Google’s ARCore 1.2 brings social AR experiences to your phone

ARCore is no longer tied to just Android. Google announced a few new features expanding the capabilities of its augmented reality platform at its annual Google I/O developer conference. ARCore version 1.2 makes AR social, and we played a collaborative game demonstrating how it all works.

The main attraction is what Google calls “Cloud Anchors,” which allow developers to create more collaborative AR experiences through the cloud — whether you’re on Android or iOS. Google made a demo app called Lightboard, which is a game where two people can shoot paintballs at each other to cover an area with as much color as possible.

A representative using a Pixel 2 hosted the game, and an iPhone with Lightboard installed (which we used) joined. We had to move the phone in a circular motion so it could identify the table, and then it placed a virtual platform in front of us. The game was simple, and worked liked Angry Birds. Just click and drag your gun to shoot the paintballs at the opponent’s platform to cover it in color. It all worked without a hitch, the visuals were static, and we successfully were able to play an AR game between an Android phone and an iPhone in mere seconds.

Only certain iPhones are supported, including the iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, and iPhone X.

Another major update is that ARCore now offers what Google calls “Vertical Plane Detection,” which means you can place virtual objects on more surfaces. In a demo, Google placed a virtual object on a painting that we could only see through an app called Augmented Images. The painting popped right out, and we were able to walk around it to see all sides of it. It’s a great addition to ARCore that makes the whole experience feel more immersive.

Other improvements to ARCore should make for a much easier development process for developers. Google released Sceneform, a new software development kit that helps Java developers implement AR scenes without needing to learn OpenGL. Sceneform is optimized for mobile, and should help developers create more, and better, ARCore apps.

There are already a ton of ARCore-based apps available. Some of the coolest apps include the likes of My Tamagotchi Forever, which allows you to care for and grow your Tamagotchi in Tamatown in an augmented reality setting. There is also Pottery Barn 3D Room View, which lets you see how furniture would look in your room without having to buy that furniture.

All these new tools are available for developers to utilize, so expect them to be major highlight for the next wave of ARCore apps, or as updated features to existing ones.

Updated on May 10: We’ve added videos demonstrating these updates, as well as hands-on impressions.

Can Google really save us from wasting time, or are we on our own?

Google’s annual I/O conference brought no shortage of the futuristic, whiz-bang ideas that we’ve come to expect from the company. We saw artificial intelligence that can call your salon for you, self-driving cars that can navigate in a snowstorm, and augmented-reality directions for Google Maps.

But Google also pitched a curveball in the form of Digital Wellbeing, a suite of features designed to help you use your phone less. A new dashboard will show you how much time you’re burning in different apps, and let you set limits on the biggest time wasters. Setting your phone face down will now activate a “shush” mode that turns off all notifications. At night, your phone can enter a “wind down” mode where everything appears black and white, coaxing you to set it down and sleep.

So is Google really interesting in liberating us from the digital shackles wrapped around our ankles, or is this a feel-good sham from the same company that wants to put notifications and cameras on our faces? Our staff was split, so we settled in for a good old-fashioned DT Debate.

Simon Hill, Associate Mobile Editor

Smartphones have enhanced our lives in many ways: They keep us in touch with people, they help us find places and things to do, and they enable us to capture special moments.

But you can have too much of a good thing, and there’s a growing realization that our smartphones can also detract from our lives.

It’s only by actively interacting with people that we boost our well-being.

We have been conditioned to answer to our phones. Every new ping or alert grabs our attention, because we think it might be something pleasing or important, even though it often isn’t. If you’ve ever had someone take out their phone and check an incoming alert mid-conversation with you at the dinner table, then you know how annoying it can be … but you’ve probably done it yourself.

Our smartphones hold such a treasure trove of potential interest that we can easily spend an hour idly browsing in and out of apps, many of which have been specifically designed to be addictive. When we use apps like Facebook the research suggests that passive consumption makes us feel worse, it’s only by actively interacting with people that we boost our well-being.

Some people even allow their phones to interrupt their sleep, checking them in the night or reading work emails just before bed when they can’t do anything about them anyway. There’s no doubt this is bad for your health. Apart from the increase in stress this creates, there’s also the potential impact of blue light from the screen. Few us of have jobs so important that we need to be instantly contactable 24/7, but that’s the situation smartphones have created.

