LG G7 ThinQ hands-on review

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LG G7 ThinQ

LG hasn’t had much luck with its smartphones recently, especially its G series. The modular G5 flopped because it was clunky and hardly had any modules; and the promising G6 just didn’t generate a level of interest the company wanted. The latest in the lineup is the LG G7 ThinQ (pronounced “Thin-Que”), and there’s a lot to like. It packs all the high-end specifications you’d expect in a flagship phone, and it’s wrapped in an all-glass, modern design.

Will it be the hit LG wants? We’re not so sure. The special features that make the G7 ThinQ unique may not be interesting enough to draw iPhone, Samsung, and Google loyalists. But there’s no denying the G7 is a good phone. Let’s take a closer look.

A notch, chin, and glass

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Yes, the G7 ThinQ has a notch. It’s the little cutout at the top of the screen, housing the front-facing camera and earpiece. Having used several phones with notches, including the Essential Phone, iPhone X, and Huawei P20 Pro, we don’t have many qualms about it here on the G7. Would we prefer a notch-less look? Absolutely, but we haven’t found its presence distracting.

There’s also a small chin on the bottom of the phone. Considering there’s a notch, we would have liked to see no bezel here — like the iPhone X — but it’s no dealbreaker. This front design does make the G7 ThinQ stand out a little less from the sea of notch-filled phones, but it didn’t put us off.

Yes, the G7 ThinQ has a notch.

If you really hate the notch, but like everything else about the G7 ThinQ, there are many ways to customize how the notch looks in the phone’s settings. You can add black bars, or even a rainbow-like effect, and you can also remove the rounded corners on the screen if you’re not a fan.

Speaking of ThinQ — what does it mean? It’s LG’s artificially-intelligent platform that connects a host of its products together. If you see LG appliances with the ThinQ branding — like a washing machine — it means you can easily connect them to the G7 ThinQ or V30S ThinQ and control them right from the phone’s notification drawer.

The G7 has a power button on the right side of the phone. It’s the first time in a while that LG has added a standalone power button to its phones; it was previously embedded in the fingerprint sensor on the back. We liked the rear power button, but we like the new separate one more because itimeans you can double press it to quickly open the camera.

On the left side is a volume rocker, and below it sits a new button — the AI Key. Like Samsung’s Bixby button, the AI Key lets you interact with Google Assistant. It’s one of our favorite features of the G7, as it makes it far easier to access the Assistant when you don’t want to say “Hey Google,” or when your phone screen is off. Press it once to activate voice recognition, or press and hold it to use it like a walkie-talkie and continuously talk to the Assistant. If you double tap the button, you’ll jump right into Google Lens for object identification with the phone’s camera. The AI Key works well, and it’s fast. We’ll have to use it more to see if it makes us ask Assistant more questions. If you don’t want to use it, you can disable it. At the moment, there’s no way to remap the key to do something else, but LG said if customers ask for this, it may consider adding a remapping option.

Overall, the G7 doesn’t do enough to differentiate its design from the competition

On the bottom is a USB Type-C charging port, a headphone jack, as well as a single, mono speaker — we’ll get to this soon. Flip the phone over and you’ll see LG has followed Samsung’s S9 Plus design to prop the cameras vertically instead of horizontally. The dual-camera setup is centered at the top vertically, with an easy-to-access fingerprint sensor below it. The back of the phone is covered in Gorilla Glass 5, allowing the G7 to wirelessly charge with the Qi standard; it’s par for the course on LG phones.

The G7 is surprisingly comfortable in the hand, considering it has a 6.1-inch display, and that’s largely because it’s incredibly light at 162 grams. That lightweight nature does mean it doesn’t feel as substantial as some other flagship phones.

Overall, the G7 doesn’t do enough to differentiate its design from the competition, but that isn’t just a problem with LG — a lot of smartphones look alike these days. That being said, we still think the phone looks good, and it doesn’t feel unwieldy in the hand.

Boombox speaker

LG places a lot of emphasis on its audio prowess with phones like the V30 — which sports a Quad DAC, and of course retains the headphone jack. The same Quad DAC and headphone jack is present on the G7 ThinQ, with support for DTS.X 3D sound, a surround sound technology similar to Dolby Atmos.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

But the spotlight feature for the G7 ThinQ is its “Boombox” speaker. How can a single, bottom-firing mono speaker produce boombox-like sound? LG removed the module that traditionally covers the speaker, and then tweaked the layout of the phone’s internals to make the whole phone a resonance chamber. That means the audio feels like it’s coming from the whole body of the phone, and it sounds fantastic.

The audio feels like it’s coming from the whole body of the phone, and it sounds fantastic.

We played a variety of tunes and compared the G7’s Boombox speaker with stereo speakers from the iPhone X and the Huawei P20 Pro, and the G7 easily got louder, and sounded richer. It didn’t sound like you were playing music from a phone, but from an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker. Since the whole phone becomes a resonance chamber, music can sound even better depending on the surface you place the phone on — hollow wood, for example, further enhanced the audio.

The resonance chamber is 17 times larger than any of LG’s previous products, and the company said the speaker is 39 percent bigger than the G6, essentially doubling the volume.

LG G7 ThinQ Compared To

Huawei P20 Pro

Nuu G3

Nokia 7 Plus

Vivo Apex

Asus Zenfone 5

LG V30S ThinQ

Alcatel 5 Series

Cat S61

Google Pixel 2

LG V30

Samsung Galaxy S8 Active

HTC U11

Nokia 8

LG Optimus G Pro

T-Mobile myTouch 3G

While we’re impressed with how the G7 ThinQ sounds, we still prefer Bluetooth speakers or headphones. That being said, plenty of people make frequent use of their phone speakers, and they will undoubtedly be happy with the audio quality coming out of the G7 ThinQ. We’ll have to do more testing to see how the speaker fares when watching movies and YouTube videos.

Oddly, the phone’s IP68 waterproof seal is tied to the Boombox functionality, so if the seal breaks in some way, then the audio quality may be hampered. LG also said it’s recommending case makers opt for harder cases than soft ones, as the latter could also absorb some of the resonating sound.

Speedy performance, great display

The LG G7 ThinQ is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor, and comes with either 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, or 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. We’re happy to see that LG didn’t opt for last year’s processor, like it did with the LG G6.

