrade in the brightness capacity of its panel, able to shoot up to a whopping 1,200 nits. This feature naturally migrated to the new Galaxy S9’s, though, at a slightly lower 1,130 nits. Close enough. This display can tackle sunlight like no other.

Size and bezel comparison between S9 Plus (left) and Note 8 (right).

The feel of curved display on the sides remains the same to us, even though Samsung stated that the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus has a slightly steeper curve than their predecessors. There will always be the argument of practically, which we side with. Palm rejection is in place to combat inadvertent touch in handling, but accidentally input is still abound in our experience, especially when trying to get away with only using one hand (even in the smaller model).

Camera

Camera interface on S9 is slightly tweaked to allow scrolling through modes.

Only way to manually select aperture is through “Pro” mode.

We all know that the camera upgrade is the highlight of the Galaxy S9 refresh. Namely, the neat mechanically variable aperture ability of the primary module – a first in a smartphone. But Samsung set itself up for consumers asking, “How does that benefit me?” More specifically, our immediate question was: Why would you want to shoot at f/2.4 instead of f/1.5 at all? The camera defaults to f/2.4 after all (automatically switching to the wider f/1.5 lens opening only when ambient light drops to 100 lux or lower), so there better be a good reason.

Main camera at f/1.5.

Main camera at f/2.4.

There isn’t. The only difference in f/2.4 from f/1.5 is a slightly deeper depth of field (larger area of sharpness than blur). This is neither an advantage or disadvantage, just a preference. But the opposite does have a clear benefit because f/1.5 can let in a whole lot more light than f/2.4. Hence, we’re left questioning why isn’t the camera just set to f/1.5 for everything. The real answer is probably that the feature is paving the way to the future, but not yet of any use. We can’t imagine Samsung admitting this, though.

Note 8 with f/1.7.

Galaxy S9 at f/1.5 – clearer picture and better colors.

As far as the quality of shots, we see similar characteristics as last year: slightly warm, bright (sometimes too much), fine sharpness, and excellent contrast (great HDR processing for the most part).

Camera Samples

However, we noticed at times that f/2.4 shots look slightly over-exposed. Especially comparing side-by-side shots with the Note 8’s f/1.7 sensor, which often had deeper contrast. This is interesting because a lower aperture lets in more light and thus a brighter shot. We think Samsung may be overcompensating in post-processing to make sure there’s no lower-light ill-effect of the narrower f/2.4 opening, but it’s hurting quality.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S9 rated as best smartphone by Consumer Reports

We’ve always loved Samsung’s blazing fast “Dual Pixel” auto-focus system. It’s now called “Super Speed Dual Pixel”, enhanced by the addition of dedicated RAM to the camera. But we’re told that improvement here is the behind-the-scenes multi-frame capture (the system shoots up to 12 frames in one shot to compile the clearest reproduction), not the AF speed as the name suggests. Another benefit of the upgraded camera is 960 fps slow-mo recording. There’s some compromise to get that incredible frame-rate, in the form of 720P resolution and reduced lighting (pretty terrible indoors), but it’s still neat to have.

Galaxy S9 at f/1.5.

Live Focus shot – more cropped in and more blur than even the lens at f/1.5 can provide.

Software

In usual fashion, the Galaxy S9’s dropped with the latest Android version, while their predecessors are struggling to catch up. Samsung isn’t the best with updating its existing phones. Something to note is that we’re looking at Android 8.0 (Oreo), not the more current 8.1 (at the time of this writing).

Home screen of the Galaxy S9.

Drop-down panel looks similar but notification “cards” are revamped for Android Oreo.

App drawer has changed very little. Notice the bug in Samsung’s UI that can’t disable icon frames in some of the Google apps, despite setting it to.

Samsung’s UI is also upped to v9.0. Though, its aesthetics are largely the same as on the S8/Note8. The main updates actually revolve around Oreo’s new features, like Picture-in-Picture (PnP) mode, more efficient and cleaner notification system, and custom long-press app icon shortcuts.

The Bixby panel can supply useful information/shortcuts, but you can make the dedicated button inactive if desired.

