Microsoft Bing joins Google, Facebook in banning cryptocurrency advertisements

Joining Google and Facebook, Microsoft’s Bing search engine will no longer show advertising for cryptocurrency, related products, and unregulated binary options. The news arrives by way of a short post on the Bing Ads blog that says the change will be made to Microsoft’s global financial product and services policies in June prior to a complete ban of these ads in late June or early July. 

“Because cryptocurrency and related products are not regulated, we have found them to present a possible elevated risk to our users, with the potential for bad actors to participate in predatory behaviors, or otherwise scam consumers,” said Melissa Alsoszatai-Petheo, advertiser policy manager. “To help protect our users from this risk, we have made the decision to disallow advertising.” 

Cryptocurrency — along with the related services and products — join other “legally questionable business opportunities” on Microsoft’s ban list,such as Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, and investments that depend on adding participants to a scheme. For instance, an ad can say: “Save more of your money,” followed by “learn this money-saving tip and save more.” A noncompliant version would say something like: “Save your money today,” followed by “sign up for this secret or risk losing your savings.” 

Microsoft’s Bing Ads polices already ban virtual currencies that are designed to facilitate illegal purposes. Examples include avoiding applicable taxes, money laundering, and the promotion of fake/forged virtual currencies. 

Facebook introduced a similar ban on its social network in January. According to the company, ads are not allowed to “promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings, or cryptocurrency.” The company said its new policy is intentionally broad. 

“We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception,” said  Rob Leathern, Facebook product management director. “That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs, and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith.” 

Google announced a similar move in March, stating that all advertisements related to cryptocurrency and unregulated investments will be banned from its AdWords advertisement platform. Cryptocurrencies are not regulated, so investors have no guarantee of safe, honest trading despite market claims. There’s also the rising trend of cryptocurrency startups generating cash through initial coin offerings, and then disappearing with the funds. 

The value of a Bitcoin reached an all-time high on December 16, 2017, at just over $19,000 but has since fallen to $8,518 as of May 15, 2018. The lowest point of the year thus far was $6,620 in early April. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in February that cryptocurrencies are hyper-volatile assets and not ideal for long-term investments. But the cryptocurrency craze continues, stringing along scam artists looking for eager investors. 

But not through Bing. 

“We are always evaluating our policies to ensure a safe and engaging experience for our Bing users and the digital advertising ecosystem,” Alsoszatai-Petheo said. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• Google will ban cryptocurrency ads from its AdWords network in June
• Twitter joins Facebook and Google in banning cryptocurrency advertising
• Coinbase bans Wikileaks from its currency exchange platform
• Indian central bank looks to block Bitcoin, while creating its own cryptocurrency
• Airline smart luggage ban will be a real headache for travelers

Microsoft Bing joins Google, Facebook in banning cryptocurrency advertisements

Joining Google and Facebook, Microsoft’s Bing search engine will no longer show advertising for cryptocurrency, related products, and unregulated binary options. The news arrives by way of a short post on the Bing Ads blog that says the change will be made to Microsoft’s global financial product and services policies in June prior to a complete ban of these ads in late June or early July. 

“Because cryptocurrency and related products are not regulated, we have found them to present a possible elevated risk to our users, with the potential for bad actors to participate in predatory behaviors, or otherwise scam consumers,” said Melissa Alsoszatai-Petheo, advertiser policy manager. “To help protect our users from this risk, we have made the decision to disallow advertising.” 

Cryptocurrency — along with the related services and products — join other “legally questionable business opportunities” on Microsoft’s ban list,such as Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, and investments that depend on adding participants to a scheme. For instance, an ad can say: “Save more of your money,” followed by “learn this money-saving tip and save more.” A noncompliant version would say something like: “Save your money today,” followed by “sign up for this secret or risk losing your savings.” 

Microsoft’s Bing Ads polices already ban virtual currencies that are designed to facilitate illegal purposes. Examples include avoiding applicable taxes, money laundering, and the promotion of fake/forged virtual currencies. 

Facebook introduced a similar ban on its social network in January. According to the company, ads are not allowed to “promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings, or cryptocurrency.” The company said its new policy is intentionally broad. 

“We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception,” said  Rob Leathern, Facebook product management director. “That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs, and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith.” 