In our brief time using the phone, we never once ran into any lag or slowdown. We didn’t get a chance to set up the phone to our liking, though, so we’ll have to test this further. Judging by the Snapdragon 845’s performance on phones like the Galaxy S9, however, we think the G7 will be able to handle just about anything. It runs Android 8.0 Oreo, and there’s not much bloatware loaded on top.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The 6.1-inch IPS LCD screen is great — it’s bright, and sharp with a 3,120 x 1,440 pixel resolution (564 pixels-per-inch). It supports HDR10, and the colors look thoroughly rich. The phone does have a unique 19.5:9 aspect ratio, which means you’re getting a slightly taller screen.

Going back to the notch, LG is calling the area around it the “new second screen,” which basically means it’s the place that shows your notification icons, and system icons like the clock and cellular connectivity. If you do add black bars to get rid of the notch, it’s surprisingly difficult to tell the phone has a notch — that’s how deep the blacks look. You have to look closer to be able to tell.

Super Bright Display allows you to boost the screen’s brightness up to 1,000 nits, but only for up to three minutes.

What’s unique about the screen is a new mode called Super Bright Display. It allows you to boost the screen’s brightness up to 1,000 nits, but only for up to three minutes — that’s to prevent overheating. It’s a little button you can tap next to the brightness slider in the notification drawer. It’s useful for when you’re outside and having trouble seeing the screen, and we found it gets bright enough to make a difference.

LG claims it has reduced the screen’s power consumption over the LG G6 by 30 percent at the same luminance (500 nits), which means the screen won’t take up much battery life. Speaking of which, the G7’s 3,000mAh is smaller than we’d like, but we’ll have to use the phone for a longer period of time to see how long it can last.

Wide-angle camera, and artificial intelligence

The G7 ThinQ uses the same dual-cam setup LG has relied on in previous devices — a standard 16-megapixel camera, with a f/1.6 aperture and optical image stabilization, is paired with a 16-megapixel f/1.9 wide-angle camera. A lot of the camera software we played around with was still in development, so we can’t quite pass official judgment yet.

Panorama

Still, the wide-angle mode makes the camera incredibly versatile, allowing you to take 107-degree photos. LG is one of the only manufacturers offering a super wide-angle camera on a smartphone, and it helps make the phone stand out. You can take unique photographs on the G7 that would require a lens mount to snap on other smartphones.

Wide-Angle mode

That being said, the company has also added a Portrait mode. It adds a blur effect around a subject, and in our brief tests, it looks pretty good. What’s unique here is the camera doesn’t crop into the subject — it stays at the same distance as the auto mode so you don’t need to suddenly adjust your framing. We have noticed some errors with the blur lines around a subject, and it can be frustrating to use sometimes as the camera doesn’t always register your distance from the subject. We’ll have to do a little more testing to see how well this stacks up against Portrait mode on other phones. It does work surprisingly well with the 8-megapixel selfie camera.

Portrait mode

You’ll find the same Super Bright Camera mode that’s available on the LG V30S. It enlarges the pixels so they absorb more light, but it lowers the overall pixel count. The end result is a 4-megapixel photo that might not have a ton of detail, but it will be clearer and more usable. This mode turns on automatically when the camera detects it’s in a low-light environment, but you can turn it off if you prefer. In theory, the G7 can take a photo twice as bright as the V30S given the same lighting conditions. We’re surprised at how well this mode works, and it’s able to challenge good low-light cameras like the P20 Pro and the Galaxy S9.

Super Bright

Then there’s AI Cam. It’s a separate mode in the camera that automatically identifies the scene you’re pointing the phone towards. If you point the phone at a sunset, the camera will know it’s a sunset, and it will compare your scene to images of sunsets to try and offer up the best-looking photo. With the G7, AI Cam can now identify 10 more scenes including baby faces, animals, drinks, fruits, and more — bringing the total amount of categories to 19. Once it identifies a scene, it alters the photo to change things like saturation, exposure, and more. It can even recommend a wider-angle view, or suggest using the Super Bright Camera mode when it’s too dark.

AI Cam

We think the AI Cam is better than Huawei’s AI image recognition software, which often simply cranks the saturation up. The AI Cam certainly does boost saturation, but it’s not as intense as Huawei’s technology. It still needs more work, and we almost always end up preferring standard photos not tweaked by AI. We’re also not fans of how it’s a separate mode we have to open up in the camera app, and we much prefer Huawei’s implementation.

You’ll be satisfied with the G7 ThinQ’s camera, but we don’t think it measures up to the competition like the P20 Pro and the Google Pixel 2. We’ll be conducting more tests to be sure.

Price and availability

LG hasn’t mentioned price yet, but it’s the key to making the G7 ThinQ a success. We’re hoping the company keeps it around $650. It’s also tough to recommend buying the phone at launch, because LG often significantly drops the price not long later. The LG G6, for example, dropped to $450 within a few months. The LG G7 ThinQ is available for pre-order now, and it will begin shipping in the U.S. in the first week of June.

We like what the G7 offers so far, but we’re not sure it has the features it needs to be a hit. We’ll continue testing the phone, and stay tuned for our full review soon.

The 6-quart Instant Pot has dropped to a new all-time low price at $110

Act quick, it may sell out.

The Instant Pot Ultra 6-quart 10-in-1 Multi-Use Cooker is down to $109.99 right now at Amazon. This price drop marks a new low for this popular multi-use cooker, making it even more affordable than it was during Black Friday. It normally sells for $150 and has never dropped below $120.

We recently saw a deal on the smaller 3-quart Instant Pot Duo Mini, but today’s deal is on a much larger version. The 6-quart option is better suited for cooking meals for families and larger quantities.

Instant Pots haven’t decreased in popularity since they first popped on our radar. You can use this as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice/porridge cooker, yogurt maker, cake maker, egg cooker, saute/searing, steamer, warmer, and sterilizer. It’s super easy to use and has stellar customer reviews.

You’ll get a few different accessories, including a steam rack (with handles), recipe booklet, two different spoons, a measuring cup, and a user manual. For recipe ideas, check out this bestselling Instant Pot cookbook or this great ebook for just $1.