We love that Samsung kept Google’s new features intact, like the app long-press shortcut menu. Now if only more developers supported it.

Samsung’s new AR Emoji real-time avatar is a failed (and creepy) attempt to challenge Apple animoji’s.

Samsung is invested in its home-brewed Bixby virtual assistant, so it’s not going anywhere (nor is the dedicated Bixby button). Bixby operation is also the same as before (we won’t see any drastic updates until v2.0, supposedly arriving later in the year). So there’s the panel on the most left that aggregates information from apps of your choice ala “card” style, and long-pressing the Bixby button toggles voice commands. An advantage Bixby has on others is its robust ability to carry out specific actions, even within third-party apps.

Final Thoughts

It’s no doubt that the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are two of the best smartphones you can buy right now. There isn’t much reason that they shouldn’t be recommended. Price is always a sensitive subject with top-end smartphones, but their prices aren’t unreasonably inflated. Well, that is, until the greedy carriers jacked up the prices.

On the other hand, the S9 and S9 Plus don’t offer a whole lot from their predecessors. It’s the most minimal refresh we’ve seen from Samsung. And when that happens, it muddles the recommendation. Most will probably agree that the S9’s updates aren’t worth hundreds more. And it doesn’t help that its most highlighted feature, the variable aperture camera, doesn’t actually equate to much. The considerable benefits of the S9 are the dual speakers, wide f/1.5 lens, corrected fingerprint scanner location, and brighter screen. It’ll be up to you if that’s worth the extra dough.

Read next: What we know so far: Samsung Galaxy Note 9

The devices for this review were provided by Verizon, provider of the nation’s largest and most reliable 4G LTE network

This exquisite clockwork contraption will sign your name — for $365,000

When the prestigious Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz began building its Signing Machine in 2014, perhaps it was thinking it might be perfect for famous folks fed up with having to repeatedly pen their autograph for adoring fans.

But a lot has happened in the last four years, with the once sought-after autograph having given way to the celebrity selfie, where the fan sidles up beside their hero and sticks a smartphone in front of their faces for a quick snap.

Whatever the reason, Jaquet Droz has finally unveiled its exquisite Signing Machine, an astonishing pocket-sized contraption that showcases the company’s mechanical clockwork technology by replicating your signature. It does this via a retractable arm that contains a slot for a pen. The Signing Machine is now available to purchase, with the maker incorporating the owners’s signature into the design when building the device.

As with the very finest of old-school timepieces, the Signing Machine needs to be wound up before it can begin the process of signing merchandise, contracts, checks … well, pretty much anything you like. But keep in mind, this handmade machine comprises 585 different parts, so you’ll only get about two signatures from it before it’ll need winding up again. Saying that, if your name is more “Englebert Humperdinck” than “Bono,” your finger and thumb may have to bounce back into action before the machine even makes it to your family name.

The Signing Machine was unveiled at the recent Baselworld watch extravaganza in Switzerland. The box of tricks, which forms part of the brand’s 280th anniversary celebrations, takes inspiration from The Writer and The Draughtsman, two pen-holding automatons created by company founder Pierre Jaquet Droz and his son, Henri-Louis, in the late 18th century to help promote their timepieces. The two human-like machines, along with another called The Musician, can be seen today at the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History in Switzerland.

According to the watchmaker, the Signing Machine’s movement has been “reworked for fluidity, carrying out perfect, more consistent signatures” than you can get with The Writer.

To prevent some villainous individual from running off with the machine and signing away the owner’s life, the device can only be activated via a code chosen by the owner.

Anyone ordering The Signing Machine will be able to select most of its decorative elements, “keeping with the philosophy of Jaquet Droz to create truly unique objects of art, executed by hand within its workshops,” which is just as well considering the device will set you back around $365,000.

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This exquisite clockwork contraption will sign your name — for $365,000

When the prestigious Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz began building its Signing Machine in 2014, perhaps it was thinking it might be perfect for famous folks fed up with having to repeatedly pen their autograph for adoring fans.

But a lot has happened in the last four years, with the once sought-after autograph having given way to the celebrity selfie, where the fan sidles up beside their hero and sticks a smartphone in front of their faces for a quick snap.