Google’s Vice President of Product Management, Sameer Samat Google

Google’s new Digital Wellbeing features aren’t going to solve this issue in one fell swoop, because it also requires some awareness and willpower on our part. But what they will make it easier for us to reduce wasted time on our phones. As Google’s Vice President of Product Management, Sameer Samat, said, “People tell us a lot of the time they spend on their phones is really useful. But some of it they wish they’d spent on other things.”

When we looked into whether smartphone addiction exists, we found that awareness was one of the most important first steps in recognizing a problem. When people used the Moment app, which tracks time spent in apps and the number of unlocks you do every day, just like Google’s new Dashboard, it turned out that most were underestimating how long they spent on their phones and how many times they checked them. Being aware helped them reduce that wasted time.

The new App Timer enables you to make sure that 20 minutes of Twitter doesn’t turn into an hour.

Wind Down, which goes a step beyond blue-light filtering to turn your screen from color to grayscale, is a nice reminder that it’s bedtime. It will help many of us resist the powerful addictive pull of our phones, and get some shuteye instead of five more minutes of Reddit.

Shush is perfect for social situations: Just place your phone face down when you’re having dinner with friends, playing a game with your family, or working on something important, and the distraction is gone. We can decide when we want to check our phones, instead of answering to them all the time.

As the research mounts about the potential negative impact of smartphone use or overuse, it’s refreshing to see a big tech company address it directly like this. Making small changes to the way we use our smartphones allows us to ensure that they enhance rather than detract from our lives and these new tools will help.

Andy Boxall, Senior Writer

When Sameer Samat, Google’s VP of product management, said Android Dashboard’s Digital Wellbeing features will help us, “be fully present,” because it will silence those annoying, distracting notifications and ensure we’re not so beholden to the digital devil in our hand, that was the last straw for me. This had to be an elaborate gag, and Samat was actually a new member of the Impractical Jokers team, on stage to prank us all. This is Google, a company that has made, and continues to make, its fortune based on us staring at a screen with its ads and content on it. And it wants us to spend less time doing that? Yeah, right.

Here’s a secret: You can already turn your phone off, which will — newsflash — stop it from disturbing you entirely.

But wait, it’s OK, Google’s in on the joke. It knows that these features won’t make much of a difference to its bottom line, because they don’t work. Wait, say the well-intentioned but misguided souls who can’t see through Google’s ruse, it’ll help hopelessly addicted. No, it won’t. Because using and benefitting from any of these things requires self-control, and being unable to stop scrolling through Facebook when you should be sleeping, shows this is currently in short supply for many.

Why such cynicism? The vast majority of the features are already available in third-party apps such as Moment, which clearly haven’t had much of an effect on the hypnotized masses so far. Shush, which silences the phone when you flip it over, has been seen on phones like the HTC Droid Incredible since at least 2010. Sure, not all phones could do it then, and soon it will be preinstalled. But here’s a secret: You can already turn your phone off, which will — newsflash — stop it disturbing you entirely. Or if that’s too jarring, use Airplane Mode. It’s the same, but without the same degree of Band-Aid-ripping finality.

When was the last time you did that? If you’re not sure, then how will a notification saying you’ve been using Snapchat for an hour make any difference to your daily phone use? The passing of time isn’t a mystery. We’re all aware of how much time we spend procrastinating on our phones, yet we don’t do anything much about it, despite the tools already available.

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

I was told, when I first scoffed at the digital wellbeing farce, that I was out of step with common consensus, and it has been widely well received. Of course it has. Everyone will agree it’s a good thing, and it truly has the potential to help tackle what (if I’m serious for a moment) is a genuine, growing issue, particularly among young people.

Except it won’t, because we don’t really want it to. Using a phone too much is the same as any other activity that affects our health and wellbeing. We all-too-often choose to worry about it another day.

Using and benefitting from any of these things requires self-control.