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Samsung Galaxy S9 second opinion review: A battery short of perfection

Samsung once again nails the one-size-fits-all flagship, but mediocre battery life holds it back from an A+.

There’s rarely a more consumer-facing phone than the latest Samsung flagship. Say what you will about the Pixel 2 having cleaner software or the LG V30 being better for filmmaking, but the fact is that the Galaxy S9 is the phone plastered on every billboard, every web ad, and every subway station. For the vast majority of consumers, it’s the Android phone to consider right now.

When Andrew Martonik reviewed the Galaxy S9 last month, he called it “the new standard Android phone by which all others are measured as a baseline.” Unexciting, but uncompromising. But he spent most of his time with the larger Galaxy S9+ which, while mostly the same, benefits from an additional camera and a larger battery. So what’s the deal with the smaller S9?

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beautiful curves

Galaxy S9 Hardware

There’s no way around it; the Galaxy S9 is one of the finest displays of craftsmanship money can buy. The curved glass and aluminum frame scream high end, and make the phone feel almost more like fine jewelry than just a gadget. If you’ve used a Galaxy S8, you should already have an idea of what I’m talking about. The Galaxy S9 is largely unchanged when it comes to the design and in-hand feel.

That doesn’t mean it’s identical to last year’s model, though. After endless complaints about the S8’s hard to reach fingerprint sensor next to the camera, Samsung has moved the Galaxy S9’s sensor to a much more sensible place beneath the camera. It’s remarkably easier to reach than before, though it’s still a bit closer to the camera than I’d like; too often, I find myself accidentally smudging the camera, and the software even warns you against it when you’re registering your fingerprints.

Dongles be damned.

Oh, and it wouldn’t be a Samsung flagship without a long list of hardware benefits. Like last year, the Galaxy S9 is IP68 water resistant, and supports great features like wireless charging and NFC. It also still contains the MST component necessary for Samsung Pay, which allows you to use the S9 to pay at any terminal — even those that don’t typically accept mobile payments. There’s also a microSD card slot, as well as a good old 3.5mm headphone jack, a constant and hopefully long-lasting staple of Samsung’s lineup.

Interestingly, there’s also a heart rate monitor next to the camera, as well as a blood pressure monitor. While not everyone will make use of these features (I know I haven’t), they can be a huge benefit for people who need to closely monitor their health status and don’t have the necessary equipment at their disposal.

This may be one of the only major flagships of 2018 without a notch.

Despite its relatively pocketable size, the Galaxy S9 carries an impressively large display. It’s a 5.8-inch display with an elongated 18.5:9 aspect ratio that occupies most of the face of the device, with reduced vertical bezels compared to last year’s Galaxy S8. The curved glass wraps the display around the sides of the phone, an effect Samsung calls the Infinity Display.

It’s a bright and vibrant Super AMOLED panel, and a reminder that Samsung does displays better than anyone else. It’s still more saturated than I care for out of the box — I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve set my phone to the basic screen mode — but it’s 15% brighter than before, and just as sharp as ever with its QHD+ resolution. That’s a whopping 2960×1440, though by default the UI is scaled to FHD+ (2220×1080).

Even better, Samsung still managed to fit stereo speakers into the Galaxy S9 despite having limited space to work with up front. No, it doesn’t have dual front-facing speakers, but like the iPhone X and HTC U11, it combines the earpiece speaker with a bottom-firing speaker grill to create a stereo experience. It’s not quite as loud or detailed as the other phones mentioned, but it’s a huge improvement over last generation’s tinny mono speaker.

same but different

Galaxy S9 Software

Last year was the first time I could say that I was finally happy with Samsung’s software experience out of the box, without having to spend hours setting up third-party launchers and alternative apps to replace Samsung’s default services. This year, things get even better — though that’s partially thanks to my unlocked model shipping without carrier bloatware.

With version 9.0, Samsung Experience feels to me like the closest the company has gotten to a stock Android feel, without giving up what makes a Galaxy phone unique. That is to say, features like Edge Panel (not my favorite feature, but it’s more useful than most give it credit for), Knox, and Samsung Pay. And yes, even Bixby, which, while still inferior to Google Assistant in many ways, can pull off some more complex system-level commands.

There’s still Samsung’s usual collection of redundant apps that effectively mirror the functionality of Google’s existing offerings — apps like Email, Galaxy Apps, and Internet — but there are less of them here than in previous generations, and they’re finally good. I actually prefer Samsung’s Internet browser to Google Chrome, though I still use the latter since it syncs my browsing history with Chrome on my computers.

Samsung can finally offer the fast, responsive UI its beautiful hardware deserves.

In daily operation, the Snapdragon 845 inside truly shines with unyieldingly fast performance. Whether I’m playing graphics-intensive games or making simultaneous use of Multi Window and Android Oreo’s floating window for YouTube playback, the Galaxy S9 never fails to keep up — the 4GB of RAM play a role in this too. Simply put, Samsung has never made a faster phone.

I still absolutely love the pressure-sensitive virtual home button, which works even with the screen off or with the navigation buttons hidden. Especially if you’re coming from an older phone with physical controls, it makes the transition to on-screen keys feel much more natural, something Galaxy S7 holdouts might appreciate.

One major annoyance I had in my first few days of using the Galaxy S9 is the app power monitor, which I eventually disabled in the advanced menu of the battery settings. Don’t get me wrong, it’s useful to have insight on which apps are causing significant battery drain, but the power monitor doesn’t do much about those apps, save for putting them to sleep after three days without use. I found the constant notifications to be more trouble than they were worth.

While we’re on the topic of annoyances, let’s talk about Bixby. One of the most common complaints with recent Samsung phones is that the Bixby key under the volume rocker is far too easy to accidentally press, flinging you out of whatever app you were in to open Bixby Voice. Whether this is by design to encourage more use of the service is debatable, but you can actually turn this into a convenience.