Whatever the reason, Jaquet Droz has finally unveiled its exquisite Signing Machine, an astonishing pocket-sized contraption that showcases the company’s mechanical clockwork technology by replicating your signature. It does this via a retractable arm that contains a slot for a pen. The Signing Machine is now available to purchase, with the maker incorporating the owners’s signature into the design when building the device.

As with the very finest of old-school timepieces, the Signing Machine needs to be wound up before it can begin the process of signing merchandise, contracts, checks … well, pretty much anything you like. But keep in mind, this handmade machine comprises 585 different parts, so you’ll only get about two signatures from it before it’ll need winding up again. Saying that, if your name is more “Englebert Humperdinck” than “Bono,” your finger and thumb may have to bounce back into action before the machine even makes it to your family name.

The Signing Machine was unveiled at the recent Baselworld watch extravaganza in Switzerland. The box of tricks, which forms part of the brand’s 280th anniversary celebrations, takes inspiration from The Writer and The Draughtsman, two pen-holding automatons created by company founder Pierre Jaquet Droz and his son, Henri-Louis, in the late 18th century to help promote their timepieces. The two human-like machines, along with another called The Musician, can be seen today at the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History in Switzerland.

According to the watchmaker, the Signing Machine’s movement has been “reworked for fluidity, carrying out perfect, more consistent signatures” than you can get with The Writer.

To prevent some villainous individual from running off with the machine and signing away the owner’s life, the device can only be activated via a code chosen by the owner.

Anyone ordering The Signing Machine will be able to select most of its decorative elements, “keeping with the philosophy of Jaquet Droz to create truly unique objects of art, executed by hand within its workshops,” which is just as well considering the device will set you back around $365,000.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Need coffee now? These are the best Keurig machines
• How to password protect a PDF
• In China, lowly vending machines are transforming into smart storefronts
• Sign up for an Audible free trial to score two books and one month totally free
• NASA’s upcoming Parker Solar Probe might as well be walkin’ on the sun

Phone scam nabbing millions of dollars from Chinese community in U.S.

Phone scammers purporting to be from a Chinese consulate office are tricking people in the U.S. into handing over huge sums of money.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said the Chinese-language calls appear to be going to “people with Chinese last names.” Those outside the apparent target group may be unaffected by the racket, but the FTC warned everyone to be vigilant as “scammers’ tactics can change quickly.”

The commission said that people across the U.S. have been reporting the calls, which appear to deploy a range of tactics in a bid to trick the recipient. Some begin with an instruction to pick up a package at a nearby Chinese consular office, while others ask for information “to avoid being in trouble with the Chinese consulate,” the FTC said. The scammer could also trick the person into thinking they’re in some kind of trouble and could face arrest if they travel to China. At some point, the caller will ask for personal details such as bank or credit card information, or for a bank transfer to be made.

And the ruse is clearly working. Since December, 21 members of New York City’s Chinese community have lost a total of $2.5 million, according to the New York Police Department, with individuals reporting losses ranging from $1,800 to $1.4 million, according to Voices of NY. Some have lost their life savings.

The caller IDs appear to indicate that the calls are coming from a local number, but investigators say it’s actually coming from a location in China.
The FTC reminded people never to send money to anyone who asks you to do so over the phone.

“Never give your Social Security number, your bank or credit card number, or other sensitive information to anyone who calls and asks for it,” the commission said. “Same thing if they email or message you through a social media platform such as WeChat: just don’t respond. That’s a scam. And neither the real Chinese consulates, nor the Chinese Embassy, will ever call you to ask for money.”

The FTC told recipients of such scam calls to act decisively: “If you get a call or message like this, hang up or delete it, and then tell the FTC. If you have business with the real Chinese consulate and you’re worried, contact the real Chinese Consulate by looking up your local office’s number. But, whatever you do, don’t give out your information — or your money — to anyone who contacts you out of the blue.”

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Cybersecurity is the target of Udacity’s next nanodegree

Just last week, the U.S. and U.K. issued a rare joint warning regarding the possibility of a wave of Russian cyberattacks against not only governments and organizations, but people’s homes and offices, too.