Google announced a similar move in March, stating that all advertisements related to cryptocurrency and unregulated investments will be banned from its AdWords advertisement platform. Cryptocurrencies are not regulated, so investors have no guarantee of safe, honest trading despite market claims. There’s also the rising trend of cryptocurrency startups generating cash through initial coin offerings, and then disappearing with the funds. 

The value of a Bitcoin reached an all-time high on December 16, 2017, at just over $19,000 but has since fallen to $8,518 as of May 15, 2018. The lowest point of the year thus far was $6,620 in early April. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in February that cryptocurrencies are hyper-volatile assets and not ideal for long-term investments. But the cryptocurrency craze continues, stringing along scam artists looking for eager investors. 

But not through Bing. 

“We are always evaluating our policies to ensure a safe and engaging experience for our Bing users and the digital advertising ecosystem,” Alsoszatai-Petheo said. 

Editors’ Recommendations

• Google will ban cryptocurrency ads from its AdWords network in June
• Twitter joins Facebook and Google in banning cryptocurrency advertising
• Coinbase bans Wikileaks from its currency exchange platform
• Indian central bank looks to block Bitcoin, while creating its own cryptocurrency
• Airline smart luggage ban will be a real headache for travelers

The best smart backpacks

Backpacks aren’t just sacks of canvas with straps on them anymore. These days, the world is full of smart, high-tech backpacks and laptop bags capable of doing modern tasks like playing music, streaming videos, charging your phone, creating light, and even evading airport security. It is the 21st Century, after all.

Whether you want a backpack you can use to commute to work, take weekend trips, or trek through nature, you can find one that does more than just hold your laptop or your lunch. Take a look at the best smart backpacks out there featuring a laundry list of innovative technology.

ECEEN Hydration Pack

A solar-powered hiking pack that charges your phone ($59)

Never go on a long hike again where your phone dies before you’ve reached the summit. This awesome solar-powered backpack from ECEEN has a built-in solar panel that’s woven into the main fabric, offering a way to charge your phone, tablet, or e-reader, among many other electronic devices. If you’re camping, you’ll be able to juice up your Kindle before bed and if you’re day hiking, you can maintain enough power to snap as many photos of Mother Nature with your smartphone without risk of running it to zero percent.

The integrated hydration pack holds up to 1.8 liters of water and the bag itself also has an 8-liter compartment to stash clothes, food, books, or other accessories. Given that it provides both water and solar power, the pack is also a great addition to a bug-out bag or survival kit.

Buy it now from:

Amazon

eBags Weekender

A carry-on that lets you travel without removing your laptop ($189)

If you travel frequently and hate the hassle of taking your laptop out when you go through security, this TSA-friendly smart backpack with its own dedicated laptop compartment is exactly what you need. Just let security know it’s in there and they’ll scan the device from inside your bag. The TSA Checkpoint compartment has a lockable zipper and five fully padded sides.

Additionally, the backpack comes with a quick-charging power bank (aka the Lifeboat) that you can use to charge your phone while you’re on the plane. Do keep in mind that the main compartment doesn’t have much space, so this carry-on bag is best for short weekend trips.

Buy it now from:

Amazon eBags

Trakk SHELL

A weatherproof trekking pack with a built-in Bluetooth speaker ($199)

Play music while trekking through the woods or sitting around the campground with this rugged and durable Bluetooth speaker backpack. Its tough-as-nails speaker portion is waterproof, shock-proof, and dust-proof with an IPX5 rating that lets you hike in the rain all day or even briefly drop it in water without ruining the sound. It features a powerful 20-watt output capable of playing for 12 hours, along with a subwoofer that utilizes max-bass technology.

Trakk outfit the SHELL with lightning-fast Bluetooth which boasts Advanced Connectivity Technology, meaning you can pair it up to 65 feet away. In addition to the built-in speaker, this weather-proof pack also has an internal USB power bank with a 5200 mAh battery that provides two full charges for any of your devices.

Buy it now from:

Amazon Newegg

Co-Alition Colfax

A commuter pack with a hard drive you can stream videos from ($199)

Instead of charging your computer to take music, videos, or other media with you on the go, this backpack acts as a wireless mobile hard drive itself. You can use it to view and upload files or have it double as an external backup drive, storing big files in your backpack to free up space on your phone and other devices.