Disabling the Bixby key in the settings will stop Bixby Voice from opening when you accidentally tap the button, but it doesn’t disable the feature following a long press. This means that even fans of Bixby may want to disable the button, and using it this way I found myself actually using Bixby Voice more often for quick commands like disabling Bluetooth. I’d still rather remap the button to launch Google Assistant instead, but this felt like a fine compromise.

dual apertures

Galaxy S9 Cameras

Unlike its larger counterpart, the Galaxy S9 only has one rear camera — a rarity in today’s flagship space. It’s a 12MP sensor that introduces a new trick to the smartphone camera game: dual apertures. The Galaxy S9 can switch between f/2.4 and f/1.5, and you can even watch it happen on the lens. On such a small sensor, the difference in aperture doesn’t make as big of a difference as you might expect, but it still helps the S9 take on different lighting situations a little more effectively.

Samsung’s camera software has always felt a bit messy to me, and to my delight, it’s been dramatically simplified this time around. Instead of a looming grid of shooting modes like on previous devices, you can just swipe between each shooting mode for quicker access. It’s a bit slower if the mode you’re after is at the end of the list, but you can rearrange the order of the shooting modes in the settings.

For the most part, though, you’ll be just fine in auto shooting mode. The Galaxy S9 has no trouble figuring out most of the right settings on its own, and particularly in low light, the results can be stunning. I took a quick photo of my drink at a dimly lit bar and was stunned not only at the level of detail on the glass, but at the natural depth of the shot and the absence of noise in the background. Simply put, the Galaxy S9 is the most impressive phone for low light photography I’ve ever used.

Its daylight shots are nothing to scoff at either, though. Where I’ve always found Samsung’s color science to err a bit too far on the cool side, the Galaxy S9 produces delightfully natural-looking images, with sharp details and plenty of dynamic range. With other amazing shooters like the Pixel 2 and the P20 Pro, I don’t know that I’d call the Galaxy S9 the absolute best smartphone camera around, but it’s certainly in the running.

Of course, you can have fun with the camera too. This is one of the few phones capable of delivering 960fps slow motion video. You need a ton of light to make it work well, and you’re limited to 720p, but even with its limitations, it’s one of the Galaxy S9’s coolest new features if you ask me. There’s also AR Emoji, if you’re into that sort of thing, but … well, I’m not.

Something to keep in mind if you plan on shooting a lot of video on the Galaxy S9 is that it’s set to 1080p by default. You still have the option for 4K at up to 60fps if you need the extra resolution, but unfortunately, you’ll lose out on tracking autofocus in the process. If you have a compatible video editor like Final Cut Pro, you can also choose to shoot in the HEVC codec for smaller file sizes.

the Achilles’ heel

Galaxy S9 Battery life

Lastly, there’s the matter of battery life. It’s not great. There’s no way around it. The Galaxy S9 houses a 3000mAh battery inside — the same capacity as last year’s Galaxy S8 — and as usually the case, I would’ve happily traded some of the phone’s thinness away for a larger battery.

With a typical load of social media apps, work apps like Slack and Trello, and some Spotify streaming to Bluetooth devices, I can get by on a casual day with light use — say, 2.5 to 3 hours of screen-on time — but much more than that will have my phone in the red by the evening. Depending on your usage, you could see better results than I did, but if you’re rarely in close proximity to a charger, this might not be the right phone for you.

Thankfully, the Galaxy S9 is still quick to charge through either a cable or a fast wireless charger. Strangely, it only supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 standard, rather than the newer Quick Charge 4 like the Razer Phone, but it at least has USB-C Power Delivery in its place. From a fully depleted battery, you can expect the Galaxy S9 to take just over 1.5 hours to reach a full charge through a cable, and about 2.5 hours using a wireless charger like Samsung’s own convertible fast charger.

the bottom line

Should you buy the Galaxy S9? Yes

Despite its less-than-stellar endurance, the Galaxy S9 reminds us why Samsung remains a staple in the Android lineup every year. It refines all of the Galaxy S8’s accomplishments and improves on its flaws, fitting almost every headline feature imaginable into a phone that’s readily available across all carriers without costing an arm and a leg compared to similar alternatives. With the Galaxy S9, you don’t have to choose between a great camera and a headphone jack, or between small bezels and stereo speakers. It’s a jack of all trades that just does everything right, so long as you don’t need two-day battery life.

If you prefer a larger phone, the Galaxy S9+ is still the better option for you; you’ll enjoy (slightly) better battery life, a bigger screen, a dedicated zoom lens on the back, and an otherwise identical experience. For everyone else, it’s hard to think of many reasons not to recommend the Galaxy S9. It may not be the most exciting phone around anymore, but it offers something for everybody, and leaves little to be desired.

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Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

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

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AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint

Galaxy S9+ vs. Galaxy Note 8: Which should you buy?

Samsung fans will be torn between these two.

Samsung’s dual-flagship approach is great for smartphone super-fans, because we get to see a new top-of-the-line phone from the company twice a year. The Galaxy S series refreshes early on in the year, followed by a Note phone about six months later.

But for someone who holds off on a purchase and doesn’t necessarily upgrade every six months (or even each year), it creates a quandary when you go to buy a Samsung phone: do you buy the Galaxy S, or the Note? Right now you can get the Galaxy Note 8, which is still just a handful of months old and very much a modern phone, but if you want the absolute latest tech from Samsung it has actually been supplanted by the Galaxy S9+.

The Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series have converged over the past few years, but it hasn’t ever been this close — here’s what you need to consider when choosing between the two.

What’s the same

The Galaxy S9+ has a few improvements over the Note 8, but as you’d expect considering their proximity much has been carried over. The two phones share a common platform in their hardware when it comes to the quality of the materials and the overall design, with the only real change being the GS9+’s different metal finish. The Galaxy S9+’s display has improved from the GS8+, but is indistinguishable in quality from the Note 8 — so yeah, both look amazing. And of course there’s just a 0.1-inch diagonal difference in size.

This is the same core hardware platform supporting both phones.

The rest of the hardware features like waterproofing, an SD card slot, a headphone jack, wireless charging, Quick Charge 2.0 and the supporting specs are all the same. Yes the processor has been upgraded to a Snapdragon 845 in the Galaxy S9+, but that shouldn’t make you forget about the Note 8’s considerable speed in its own right. Both have the same RAM and storage, too.