Regardless of whether such attacks are launched with the help of a state or by individuals sitting at home in their pajamas, few will dispute the suggestion that the threat from hackers is growing, with the problem made all the greater by a shortage of experts to bolster online defenses.

It’s against this backdrop that elearning school Udacity is making preparations for its first-ever nanodegree program in cybersecurity.

In a post outlining the upcoming program, Christian Plagemann, Udacity’s vice president of learning, defined cybersecurity as “one of the most pressing issues of our time,” which, he notes, is becoming an increasingly complex issue with so much of our business and personal data now stored in the cloud.

“Fortunately, with the rise of new technologies, modern cloud architectures and software-defined infrastructure, and better collaboration between IT, engineering, and security professionals, we now have the tools and abilities to rise to the challenge,” Plagemann said, adding that Udacity’s new course will help train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

There aren’t a whole lot of details available regarding the course at this stage. Indeed, the page set aside for the new learning program currently displays a call for partners to offer their expertise in helping to design the course, as well as sponsorship assistance to go toward encouraging high-potential talent to join the course. In return, contributing businesses and organizations will have “priority access” to cybersecurity talent from the nanodegree program.

Plagemann points out that with Udacity having already produced around 10,000 qualified A.I. engineers, he has high hopes for the new cybersecurity course.

“Graduates of this program will be uniquely qualified to significantly raise the security standards at their current organizations, or find entirely new career opportunities in this field,” he said.

California-based Udacity was founded back in 2011 to offer online courses, both free and paid, to large numbers of people. The company’s most recent data shows that more than eight million students have enrolled in its free courses and more than 30,000 have taken part in its nanodegree programs, some of which have been created in collaboration with big-name firms such as Google, Amazon, IBM, Nvidia, and Mercedes-Benz.

Editors’ Recommendations

• 3,000 Google employees demand an end to cooperation with military on A.I.
• Alphabet’s new cybersecurity unit focuses on faster threat responses
• Tech companies pledge to not help governments pull off cyberattacks
• Intel, Microsoft using integrated graphics to thwart next Meltdown-style threats
• Digital currency prices fall after SEC warns about exchange dangers

Cybersecurity is the target of Udacity’s next nanodegree

Just last week, the U.S. and U.K. issued a rare joint warning regarding the possibility of a wave of Russian cyberattacks against not only governments and organizations, but people’s homes and offices, too.

Regardless of whether such attacks are launched with the help of a state or by individuals sitting at home in their pajamas, few will dispute the suggestion that the threat from hackers is growing, with the problem made all the greater by a shortage of experts to bolster online defenses.

It’s against this backdrop that elearning school Udacity is making preparations for its first-ever nanodegree program in cybersecurity.

In a post outlining the upcoming program, Christian Plagemann, Udacity’s vice president of learning, defined cybersecurity as “one of the most pressing issues of our time,” which, he notes, is becoming an increasingly complex issue with so much of our business and personal data now stored in the cloud.

“Fortunately, with the rise of new technologies, modern cloud architectures and software-defined infrastructure, and better collaboration between IT, engineering, and security professionals, we now have the tools and abilities to rise to the challenge,” Plagemann said, adding that Udacity’s new course will help train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

There aren’t a whole lot of details available regarding the course at this stage. Indeed, the page set aside for the new learning program currently displays a call for partners to offer their expertise in helping to design the course, as well as sponsorship assistance to go toward encouraging high-potential talent to join the course. In return, contributing businesses and organizations will have “priority access” to cybersecurity talent from the nanodegree program.

Plagemann points out that with Udacity having already produced around 10,000 qualified A.I. engineers, he has high hopes for the new cybersecurity course.

“Graduates of this program will be uniquely qualified to significantly raise the security standards at their current organizations, or find entirely new career opportunities in this field,” he said.

California-based Udacity was founded back in 2011 to offer online courses, both free and paid, to large numbers of people. The company’s most recent data shows that more than eight million students have enrolled in its free courses and more than 30,000 have taken part in its nanodegree programs, some of which have been created in collaboration with big-name firms such as Google, Amazon, IBM, Nvidia, and Mercedes-Benz.