The Colfax also has Co-Alition’s Pass-Thru technology which lets you charge both the pack’s power supply and your device at the same time using a single wall outlet. Best of all, you can route your cords through the ports to any pocket in the bag, making it customizable and convenient.

Buy it now from:

Coalition

Trendsetter

A roll-top with a smart LED light and USB port  ($189)

Not only does this innovative backpack have an integrated USB port to charge your electronics, it also has a smart LED light you can control remotely via a smartphone. The multi-purpose, triangle-shaped light has a Bluetooth-enabled bulb with changing LED colors to match your mood or style. It also makes for a great reflective device if you’re cycling at night or even walking around your neighborhood. Trendsetter’s clever design, which can be converted from a backpack to a duffle bag, also boasts a solid anti-theft system with hidden pockets and zero-exposed zippers.

Buy it now from:

Amazon

This Is Ground Venture 2

A laptop pack with an integrated Wifi hotspot ($925)

While it’s not the cheapest on the list, this laptop pack from This Is Ground is easily one of the best. This high-tech option is constructed with a built-in WiFi hotspot, meaning you can stay connected anywhere you go. Be it working on the train, connecting during a flight, or plugging in at a coffee shop, no matter where you go, you’ll have a high-speed connection directly from your pack.

The Venture 2 also features a special pocket for the company’s Tile Slim which tracks the bag so you won’t have to worry about anyone sneaking off with it without noticing. It’s made from sophisticated vegetable tanned Italian leather and showcases a chic aesthetic along with its innovative high-tech features.

Buy it now from:

This Is Ground

Editors’ Recommendations

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Ridy smart camera will alert drivers when they’re drowsy or distracted

The amount of units you’ve drunk will tell you if you’re within the safe legal limit for driving. But there are fewer easy ways to be alerted if you’re too tired to be safely behind the wheel of your car. A new in-car device called Ridy aims to change that, though — and it’s using state-of-the-art facial recognition to help.

The Ridy smart camera attaches easily to your dashboard or windshield. It then uses machine learning technology to watch your face as you drive and notice behavior suggesting that you may be tired or distracted. This might include things like how often you blink, facial expressions such as yawns, or how often you look away from the road. If a certain threshold is passed, Ridy will give you a verbal warning.

“Young drivers can benefit a lot from this device,” co-founder Yuri Galt told Digital Trends. “They often start texting or using Snapchat while driving. If you have a 16-18 years old kid and you buy him a car, get him a Ridy as well. Professional drivers such as Uber drivers can also benefit from this, [along with] busy parents that lack sleep, and any person who texts a lot while driving.”

Ridy isn’t the only example of technology designed for this task that we’ve covered at Digital Trends. Last year, my colleague Dyllan Furness wrote about an intriguing wearable device intended to vibrate to wake up drivers in the event they start to doze off. Unfortunately, based on the Kickstarter comments it appears to have not shipped as promised.

Several car manufacturers, including Audi, Mercedes and Volvo, also offer driver drowsiness detection systems based on their vehicle’s movements. Judged on metrics such as the angle of the steering wheel and time driven, the cars can advise you when you might want to consider taking a break to recharge your mental batteries.

As ever, we’d advise that you’re aware of the potential risks associated with pledging crowdfunding campaigns. However, if you’re happy to go ahead then head over to the team’s Indiegogo page where they are aiming to raise $25,000. Ridy prices start at $89 with shipping set to begin in July.

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Kickstarter just rolled out a new feature that makes crowdfunding less sketchy

Hero Images

If you browse through Kickstarter today, you might notice something different. On certain projects, you’ll see a little black badge in the lower left, just below the pitch video. These badges say “Hardware Studio,” and while they’re fairly easy to overlook and seemingly insignificant, they’re actually a big step forward not only for Kickstarter, but crowdfunding as a whole.

What these little badges signify is that the project has been accepted into Hardware Studio, a sort of hardware accelerator/manufacturing mentorship program from Avnet and Dragon Innovation — two companies that specialize in electronics and manufacturing, and whom Kickstarter has partnered with. The aim of Hardware Studio Connection is to prevent projects from flopping after they meet their funding goal.