Even though the Galaxy S9+ is running Oreo out of the box, I won’t even claim it’s a big difference. The Galaxy Note 8 should have its Oreo update in short order, and it will have as many of the same software features as possible. But even that aside, Samsung’s take on Oreo isn’t all that removed from the Nougat launched on the Note 8 — all else being equal in the phones, don’t choose one over the other just to get it.

What’s different

Physically, it’s simply a bit easier to handle the slightly smaller Galaxy S9+. We’re talking about 4 mm in height, 1 mm in width and 6 grams in weight, but add it all up with the slightly more rounded corners and the GS9+ feels like less of a behemoth than the Note 8. If the Note 8 is outright unmanageable for you the GS9+ won’t feel like an entirely different phone, and you should consider the regular Galaxy S9 instead — but I’ll never complain about a phone being smaller and easier to hold, even if it’s subtle.

A slight drop in size and a better fingerprint sensor placement definitely make a difference.

Perhaps more important than the size is the fingerprint sensor placement on the Galaxy S9+. You can easily reach up and touch the lower, center-mounted fingerprint sensor without shifting the phone around in your hand. It’s something you do dozens (perhaps hundreds) of times per day, and it’s something you don’t really think about until you’ve lived with the far inferior placement on the Note 8.

The Galaxy S9+ also introduces stereo speakers. A phone the size of the Note 8 really should have them as well, but at least you have access to it with the GS9+. The speakers aren’t dramatically louder, but getting stereo separation and not having the audio easily blocked by your finger when holding the phone in portrait mode is another subtle usability improvement. And yes, the battery on the Galaxy S9+ is slightly larger, 3500 versus 3300mAh. That 6% bump in conjunction with the slight efficiency improvement from the Snapdragon 845 helps battery life, but it’s not a massive shift.

Note 8’s camera is no slouch, but the Galaxy S9+ easily bests it with no clear downsides.

One could say the biggest improvement in the 2018 phone is its main camera. This is an all-new setup for Samsung, with a brand new sensor and a variable aperture. The new sensor is capable of taking fantastic photos with less noise and sharper lines in all sorts of scenes, but really shines when it comes to low light photography. It also has 960 fps super slow-motion video capture, which is a neat trick. The Note 8’s camera is no slouch, but the Galaxy S9+ easily bests it with no clear downsides.

The only benefit the Note 8 has going for it in this comparison is the feature that gives it its name: the S Pen stylus. If you like to draw or write notes by hand, there isn’t anything like the S Pen on any other phone. Sure the Galaxy S9+ has some of the same features, but when it comes to getting that super-precise input there’s no replacement for having the S Pen at the ready.

Bottom line: Which should you buy?

This really feels like a toss-up. Not only do these two phones have nearly identical experiences, but they also cost about the same. Though the MSRP of the Note 8 was a bit higher, around $940, a few months on the market and the release of the GS9+ has brought that down in many places to the same price as the newer phone. Given their similarities we know basically no one will be upgrading from a Note 8 to a GS9+, but these two will be cross-shopped for someone coming from an older phone.

Unless you need the S Pen, you should buy the Galaxy S9+.

With so much shared between the phones in hardware, design and capabilities, this really comes down to evaluating the few differences and how they’ll actually matter in daily use. The Galaxy S9+ offers a slightly more compact size, a little better battery life, an improved main camera and stereo speakers — but importantly, it doesn’t make any compromises compared to the Note. The Note 8 offers a tiny bit more room to work on the screen, and obviously the excellent S Pen — but that’s it.

So either you need a stylus and you buy the Note 8, or you’ll be better served overall by the Galaxy S9+.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

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

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Update May 2018: Updated to reflect the Note 8’s position in the market with the latest pricing information.

Detroit: Become Human – Everything you need to know!

Look into your soul and decide whether you’re OK with letting history repeat itself.

Quantic Dream is one of those rare studios which dares to be different, and the company’s 2018 title – Detroit: Become Human – continues that reputation of peculiarness. You could describe the company’s works to date as interactive movies more than they are games, with the experience primarily driven by narrative and decision making.

Expect more of the same out of Detroit. That’s not to say that the game doesn’t deserve its status as such. You won’t need pristine mechanical gaming skills or muscle memory to get through it. It’s all about influencing the game through your choices and watching it all unfold. Here’s everything you need to know about Detroit: Become Human.

History repeats itself

Detroit: Become Human is a classic thought-provoking story by Quantic. It’s designed from the ground up to make you question your every move, as well as your resolve, emotions, and morals. In this game, you’ll take control of at least three characters, all of whom are sentient robots called androids living in futuristic Detroit.

These androids were first employed as helpers. Naturally, the humans thought this was the perfect role for them as they were to be emotionless beings whose actions are entirely programmed by their makers. But as these types of stories always go, they become aware, and they eventually figure out just how oppressed they really are.

You’ll see the events unfold through the eyes of three such characters:

• Kara: This is the main character designed to get you emotionally attached. Kara is the “nanny-bot” of the story, the typical service android that shows how life with these things should be. She helps a single father whose baby girl needs taking care of. Kara eventually shows signs of becoming sentient, teetering on the lines of obedience and rebelliousness.
• Connor: He’s an android detective, and his entire mission is to track down what they consider to be rogue bots. If a robot is overstepping its boundaries, Connor makes sure they’re corrected one way or another.
• Markus: Say hello to your classic rebel. Markus is probably the most “woke” of all the androids, with a strong play for civil rights, freedom, and equality being his driving force. His role in inspiring other androids to take a stand and fight for their rights is the polarizing issue driving the plot at large.

Detroit’s script is classically long, with its writer – David Cage – known for going over 2,000 pages with all his work. You likely won’t experience all 2,000 of those pages in one sitting, and maybe not even in five.

You can expect an overwhelming amount of branched dialog choices and multiple possible story outcomes. In fact, Quantic Dream suggests there are over 1,000 possible combinations. That’s likely an exaggeration as minor, inconsequential changes in detail will inflate that number, but you don’t have to worry about a shortage of conclusions.

And there’s a lot to it, to boot. The game touches on many of the issues prevalent in today’s society: racial inequality and prejudices; domestic abuse and violence; love. These games have always challenged the player’s soul.

You may be thinking to yourself by now: this is iRobot, The Game. That’s one way to put it, and we won’t argue. While it’s not the iRobot game we imagined we’d get – there were some really cool battle scenes in that movie that you won’t be able to replicate with pure gaming skill – it’s close enough in its underlying theme to make us happy.