Editors’ Recommendations

• 3,000 Google employees demand an end to cooperation with military on A.I.
• Alphabet’s new cybersecurity unit focuses on faster threat responses
• Tech companies pledge to not help governments pull off cyberattacks
• Intel, Microsoft using integrated graphics to thwart next Meltdown-style threats
• Digital currency prices fall after SEC warns about exchange dangers

The untold story of how the XPS 13 defied odds to become the world’s best laptop

Dell.

What does that name make you think of? Your answer is likely beige boxes, affordable laptops, or — if you’re a child of the ‘90s — the infamous ‘Dude, you’re getting a Dell!’ guy. Despite his best efforts, Dell spent most of its life as the very definition of dull. The company’s computers were affordable, practical, reliable, but never exciting.

Not anymore. Dell’s XPS 13, our favorite laptop three years running, has redefined what people expect from a premium Windows-powered notebook – and its 2015 release was just the beginning. The company has since unleashed salvo after salvo of cutting-edge products across both its Dell and Alienware brands.

Change like that doesn’t happen overnight – but, as we found out, it can be spurred by just a few talented people with ambitious ideas.

The Birth of the Adamo

XPS (Xtreme Performance System) is not a new brand for Dell. It’s been around for over fifteen years, a carry-over from a simpler time in computers and technology. We all remember those days, right? Gateway controlled the market on high-end consumer PCs, Windows 95 reigned supreme, and Apple was known only as a desktop computer company.

In many ways, Dell’s feet are still firmly planted in that world. It’s a massive corporation that still makes a large chunk of its revenue selling computers to corporations in bulk. Yet something was in the water in the late 2000s. While the MacBook Air was developed in Cupertino, Dell was attempting to pioneer its own radical new direction for the future of computing.

Dell Adamo 13

It was called Adamo — a quiet, short-lived experiment within the walls of Dell that would pave the way to a very different future for the conservative computer manufacturer. It was built by a small team, created as if out of thin air, and disbanded within two years – but the groundwork it laid within the walls of Dell would change it forever.

“It was what we called a dark program,” XPS Lead Marketer Donnie Oliphant told Digital Trends. “It was a ‘need-to-know’ basis. It was literally like three guys in a room upstairs that had a lock on it. If we’d had more exposure to the rest of the business, it never would have made it out the door. We let the rest of the company in on it about six months before we shipped it.”

Dell was attempting to pioneer its own radical new direction for the future of computing.

Oliphant was moved over from the Latitude business at Dell, and he’s the longest-standing Dell employee in key roles on the current XPS team. He was joined by another important figure: Nicolas Denhez. You may not have heard the name before, but the French designer is responsible for some of the most celebrated modern technology concepts such as the Xbox One S and X, HoloLens, and the Microsoft Courier project. Before he moved over to Microsoft, he worked on multiple laptops in the Adamo line laptops, all of them futuristic, risk-taking, and doomed.

“The mechanical carcass cost on that was $570,” says Oliphant, pointing to the solid chunk of aluminum in an Adamo laptop’s chassis. “They were ridiculously expensive, and that wasn’t because of the material choices. It was because of our ineptitude with regards to design.”

The Adamo line produced two products its short life, the Adamo 13, and the Adamo XPS. They’re among the strangest PCs ever released commercially. Launching within six months of each other, they featured an all-aluminum body, and hefty pricetags to match. The Adamo 13 was $2,000 for the lower-priced model, and $2,700 for the higher-end model. But from a design aesthetic perspective, the Adamo 13 was far ahead of its time, even compared to something like the MacBook Air.

Dell Adamo XPS

“It was basically myself and [Denhez] that sat upstairs and built ID models on what we wanted it to look like. And then we took it to engineering and said, ‘put a computer in this.’ Typically, it’s the other way around. Typically, we do a design — architecture, features — and then we wrap a skin around it. This was done the opposite. If you think about it from today’s design philosophies, they were done ass-backwards.”

The Adamo XPS had a very different design story, though it was even more experimental in its conception. Dell completely out-sourced the design and development of the product, hoping to save a few bucks along the way.