“The reason why we partnered with Avnet and Dragon Innovation is that we wanted to help creators better prepare for manufacturing before they launch a project on Kickstarter,” Julio Terra, head of Kickstarter’s Design and Tech community, tells Digital Trends. “What we’ve learned over the years is that project problems are often recognized after a product is funded, and at that point, it’s often too late to solve the problem because it’s an issue that was caused by decisions that were made very early on in the process.”

Crowdfunding is hard

There are a million things that can go wrong between the successful funding of a campaign and the delivery of the final product to your doorstep. The creator could underestimate the amount of funding they need to finish the project. Manufacturing issues could cause long delays. Hell, sometimes projects fail because creators get too much funding, and don’t know how to scale their production processes and fulfill an unexpectedly large volume of orders. Oftentimes, it’s not that the creator was intentionally trying to scam everyone — it’s just that despite their best efforts, something went wrong.

This is one of the fundamental flaws that has plagued crowdfunding platforms since the beginning. Bringing a product to life is really, really hard, and many creators don’t realize just how complex it is before they dive in and start raising funds. This has led to some very high-profile failures over the years, which aren’t good for anyone involved. When these flops happen, creators are either labeled as fraudsters or incompetent hacks, and backers are left with empty pockets. This is precisely what Hardware Studio Connection aims to fix.

“We’ve been working on this for a long time and we’re really excited that it’s finally now going to be visible to our community at large.” says Terra. “Behind the scenes, together with Avnet and Dragon Innovation, we’ve been working on ways to help our community of backers have a better sense of the manufacturing and readiness of creators on Kickstarter. Once a creator gets accepted into the Connection program, they get these badges, which highlight the project’s level of manufacturing readiness.”

There are four different levels of readiness, each of which comes with a different badge. The first is Engaged, which simply indicates that a project has been accepted into the Hardware Studio Connection program. Then there’s Ready One, Ready Two, and Ready Three. Ready One means the creator has a functional prototype, but still needs to complete some design and engineering work before they can start production. Ready Two badges are for slightly more developed projects. These are given to creators who have done all their engineering and design work, and only need to finalize their certifications and tooling before the’re ready to manufacture. The highest level of readiness, Ready Three, is given to creators who are very far along in the product development process, and can begin manufacturing as soon as they gather up enough money to pay the factory.

Keeping the faith

This system serves two important functions. First and foremost, Hardware Studio Connection helps creators with manufacturing and gives them a better shot at success. Second, it also helps backers make more informed choices when before pledging their support to a project.

“The idea here is that this gives backers a better sense of how ready a creator is when they launch their Kickstarter, and that helps backers make better decisions.” Terra explains. “We know that certain backers are more accepting of risk than others, so this gives them one additional signal to use when determining whether or not they want to support a project.”

Toru Yamanaka/Getty

More broadly, this initiative also serves a third function: Boosting the public’s faith in crowdfunding — something that’s arguably waned in the past few years as the Kickstarter/Indiegogo graveyard has filled up with Coolest Coolers and Lily drones. With each new flop, faith in the idea of crowdfunding takes a hit. But now that Kickstarter’s Hardware Studio Connection is here, and Indiegogo has rolled out a similar program, it seems that crowdfunding platforms are finally taking steps to address the problem.

“In order for this ecosystem to thrive, there has to be a balance between backers and creators,” says Terra, “and one of the things that we believe creators need to embrace is a certain level of transparency. That’s why, many years ago, Kickstarter made rules requiring creators to feature demos of a working prototype, and also why we prohibited realistic renderings. The Hardware Studio Connection program is different in that it’s an optional thing and it’s something that creators can choose to engage in, but I think it serves a very similar purpose. It’s another step that we’re taking to continue to shore up this foundation of trust that is so crucial for our community to continue to flourish.”

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Intel’s 10nm CPU finally makes it to retail in a refreshed Lenovo IdeaPad laptop

A laptop now listed in Asia is one of the first to sport Intel’s 10nm “Cannon Lake” processor. More specifically, it’s the unannounced Intel Core i3-8121U that just appeared in the company’s database sporting two cores with a base speed of 2.20GHz and a maximum speed of 3.20GHz. Both listings reveal that Intel’s 10nm processors are finally beginning to emerge on the market. 