Your choices matter

There isn’t much to Detroit’s gameplay. You control the three main characters of the game as you guide them throughout the city’s various environments to look for information, clues, details, and more.

That’s not to say that Detroit won’t have your adrenaline pumping or have your critical thinking skills put to the test. The constant threat to your favorite characters’ safety and your ultimate desire to see the happy outcome you’re hoping to see will have you mulling over each decision as carefully as you can. Your choices of dialog in any given situation are polarizing enough to tear away at the very fabric of your sanity. Your connection to these characters will grow.

Quantic Dreams is trying something a bit different with Detroit: Become Human in that regard, though. In years past, the formula for deciding the outcome of a situation was hidden to the player. You were left to use your deductive reasoning skills to try and figure out where the story would turn. It was obvious in some cases, but really vague in others. To be fair, it added to the feeling of uncertainty that kept you on edge and has become a staple trait of Quantic’s games.

This time, however, we get what’s called a ‘Probability of Success’ meter that shows in real time the consequences of your choices and actions. It seems to be a reliable way to gauge how certain situations will play out and could ultimately help you figure out how you want to react to each situation. But it is only a probability of success, after all, and your outcomes are never guaranteed.

Get ready for Detroit: Become Human

Ready to play Detroit: Become Human? You won’t have long to wait, as its release date is pegged for May 25th, 2018. That date is set in stone, too, with recent news that the game has gone gold, which means they’ve finalized the game and will start producing copies based on the master Blu-Ray disc on which it was preserved.

If early gameplay footage and previews don’t do it for you, there’s a free demo available to download on the PlayStation Store. It features you playing as Connor in a heated attempt to save a woman’s daughter. You’ll get a good serving of that gut-punching dialog and a scenario that does well to preview everything the game has to offer. There are even multiple endings, so there’s a reason to replay it after you’ve run through it for the first time.

If you’ve decided to pre-order it then you’ll want to know the best places to spend your money. For starters, every single pre-order of the standard edition of Detroit: Become Human will net you a dynamic PS4 theme and the game’s digital soundtrack, the latter of which should be able to contend with your library’s most memorable scores.

Amazon Prime members will get 20% off the game’s usual cost of $60, which brings the total to $47.

See at Amazon

Best Buy also offers the same discount for its Gamers Club Unlocked members.

See at Best Buy

For folks who don’t want to pay the cost to be part of either service, Newegg figures to be your best bet with a flat $10 off for anyone who buys it at their online storefront.

See at Newegg

There’s also a $70 digital deluxe copy available, and you’ll definitely want to consider spending the extra $10 here. The biggest benefit is that it comes with a digital copy of Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream’s PS3-bound classic. Heavy Rain was a huge improvement on the company’s signature formula and still holds up as one of the finest interactive storytelling experiences gaming has to offer. Other goodies include a digital artbook, the digital deluxe soundtrack, 2 PS4 dynamic themes, and 10 PS4 avatars. The digital deluxe edition costs the same no matter where you buy it.

See at Amazon

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

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Action Launcher v35 brings Android P-like dock and folders in app drawer

The update’s available in the Play Store right now.

If you’ve been hanging around AC long enough, you know that Action Launcher is one of our favorite Android launchers around. Developer Chris Lacy recently launched v35 of the app, and as always, there are plenty of new goodies to familiarize yourself with.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the dock has received a facelift. A transparent box now encompasses your app icons and search bar just like we see with Developer Preview 1 of Android P. Since this is Action Launcher, however, you can customize the color of the new box or remove it entirely and go back to an older design.

Another big addition with v35 are folders in the all apps drawer. Lacy notes that this has been one of the most requested features over the past couple years, so I imagine most of you will be ecstatic about its arrival.

Also new is a search bar at the top of the app drawer, an option to hide apps from your app drawer that are on your desktop, a more rounded look for folders, the ability to sort folders and add multiple apps to them at once, and over 20 stability improvements to ensure Action Launcher is as smooth and fluid as can be.

Action Launcher v35 is on the Play Store now, and you can read the full release notes here.

Download: Action Launcher (free)

USB-C audio: Everything you need to know

The port on the phone isn’t the only difference, but some things are the same as they have always been.

There’s a good chance the next phone you buy will support USB-C audio, even if it still has a “regular” 3.5mm headphone jack. That means we’ll soon be seeing more headphones that have a USB-C connector because that’s how this circle works — support a thing and companies will make the things. But there’s a lot of confusion about using a USB port for audio and what’s different than how we’ve been doing it for years. If you’re into electronics and love getting down and dirty you can take a look at the USB-C audio specification (direct download link) but for the rest of us here’s what you need to know.

New port, same parts

Audio of any type that can be played back on our phones needs to have a handful of specific parts to work. Moving from a 3.5 mm jack to a USB-C port doesn’t change that. Where those parts are, though, can change a lot.

You need a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), an amplifier, and a speaker(s) to turn files into sounds on your phone. Speakers work by moving and creating a pressure wave that our eardrums pick up, and the moving parts use electromagnetism to do their thing. That pressure wave corresponds with whats called an analog signal and the variation of that signal is what creates different tones and sounds. In a nutshell, the signal waveform is what a speaker uses to vibrate, that vibration sends pressure waves to our eardrums, and they vibrate in time inside our head to make the sound. Biological magic aside, it really is that simple. If you look at an analog audio waveform and hear the sound, you can see how things line up.

Making a copy of a copy of the original audio is complicated and needs the right parts.

Files on our phone or files streamed through the internet are digital. That means they are a bunch of binary (a counting system that only uses zero and one) bits that are packed together so a computer can read them and know what to do with them. Yes, your phone is a computer! Digital files do not have any type of waveform that a speaker can use to create sound. We need something to convert them.

Complex algorithms are able to take recorded audio, which is in an analog format, convert it to a digital format like a .mp3 file for storing on a computer, and convert it back to analog when played. This data needs to be sent through the DAC for conversion to a proper waveform and then sent through an amplifier so that the waveform is made strong enough for headphones to use. There are some pretty cool things that scientists and engineers can do to “make” sound, but every phone and every portable audio player and every set of speakers need this process.