“We used an outside design house — so, non-Dell employees. The idea was that we could offshore the development,” he says. “The thought process was that was going to be cheaper, but it just turned into a major headache — and we still had to finish it for them. There was a little bit of animosity toward that second system. But it was cool, because it was sub-10mm.”

Dell’s Adamo XPS is tiny even by today’s standards at just 0.4 inches thick.

In fact, the Adamo XPS was declared the thinnest laptop in the world when it was launched at CES of 2009. At just 0.4 inches thick, it’s tiny even by today’s standards. Oliphant would be the first to admit that ultra-thin designs come with its own flaws and compromises, but the desire to create bold, sleek products would live on in future XPS products.

“When I inherited XPS in 2010, and we took the products that were going to be the next-generation Adamo and we put those on the XPS roadmap,” said Oliphant. “The first XPS 13, codenamed Spider, launched in early 2012. That really should have been an Adamo product if we had kept [Adamo] alive.”

Going from Adamo to Dino

In 2006, Dell purchased Alienware, a popular gaming PC manufacturer based in Miami, Florida. The acquisition made great business sense, giving Dell access to a new market for high-end gaming rigs. Yet Alienware was a very different company than Dell. It was scrappy, down-to-earth, and completely consumer-focused. That ethos was about to get injected into the company in a big way.

Frank Azor Bryan Steffy/Stringer/Getty Images

The face of Alienware today is Frank Azor, who might be the most casual and earnest tech executive you’ll ever meet. He’s the kind of guy that’ll tease his employees for wearing a suit to a meeting and can just as easily talk about the internal components of a laptop or the latest gaming trends. While Azor and his team brought a casual attitude to Dell, for him, a corporate culture of risk-taking is what made the XPS 13 possible.

“You have to have a culture that is willing to innovate,” Azor told me. “You can’t have ID with these crazy fucking ideas that are far out there, and then have a product planning team that say ‘I like some of them, but those are too expensive, or ‘my engineering team will never let us do that.’”

Azor started working at Alienware when he was just sixteen years ago, as one of just four other employees. Now, he’s the manager of both Alienware and XPS lines at Dell — and he’s determined to transform Dell’s stuffy culture from within.

“We’re an aircraft carrier,” he says. “To make a turn, it takes a long time. You need to start gaining momentum, and then you’ll start making the turn. I would say we’re in the momentum phase right now. This stuff is leading the company’s image — it’s leading the kind of culture we want to be. It’s all stemmed from the type of stuff we’ve done on XPS.”

Within just a few years, the influence of the XPS 13’s design has reached just about every screen we look at.

Compared to the Adamo products, the XPS 13 might not look that strange, but it took significant risks. Starting the trend of thinning out bezels, the XPS 13 dared to move the webcam below the screen. The result when using the webcam was (and still is) odd, shooting right up your nose, and giving you a double chin. The team received its fair share of criticism for it, but the XPS team has stuck to its guns rather than caving in on the decision.

“When everybody’s like ‘we’re bought in, we’re going to be a culture of innovation, we’re gonna take risks, we’re gonna augment the engineering process to help solve for those defects and risks,’” he says. “But we’re going to go into this together with risk — a higher risk than we would if we built a “me-too” product — then you can make amazing things happen. If that hadn’t happened, we probably wouldn’t be where we are right now.”

During our tour of the Dell headquarters, we received an in-depth look at all the advanced engineering that powers the next generation of XPS laptops. (Photos: Luke Larsen/Digital Trends)

The legacy of XPS

Design trends come and go, but they always start with a trendsetter. The 2015 version of the XPS 13 was such a device. Manufacturers of televisions, monitors, smartphones, and laptops have all been on a mission to remove bezels — and that was set in motion by the XPS 13. On the smartphone front, you need only to look to the iPhone X or Galaxy S8 in your pocket. In laptops, look at the MateBook X Pro, which takes the bezel-less approach to the next level.

Dell’s XPS devices even make the MacBook Pro look a little outdated. According to Oliphant, that was always the goal, and the XPS 13 proved it was possible for PC manufacturers.