Intel first teased its 10nm processor at the beginning of 2017, packing it into a superthin 2-in-1 device. Products were scheduled to roll out later that year, but the launch never happened. Intel instead pushed back its Cannon Lake rollout until 2018 due to manufacturing difficulties stemming from the 10nm process. The smaller the processor components, the more problematic the manufacturing process becomes, producing a higher number of defective chips. 

Don’t expect a massive flood of Cannon Lake-based devices in 2018. Production is low volume for now until Intel gets a handle on the 10nm process to produce “acceptable” yields. According to the company’s first-quarter financial results for 2018, Intel shifted its “volume” production of 10nm chips to 2019. Meanwhile, the company will continue to make optimizations to its 14nm process technology. 

Technically, Intel’s Cannon Lake processor is a reduced version (aka, die shrink) of its optimized seventh-generation “Kaby Lake” design but falls within the company’s eighth-generation family of CPUs. Surprisingly, there’s no onboard graphics component, thus laptops will need a discrete graphics chip. The laptop listed in Asia relies on AMD’s Radeon RX 540 GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory dedicated to graphics. 

The notebook in question is a refreshed Lenovo IdeaPad 330-15 sporting a 15.6-inch TN screen with a 1,366 x 768 resolution. Backing Intel’s CPU is 4GB of system memory (1x slot supporting up to 8GB), a 500GB hard drive spinning at 5,400RPM, and an optical drive. 

As for other ingredients, the laptop’s port complement includes HDMI, two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, a gigabit Ethernet port, a headphone/microphone combo jack, and an SD card reader. Connectivity consists of Wireless AC networking and a Bluetooth component. All of this relies on a battery promising a mere two to five hours. 

The Cannon Lake-powered device measures 0.90 inches thick and weighs around 5.5 pounds, which isn’t quite the thin-and-light form factor we were expecting. It’s currently listed for around $449 in Asia, but there’s no ship date for the device just yet. 

Intel started 2018 with its third wave of eighth-generation Coffee Lake processors, adding new desktop and laptop variants in April, including Intel’s first six-core Core i9 mobile chip. The next processor launch will still remain under the eighth-generation banner code-named Whiskey Lake. These four-core chips replace the first wave of eighth-generation processors launched in August 2017 and will be followed by desktop CPUs for enthusiasts code-named Cascade Lake-X before the end of the year. 

Given the Core i3-8121U is an eighth-generation chip, the Cannon Lake family should be the last of Intel’s eighth-generation lineup in 2019. They will be succeeded by Intel’s ninth-generation “Ice Lake” 10nm processor lineup. 

Intel’s 10nm CPU finally makes it to retail in a refreshed Lenovo IdeaPad laptop

A laptop now listed in Asia is one of the first to sport Intel’s 10nm “Cannon Lake” processor. More specifically, it’s the unannounced Intel Core i3-8121U that just appeared in the company’s database sporting two cores with a base speed of 2.20GHz and a maximum speed of 3.20GHz. Both listings reveal that Intel’s 10nm processors are finally beginning to emerge on the market. 

Intel first teased its 10nm processor at the beginning of 2017, packing it into a superthin 2-in-1 device. Products were scheduled to roll out later that year, but the launch never happened. Intel instead pushed back its Cannon Lake rollout until 2018 due to manufacturing difficulties stemming from the 10nm process. The smaller the processor components, the more problematic the manufacturing process becomes, producing a higher number of defective chips. 

Don’t expect a massive flood of Cannon Lake-based devices in 2018. Production is low volume for now until Intel gets a handle on the 10nm process to produce “acceptable” yields. According to the company’s first-quarter financial results for 2018, Intel shifted its “volume” production of 10nm chips to 2019. Meanwhile, the company will continue to make optimizations to its 14nm process technology. 

Technically, Intel’s Cannon Lake processor is a reduced version (aka, die shrink) of its optimized seventh-generation “Kaby Lake” design but falls within the company’s eighth-generation family of CPUs. Surprisingly, there’s no onboard graphics component, thus laptops will need a discrete graphics chip. The laptop listed in Asia relies on AMD’s Radeon RX 540 GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory dedicated to graphics. 

The notebook in question is a refreshed Lenovo IdeaPad 330-15 sporting a 15.6-inch TN screen with a 1,366 x 768 resolution. Backing Intel’s CPU is 4GB of system memory (1x slot supporting up to 8GB), a 500GB hard drive spinning at 5,400RPM, and an optical drive. 