More: Does my phone have a DAC? Explaining DACs and Amps in smartphones today

A phone like the LG V30 has a very good DAC and a very good amp and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. An app plays the file, the DAC converts it to analog, the amp boosts the signal, and the 3.5mm headphone jack sends it out to whatever you have plugged in. Every phone with a 3.5 mm headphone port works exactly the same way, even those without the promise of a premium sound experience. A phone that uses the USB port for audio might not work this way, though.

A little more legroom

For an explanation, let’s turn to Bluetooth. You don’t need to physically connect Bluetooth headphones to anything, so things are built differently even if they are using the same parts. Your Bluetooth headphones have their own onboard DAC and amplifier. The digital file is sent from your phone and all the conversion is done on your head. At first, this can feel a little complicated but it’s not really. The same process is used and the only difference is where the components are. Now let’s get to USB.

There are two ways to send audio data through the USB port, and I’ll bet you can guess them: Analog and digital. Analog audio can be converted with an onboard DAC and amplifier inside your phone then sent out through the port to a passive set of headphones or an adapter. For this to work, the device needs to support whats called “audio accessory mode” and the headphones or adapter are just “dumb” connections that pass along the signal.

If you are using an active set of headphones or adapter, the audio signal being sent through the USB port is still in its digital form. That means the DAC and amplifier are inside of the headphones or the dongle, and the conversion is done there instead of the phone.

Buying USB-C headphones can be torturous; get advice from someone who has been there.

This can get messy. You need to make sure that you’re using the right “thing”. If you are using a passive adapter or headphones, your phone needs to support audio accessory mode and many don’t. The mess is because most dongles, adapters, and headphones aren’t labeled with how they are built and we don’t know if they are active or passive.

The Pixel 2 has an onboard DAC embedded in its Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, but audio accessory mode isn’t supported. That means you need a pair of active headphones or an active adapter, like the dongle that came with the phone. The HTC U11 and Essential Phone are the same, but Motorola makes phones that do support passive headphones through the USB port. All phones should support an active adapter or headphones, though.

One more thing: Not all active USB audio products will work with all phones because manufacturers are able to use several new wires in the USB-C connection for extra features, like HTC did with the U11’s earbuds to provide active noise cancellation.

Before you buy any USB-C headphones or an adapter, find out if it works with your phone.

Is USB-C audio better?

Yes, but also no. The actual sound isn’t better just because the port has changed. As mentioned above, you still need to use the same components and manufacturers are free to choose from high-end gear or budget gear. USB-C doesn’t make anything better here, it just changes the connection.

But there are some benefits. The USB Type-C Specification 1.0 was released by the USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum) in 2014 along with the USB 3.1 specification. While not required, USB-C has plenty of tricks up its sleeve for the way it can communicate and connect. A USB-C port can support these things simultaneously:

• Audio accessory mode For passive audio or passthrough audio.
• Alternate mode This uses some of the wires in the USB connection for direct device-to-host transmission of alternate data protocols; as of 2016 this includes Thunderbolt, DisplayPort, Mobile High-Definition Link, and HDMI.
• Billboard Device Class This communicates to supply details of Alternate mode connections or to simply provide information about the connection or the device connected at either end.
• Audio Device Class 3 specification This sends analog or digital (or both) audio data through the port.
• USB Power Delivery This not only provides “fast charging” over USB, but it also supports DRP (Dual Role Power) to fast charge your phone and supply power to a connected device at the same time.

The USB Type-C specification doesn’t require these things, but they are supported. That means you can do a lot more with the USB-C port on your phone that listen to music or charge it if the company making it wants to include any of these extra modes. Some are great — HDMI or DisplayPort through the Alternate mode specifications means you can connect your phone to an AV Receiver for premium sound and mirror the screen. And charge it, and send data or charge another USB-C accessory with the right cable all at the same time.

Android, along with Chrome, Windows, macOS, and Linux all fully support the USB Type-C specification. While the audio won’t necessarily sound better because it’s using the USB-C port, there are a lot of cool things that can be done while we are listening. Too bad no manufacturer seems to be implementing them even though they are all quick to point out the benefits of losing the headphone jack.

It’s coming

Some phones line LG’s V series will likely support the 3.5 mm headphone jack for the immediate future. That’s great for people who have other audio gear that uses the old standards and want their phone to be a great sounding music player. But the move to USB-C for audio has happened, and eventually all portable (and possibly standalone) audio will use USB-C. That’s because it benefits the companies who make the products we love.

Omitting the headphone jack does two things for a company designing a phone. It gives them a little more space and saves them some money — two things designers love.

When you aren’t using a 3.5mm jack, you don’t have to make the phone as thick and have a few square millimeters of footprint space on a circuit board to put other components. With AI and Machine Learning also being a thing, there are multitudes of tiny parts that need a home somewhere on a circuit board and now they have one. The headphone jack itself isn’t very expensive (though every penny counts), but if a company is not supporting any type of passive or passthrough audio connection over USB-C it doesn’t have to design, build, and solder in an amplifier for the signal. That can be a significant saving for the cost of making a phone from beginning to end.

Some of us will miss the 3.5mm jack. I know I will because I love my favorite headphones more than the phone or player they connect to. But benefits are there for users if companies would choose to implement them.

Update: April 2018: This post was updated and checked against the current USB Type-C specifications.

Newton’s ‘True Inbox’ kills off your email’s Sent folder for good

You can turn it on by going to Settings > General > Conversation View > True Inbox.

Last week, Gmail got a huge redesign that’s been needed for years. It’s now much prettier and modern, but fundamentally, it’s still the same email experience that we’ve known for some time. Newton’s become iconic for changing the way we use email, and now it’s taking things a step further by killing off the infamous Sent folder.

Newton’s achieving this with a new feature called “True Inbox”, and it’ll be rolling out to users over the coming days. True Inbox will begin working automatically, and once you have it, any emails that you send will begin to show up in your main inbox rather than being pushed to the Sent folder. This is helpful for new conversations you begin, and Newton’s hoping it’ll make the experience feel much more like a chat app.

New emails you send will appear at the top of your inbox, and as you reply to messages, emails will be sorted by your interactions/activity with them — again, just like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.