“Apple was very successful during that decade,” he said, speaking of the late 2000s. “Before 2015, most ultra-notebooks were just deemed MacBook Air-knockoffs or wannabes. What we saw shift with the introduction of Dino, our XPS 13 in 2015, was we started winning some of those head-to-head comparisons. We were actually delivering products with things that Apple didn’t have.”

Like any success, the XPS laptops didn’t spring out of nowhere. It was forged in a fire of bad experiments, lost profits, and finger-crossing moments. Yet Dell stuck with it, because the people behind the XPS 13 believed in the quality of what they’d built. Instead of retreating, they improved, tweaked, and revised. The result was a laptop that impressed critics and changed the company that built it.

“We’ve had to create a subculture for XPS. And from a consumer perspective, we’re trying to change the perception of customers or potential customers of Dell,” Azor said. “That’s what XPS is here for.”

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For its 15th anniversary phones, Meizu nixes the notch and shuns 18:9 screens

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and has released three new smartphones, named Meizu 15, to commemorate the occasion. The Meizu 15, Meizu 15 Plus, and Meizu 15 Lite were revealed at an event in Wuzhen, China on April 22. The three devices differ from most new phones we’re seeing for two major reasons, both related to screen technology and design.

Meizu 15

Meizu 15

The Meizu 15 sits in the middle of the three new phones, with its 5.46-inch Super AMOLED screen, 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. What’s surprising here is that Meizu has not adopted the current 18:9 aspect ratio screen format, or opted to include a notch at the top. This gives the Meizu 15 a traditional smartphone look, instead of the ultra-modern styles currently taken on by Samsung, Huawei, Vivo, LG, and others.

A screen-to-body ratio of 83.4 percent has been achieved by shrinking the side bezels down, and the chin remains complete with a circular fingerprint sensor. On the back of the phone is a dual-lens, centrally and vertically mounted camera setup. The Sony-produced sensors have 20 megapixels and 12 megapixels, with a 3x lossless zoom, a 1.55nm pixel size, optical image stabilization, an f/1.8 aperture, and a six-LED dual-tone flash ring. The selfie camera has 20 megapixels and an f/2.0 aperture.

The metal body contains dual stereo speakers, weighs 152 grams, and is 7.25mm thick. Alongside the Snapdragon processor is 4GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of memory, plus a 3,000mAh battery with Meizu’s mCharge technology. This takes the cell to 54 percent capacity in 30 minutes. The Meizu 15 range runs Android with the company’s new Flyme 7 user interface over the top; but it’s not clear which version of Android Flyme 7 is built on at the moment.

Flyme 7 incorporates a new look, new haptic feedback features — including in the fingerprint sensor, which doubles as a multi-function Home button — and an upgraded artificial intelligence engine called One Mind. One Mind’s actual functions aren’t very clearly explained yet. Meizu says it’s better at “understanding needs,” and helps make Flyme 7 more user friendly and enjoyable. It enhances the selfie camera by recognizing age, gender, and other user characteristics, helping to take a better photo.

Meizu 15 Plus

Meizu 15 Plus in gold

The Meizu 15 Plus is the flagship of the range, with a larger 5.95-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution, and a Samsung-supplied Exynos 8895 processor with 6GB of RAM providing the power. This is the same chip used in some versions of the Samsung Galaxy S8. The battery size increases to 3,500mAh, while the camera, storage, software, and other specifications are identical to the Meizu 15.

Meizu 15 Lite

Meizu 15 Lite

Finally, the Meizu 15 Lite has the same 5.46-inch screen size and 1080p resolution as the Meizu 15, but loses the Super AMOLED panel, and drops the dual-lens camera. Instead it has a single 12-megapixel camera with an f/1.9 aperture. The processor is a Snapdragon 626 with 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage space, driven by a 3,000mAh battery.

Price and release

The Meizu 15 phones have all been announced for China and will be on sale from April 29. The company sells devices in various other countries, but not officially in the United States or the United Kingdom. However, if you’re keen on a phone that shuns tall screens and notches, then all will inevitably be available through an importer following release. The approximate price for the Meizu 15 is $400 for 64GB or $445 for the 128GB, $475 for the 64GB Meizu 15 Plus or $525 for the 128GB model. The Meizu 15 Lite will be yours for around $270.