As for other ingredients, the laptop’s port complement includes HDMI, two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, a gigabit Ethernet port, a headphone/microphone combo jack, and an SD card reader. Connectivity consists of Wireless AC networking and a Bluetooth component. All of this relies on a battery promising a mere two to five hours. 

The Cannon Lake-powered device measures 0.90 inches thick and weighs around 5.5 pounds, which isn’t quite the thin-and-light form factor we were expecting. It’s currently listed for around $449 in Asia, but there’s no ship date for the device just yet. 

Intel started 2018 with its third wave of eighth-generation Coffee Lake processors, adding new desktop and laptop variants in April, including Intel’s first six-core Core i9 mobile chip. The next processor launch will still remain under the eighth-generation banner code-named Whiskey Lake. These four-core chips replace the first wave of eighth-generation processors launched in August 2017 and will be followed by desktop CPUs for enthusiasts code-named Cascade Lake-X before the end of the year. 

Given the Core i3-8121U is an eighth-generation chip, the Cannon Lake family should be the last of Intel’s eighth-generation lineup in 2019. They will be succeeded by Intel’s ninth-generation “Ice Lake” 10nm processor lineup. 

Here’s everything we know about the HTC Exodus smartphone

Nowadays, it seems tough to escape blockchain technology — especially with the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As part of what HTC claims is its “effort to expand the blockchain ecosystem,” the company introduced its latest blockchain phone known as the HTC Exodus. The announcement comes almost one week before the launch of its latest flagship, the HTC U12.

While there aren’t too many details on the new smartphone, the company did give some idea of what to expect. Here’s everything we know so far.

Design

HTC hasn’t released any official images of what the Exodus will look like. Instead, the company posted a rough sketch of what appear to be the smartphone’s components. The vague sketch only displays what might be found under the hood, as well as on the back of the device.

Specs

There aren’t any details when it comes to specs either. We’ll have to wait to find out specifications such as the type of processor, battery, or even screen size the Exodus will feature. As of right now, we do know the device will include a universal wallet and built-in hardware to support cryptocurrencies and decentralized applications.

Initially, it will launch with support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dfinity networks, and Lightning Network, but the company says it will eventually support the entire blockchain ecosystem. HTC plans on creating a native blockchain network with all eExodus phones, in an effort to double and triple the number of nodes of Ethereum and Bitcoin.

The device will also feature what’s supposed to be a trusted and user-friendly UI for DApps. By bringing DApps to mobile, HTC hopes to streamline the mobile user experience throughout the DApp community as a whole.

Release date and availability

There’s currently no information on when the device will be released, but the HTC Exodus landing page does include a “Reserve” button. Users can fill out a form with their name and email address, and are then prompted to check off the “Yes, I want an Exodus” box.

While there’s no price set for the device quite yet, HTC announced that it might even accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

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Nokia 7 Plus review: The perfect mid-range smartphone

First unveiled at MWC 2018 in Barcelona, the Nokia 7 Plus was positioned as the mid-range device in HMD Global’s 2018 portfolio of Nokia phones. A couple of months down the track and here is our full Nokia 7 Plus review.

After the pitch of “pure and up-to-date Android” last year, the company has now adopted Android One across the board. The trusted stock Android experience, combined with a competent specifications sheet makes the Nokia 7 Plus seem well-rounded on paper.

With a host of new releases, the Nokia brand is having a resurgence under new custodian HMD Global, generating a lot of consumer attention in the process. Is the Nokia 7 Plus the device to translate that interest into sales?

For this review, I took the Indian variant of the Nokia 7 Plus for a spin. My colleague, Adam Sinicki, used the same unit to shoot the video review in the UK.Show More

Design

The Nokia 7 Plus scores high on aesthetics. It exudes class and looks gorgeous. The phone’s copper accents — the strip running along the edges, the buttons, and the rings around the camera module and fingerprint scanner — make it really stand out.

The Nokia 7 Plus features an 18:9 display which dominates the front of the phone, with just a small chin at the bottom and Nokia branding on the bezel on the top. The rounded edges make the phone nice and comfortable to grip. The soft matte finish and ceramic coating on the back give it a nice tactile feel which will help prevent the phone from slipping out of your hand.