Assuming you have Conversation View enabled, you can turn on True Inbox by heading to Settings -> General -> Conversation View -> True Inbox. Once enabled, you’ll begin to see the layout after you’ve started a new conversation.

Download: Newton Mail — Email & Calendar (free)

Best apps and services for people with limited mobility

Make getting around a bit easier with these apps and services.

Some of us need a little help getting around. Regular life can be difficult when you have trouble with stairs or steep slopes, or even something as simple as a curb. Things that most of us take for granted, like grabbing a bus and heading downtown, are stressful for a person with mobility issues because we never know if we’ll get to a place that stops us in our tracks. And that’s OK — nobody in a wheelchair or behind a walker wants you to feel bad or feel sorry for us, we just want to be able to access the same things you do.

That means it’s important to be able to find an elevator or a restroom with accessibility features or to make sure the bus that’s coming in six minutes has a lift. Thankfully there are some apps that can help out. We’ve found the best apps that can help anyone with limited mobility do those normal things that normal people do.

Uber

Uber has a strict policy of Equal Access For All that makes sure you’ll always be able to connect with a driver that can help you get from where you are to wherever you need to go. Even the Uber app meets WCAG 2.0 guidelines for accessibility features and it’s audited regularly to maintain compliance.

Uber also goes the extra mile with their UberWAV pilot program. Currently available in Toronto, Austin, Chicago, and London, with more cities to come soon, UberWAV provides service for folks who use motorized chairs by providing vehicles with lifts and harnesses installed. And the company doesn’t charge extra for this service; an UberWAV ride in the pilot cities is the same price as a standard UberBlack ride. With Uber, you’ll never have to deal with a cab driver who won’t assist you with your chair again.

Download Uber (free)

AXSmap

AXSmap is a web app designed to let you know how accessible any building or establishment inside a building is. It’s a crowd-sourced app that users can update in real time so you’ll be aware of things like sidewalk closures or broken elevators before you get to a barrier or sign. That also means it gets better the more people use it, so this is one everybody can use to help out.

As a web app, you can use it from any device with a web browser and an internet connection. There’s also a dedicated Android app that opens the web front-end for people who would rather have it in app form. While there are plenty of places that haven’t been rated, I found the information to be spot on in downtown Washington, DC and I’ll keep using AXSmap to help provide information about every place I visit. You should, too!

Visit AXSmap on the web

Download AXSmap (free)

Wheelmap.org

Wheelmap.org is an online community dedicated to letting you know if the places you want to go are accessible. Like our previous entry, it’s a map-based web app that uses crowd-sourced data, but Wheelmap lets you know at a glance if things are accessible with a simple traffic light system: green is great, yellow is not so great, and red isn’t great at all.

A great feature of Wheelmap.org’s Android app is Tango integration. If you have a Tango device like the ASUS ZenFone AR, you can measure things like door width, step height, slope of ramps and clear floor space in restrooms. There’s no word if the developers will transition to ARCore (which replaces Tango) but we certainly hope so!

Download Wheelmap.org (free)

Virtual Reality apps

There are some places that you just can’t visit because of mobility issues. The world of VR lets you experience mountain climbing or the Great Pyramids from the comfort of home and are easy to use. While standalone VR headsets like the Oculus Rift or HTC VIVE are great, your Android phone can also act as a VR portal with the right headset. Samsung’s Gear VR and Google Daydream are a great way to virtually get away from it all and relax in a rain forest or to explore the wonders of the Arctic without worrying about getting stuck.

While they aren’t a substitution for the real thing, VR apps and movies are immersive and enjoyable. And maybe diving with Great White Sharks is best done through a VR YouTube video.

Everything you need to know about Samsung Gear VR

Everything you need to know about Google Daydream

WheelMate

Sometimes it’s tough to recommend an app that only has one simple function, but this isn’t one of those times because WheelMate can be a lifesaver if you have trouble getting around.

The one simple thing it does is something everyone with limited mobility will need eventually — it shows you where accessible restrooms are near you. All you need to do is make sure you have location services enabled and open the app. You’ll then see a map with accessible restrooms that are open to the public (if a restroom is for customers only it’s not shown) marked in their location so you know where you need to go when you need to go.

WheelMate is both crowdsourced and curated and I’ve found it to be indispensable — yes, it’s an app I never leave home without.

Download WheelMate (free)

Google Maps

Google Maps is a great service that is used by almost everyone. It also has a great, but mostly hidden, accessibility feature that lets you know if your transit options are Wheelchair accessible or not.

Google’s Local Guides program allows participants to mark transit routes that are accessible and you’ll find the option to check your route in the extras menu when you’re telling Maps where you need to go. This hasn’t rolled out everywhere just yet, but it will be a nationwide addition in the near future.

Google Maps is probably already installed on your phone, but if not you can grab it at the link below.

Download Google Maps

Your accessibility options

What do you use to make your world more accessible? Let us know in the comments below!

Qualcomm updates network patents to ease tensions with Apple

Ever since January of last year, Qualcomm and Apple have been fighting back and forth over unpaid royalties, patent disputes, and more. In an attempt to make peace between the two entities, Qualcomm is updating its licensing terms for mobile network technologies to give Apple more tech at the same price.

A good deal of Qualcomm’s profit comes from its patents/licenses, but as we’ve seen over the past few months, this has caused tensions with not only Apple, but Huawei and Samsung as well.

With these patents, customers (like Apple and Huawei) have the option of purchasing one of two options – a full set that charges them 5% the cost of their handset or a “standard essential patent” with a more affordable 3.25% rate.

That standard option only includes licenses needed for mobile networks, and instead of lowering the rate of the full option, Qualcomm’s adding patents for 5G to the standard one and making it so customers don’t have to buy both plans to ensure their devices work the way they should.

Qualcomm reiterates that it’s not lowering its prices, with Qualcomm’s Head of Licensing, Alex Rogers, saying –

We have not lowered the rate. What we’re doing is including more technology, more intellectual property in the offering without increasing the price.

It remains to be seen if this move will be enough for Qualcomm to settle its ongoing disputes, but this certainly seems like a step in that direction.

Apple hits Qualcomm with countersuit for infringing on battery patents