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Twitter bans Kaspersky Lab from advertising on its platform

Twitter has banned Moscow-based security company Kaspersky Lab from advertis9ing on its platform due to the company’s alleged ties to Russian intelligence organizations.

“This decision is based on our determination that Kaspersky Labs operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices,’ a Twitter representative told Gizmodo. ‘Kaspersky Lab may remain an organic user on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules.’

Kaspersky Lab’s CEO, Eugene Kaspersky, penned an open letter to Twitter’s senior management disputing these claims and expressing his surprise at the ban.

‘Huh? I read this formulation again and again but still couldn’t for the life of me understand how it might relate to us,’ the letter reads. ‘One thing I can say for sure is this: we haven’t violated any written – or unwritten – rules, and our business model is quite simply the same template business model that’s used throughout the whole cybersecurity industry: We provide users with products and services, and they pay us for them.’

In an email to Gizmodo, Twitter cited a Homeland Security notice that warned that the U.S. government was concerned about ties between “certain Kaspersky officials and Russian intelligence and other government agencies.”  The notice also cited a Russian law that “allow Russia intelligence agencies to compel assistance from Kaspersky and to intercept communications transiting Russian networks.”

Kaspersky has denied these claims and has urged Twitter to not “shoot themselves in the foot” by catering to “geo political noise.”

“You’re only shooting yourself in the foot when you cater to the geopolitical noise and start refusing to promote material on false pretenses – contrary to the interests of your own business (how else can we describe not accepting money from clients that run ethical businesses?),” Kaspersky said.

However, in October the New York Times reported that Israeli intelligence agents hacked Kaspersky Lab and found that the Russian government used the company’s anti-virus software to obtain classified materials from the National Security Agency.

Kaspersky Lab admitted that its software was installed on the laptop of an NSA contractor. According to Kaspersky, the contractor downloaded a virus while attempting to install an unofficial version of Windows which triggered Kaspersky’s antivirus software. The software uploaded both the virus and the NSA hacking tools to Kaspersky Lab’s servers.

Regarding Twitter, Kaspersky Lab says it will donate its intended Twitter ad budget to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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Coinbase bans Wikileaks from its currency exchange platform

Engadget reports that Coinbase has banned Wikileaks Shop’s account for violating the exchange’s terms of service. This means that the site will no longer convert cryptocurrency payments into real money such as dollars or euros. Coinbase did not go into the specifics of why it banned Wikileaks, but did note that it has to honor “regulatory compliance mechanisms” under the  U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Wikileaks can still accept payments via Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but it will have to find a new way to convert those tokens into hard currencies. In response to the move, Wikileaks has called for a boycott of the service.

WikiLeaks will call for a global blockade of Coinbase next week as an unfit member of the crypto community. Coinbase, a large Californian Bitcoin processor, responding to a concealed influence, has blocked the entirely harmless @WikiLeaksShop in a decision approved by management. https://t.co/PAldF8b12P

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 21, 2018

As The Verge’s Andreas Antonopoulos points out, Wikileaks started accepting Bitcoin and similar currencies solely because traditional financial institutions had turned against the platform.

We have come full circle. Many people’s interest in Bitcoin started when Wikileaks was out under an extra judicial embargo by VISA, MC, PayPal and banks. Now Coinbase has repeated history. Oops. https://t.co/b8HQkoOwyQ

— Andreas M. Antonopoulos (@aantonop) April 21, 2018

One of the big appeals of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is that they are largely unregulated and anonymous. This makes them ideal for those who for reasons legitimate and otherwise,  are concerned about privacy. However, in recent months, we have seen an increasing amount of regulatory oversight.

Part of this is due to the simple fact that governments are finally starting to catch up to cryptocurrencies. The SEC has recently started to crack down on scams and frauds operating as initial coin offerings. The IRS has also started taxing cryptocurrency as it does with other investments though the enforcement on that is still a bit murky.

As for Wikileaks, there are other cryptocurrency exchanges it could use. However, it is possible that Coinbase’s actions will set a precedent with other exchanges, forcing Wikileaks to rely on less reputable avenues of exchange.

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