The camera module protrudes slightly from the back, but the copper trim would likely protect the lenses from picking up scratches.

Built from a single block of series 6000 aluminum, the Nokia 7 Plus feels solid and well built. At 183 grams, it’s a little hefty, but the weight is distributed quite well.

Overall, the Nokia 7 Plus is a well-built smartphone that looks more premium than its price would indicate. It will no doubt have a lot of people gawking in a coffee shop.

Display

The Nokia 7 Plus sports a 6-inch IPS LCD Full HD+ display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of 402ppi. It is the first device in the Nokia portfolio to adopt the newer trend of taller displays.

Overall, the display is pretty good. It’s quite vivid and the viewing angles are great. For an LCD, the blacks are so deep you’d almost mistake it for an OLED panel. If you prefer more true-to-life colors, you might find the Nokia 7 Plus slightly oversaturated. Personally, I quite like it. Unfortunately, the display is not too bright, so sunlight legibility is not exceptional, though it’s not terrible.

The touch response on the Nokia 7 Plus is perfect and running your thumb across the display while scrolling provides insatnt feedback. There’s also Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch protection.

Performance

Powered by the freshly minted octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset with Adreno 512 GPU, the Nokia 7 Plus packs in 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, expandable up to 256GB with a microSD card. With only default apps running in the background, there’s 2.7GB of RAM available at any point.

The Snapdragon 660 is one of the most powerful SoCs for mid-range smartphones out there, managing flagship-grade performance on a budget by using Kryo 260 cores manufactured with the 14nm FinFET process.

That horsepower combined with stock Android makes the Nokia 7 Plus a solid performer. It can take anything you throw at it without breaking a sweat. It can handle graphics-intensive games at max settings without heating up, even when playing games for an extended length of time.

The Snapdragon 660 is a powerful and frugal processor that makes the Nokia 7 Plus a solid performer.

The Nokia 7 Plus packs in a massive 3,800mAh battery which will easily last a day and a half of moderate usage. Even with my aggressive usage, I managed to carry it through the day with about 20 percent juice still left after dinner. In our standard HD video loop test, it managed over 13 hours.

Once the battery does run out, the Nokia 7 Plus supports Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging. The bundled charger can charge the phone from zero to 100 percent in less than two hours, which is pretty good for a high capacity battery. The phone does get a little hot while charging.

At its price point, the Nokia 7 Plus packs solid innards and outperforms most smartphones with older Snapdragon 600-series processors. It can easily handle the daily grind for most users and offers a smooth Android experience.

Hardware

One of the less talked about features of the Nokia 7 Plus is its spatial audio capture with three microphones which is quite useful for content creators and people who record a lot of videos.

The Nokia 7 Plus is a dual-SIM device, sporting a hybrid tray slot so you can either use two nano-SIMs or a nano-SIM and a microSD card.

The fingerprint scanner on the back works reasonably fast, although it is positioned a little too high for my tastes. If you have small hands, you’re likely to have a little trouble reaching it comfortably.

Camera

The Nokia 7 Plus uses a dual camera setup on the back with Zeiss optics. There’s a 12MP primary lens with f/1.75 aperture and 1.4µm pixel size paired with a 13MP telephoto lens with f/2.6 aperture and 1.0µm pixel size.

The Nokia 7 Plus camera manages to take some great images in daylight with crisp colors and a good amount of detail. The camera often took a bit of time to focus though and action shots came out blurred.

For portraits or bokeh shots, the telephoto lens blurs out the background nicely and the edge detection is quite good. The telephoto lens offers a 2x lossless optical zoom while there’s also 10x digital zoom if you need it.

In low light conditions, some noise does creep in. But thanks to the f/1.75 aperture, the camera manages to capture a good amount of light. Using the Pro mode and fine-tuning the settings gives much better results. The dual-tone LED flash is not overpowering and helps maintain natural skin tone and white balance.

On the front, there’s a 16MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and Zeiss optics. Most selfies have pretty good color reproduction and enough detail to keep your social feeds happy. The beautification mode has a slider to adjust for the level of vanity you can digest.

The rear camera supports 4K video recording at 30fps (the front camera supports 1080p video recording). There’s no optical image stabilization, and the automatic electronic image stabilization works only in 1080p mode. But it works quite well, and combined with the OZO audio technology with spatial recording capabilities, the Nokia 7 Plus manages to capture some great videos. 

Editor’s Pick

Nokia brings back its Pro Camera mode from the dead for its Android phones

As forgettable as Nokia’s Windows Phone days were, they introduced several smartphones whose cameras were more capable than anything else on the market. That was partially thanks to the Nokia Pro Camera mode, which introduced …

The camera app on the Nokia 7 Plus is similar to the one Nokia introduced with the Lumia series back in the day. It offers an intuitive way to fine-tune the settings while looking at the results in real time. There’s also the dual-sight mode, previously marketed as a “bothie,” which lets you take shots or record and stream videos using both front and rear cameras simultaneously. It’s an interesting option for vloggers or if you have kids and pets at home but is pretty pointless for most others.

The camera on the Nokia 7 Plus is pretty good, but it’s not perfect. One expects a little more spark in the camera department on a Nokia phone. That said, there are no showstopping issues and it’s a pretty good camera at its price –  and there’s nothing that cannot be improved with a software update or two.

Software

The Nokia 7 Plus comes with stock Android 8.1 Oreo with support for Project Treble. There are no customizations and no bloatware of any kind. It’s a minimalist Android experience out of the box. The Android One device will also get regular security updates as well as an upgrade to Android P.

HMD Global has a good track record for delivering updates like clockwork across its entire portfolio, so a Nokia phone is the best deal apart from the Pixel devices for fans of a pure and up-to-date Android experience.

Specifications

Display	6.0-inch LCD 2,160 x 1,080 resolution (Full HD+) 403ppi 18:9 aspect ratio
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (64-bit octa-core, 2.2GHz)
GPU	Adreno 512
RAM	4GB
Storage	64GB
Cameras	Rear: Dual 12MP and 13MP telephoto with PDAF and Carl Zeiss optics Front: 13MP f/2.0
Battery	3,800mAh
IP rating	IP54
Software	Android 8.0 Oreo
Dimensions	158.4 x 75.6 x 7.9mm

Gallery

Pricing and final thoughts

The Nokia 7 Plus is a well-rounded mid-range smartphone with a very capable specifications sheet, no-frills Android experience, and good-looking chassis. You’d be hard-pressed to find a flaw with this device, really.

Nokia 7 Plus is a well-rounded package that offers the right amalgamation of performance and aesthetics.

At 25,999 rupees (~$387) in India, some of my media colleagues at the launch said that it was priced a tad high — I disagree. There’s a justifiable premium for visual appeal and dependable hardware that comes in a package with an overall finesse. For me, the Nokia 7 Plus has just the right mix of performance and aesthetics. In a segment that’s usually under-served, the Nokia 7 Plus deserves the crown.

Google’s Revamped News App Now Available on iOS Devices

At its Google I/O developer conference last week, Google debuted a revamped Google News app focusing on balanced news delivery with personalized news suggestions, and as of today, the new Google News app is available for download on the iPhone and iPad.

According to Google, the News app is designed to use “the best of artificial intelligence to find “the best of human intelligence” by taking advantage of new AI techniques to organize a constant flow of new information into digestible storylines.

A “For You” section offers up personalized news suggestions based on user interests, which is designed to learn user preferences through continued usage. It displays five personalized stories with a mix of important headlines and local news.

A “Headlines” section offers the top headlines in the world, and an accompanying “Full Coverage” feature is meant to provide details on all of the different ways a particular story has been presented by a variety of news sources, aggregating the headlines from multiple publications.

Through the “Newsstand” tab, you can discover various news websites as well as more than 1,000 magazines, and you can subscribe to paid news sites like The Washington Post and The New York Times using a Google Play account if so desired.

Google News for iOS replaces the existing Google Play Newsstand app, which has been overhauled with a new name and a new design with the launch of Google News. Full release notes for the update are below:

Google Play Newsstand is now Google News!

What’s new:
– Enjoy an entirely new, cleaner look, designed for a better reading experience
– Get up to speed with a smarter briefing that shows you the top five stories for you right now
– Explore all the coverage of a story in one place. See a timeline of events, FAQs, people and places involved, perspectives, analysis and more for every news story
– Subscribe to credible sources with a single click

Google News can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

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