Google’s concern for your digital wellbeing is a cursory nod in the direction of those who enjoy telling others what they’re doing wrong. The don’t-eat-red-meat, cut-down-on-booze, careful-with-that-chocolate-cake crowd. The inclusion of Dashboard in Android P is a pacifier for those same people who moan about big companies not helping us break free of our phones to suck on. “We’re doing all we can,” Google will say, and in fact, it is. It’s us that’s the problem. We won’t take ownership of any possible addiction, because if we were genuinely concerned and motivated, we’d have done so already.

Samat’s wife had a third, and very effective method of curbing phone use. She locked it in a safe at the beginning of a holiday, and didn’t give it back until the end. How about trying that after work?

Simon Hill

Just because these features are already in third-party apps and other phones doesn’t mean they’re useless or don’t work. It’s an Android tradition to pick the best functions from manufacturer UIs and popular apps and bake them into the platform.

It’s not like they’re aiming to stop people using their phones, it’s about cutting down when you’re overdoing it, and the evidence suggests that awareness does make a difference. More than half of people who used Moment to track their activity for at least 30 days reduced their screen time by an average of 24 minutes.

Contrary to your belief, people don’t realize how much time they’re spending on their phones. Most of us lack your impeccable internal clock and it’s very easy to get lost in a game or app and not notice the time passing. There’s a difference between a general feeling that you’re using your phone too much and setting eyes on the cold, hard statistics.

Yes, it requires willpower and self-control to reduce your smartphone use, and not everyone will, but that’s not the point. The point is to help people who are concerned and do want to cut down.

If you’re going to reduce things to the old self-control argument, you may as well tell smokers to just quit, alcoholics to stop buying booze, fat people to stop eating, junkies to stop shooting up, or gamblers to stop betting. There’s no point in helping them is there? Because by your logic if they wanted to stop, they’d have done it by now.

The chance that these tools might help some people makes them a good thing, and it’s encouraging people to stop and think about it when they might not have done that before. It’s also not being enforced nanny-style – it’s optional. Decide for yourself.

Andy Boxall

I understand that realization of a problem is one of the first stages of recovery from addiction, and this kind of feature can prompt that. I also agree that people are oblivious to how long they are using their phones. However, as you said, Dashboard and all its tools are optional. All of those addictions you mention aren’t cured by half-measures, are they? They require major lifestyle changes.

If Google, and all the hand-wringers concerned for the future of society, were serious about this and really wanted lives to change, then make Dashboard and its warnings on by default. Force us to go in and turn all those alerts, vibrations, greyscale screens, and app shutouts off. That would get everyone’s attention, even those without my atomic internal clock.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Never happen, right? Uproar would ensue, and that’s because while we say it’s a good thing to cut down, actually doing so would be a pain. It’s much more comforting to know the features are simply there, and that if the mood took us, we could activate them and suddenly rejoice as we gain the time to smell the flowers, feel the sunshine, and listen to children laughing again.

On the whole, society has already decided about this, and that decision is one filled with apathy.

Opinion pieces represent the views of their individual authors, and not Digital Trends.

Editors’ Recommendations

• I wore Levi’s smart jacket for three months, and it changed how I use my phone
• In the fight to protect your PC and privacy, Firefox is on the front line
• How to connect a PlayStation 3 controller to your PC
• Here are 9 tips to help you master ‘Fortnite’ on your phone
• Google Home review

Can Google really save us from wasting time, or are we on our own?

Google’s annual I/O conference brought no shortage of the futuristic, whiz-bang ideas that we’ve come to expect from the company. We saw artificial intelligence that can call your salon for you, self-driving cars that can navigate in a snowstorm, and augmented-reality directions for Google Maps.

But Google also pitched a curveball in the form of Digital Wellbeing, a suite of features designed to help you use your phone less. A new dashboard will show you how much time you’re burning in different apps, and let you set limits on the biggest time wasters. Setting your phone face down will now activate a “shush” mode that turns off all notifications. At night, your phone can enter a “wind down” mode where everything appears black and white, coaxing you to set it down and sleep.

So is Google really interesting in liberating us from the digital shackles wrapped around our ankles, or is this a feel-good sham from the same company that wants to put notifications and cameras on our faces? Our staff was split, so we settled in for a good old-fashioned DT Debate.

Simon Hill, Associate Mobile Editor

Smartphones have enhanced our lives in many ways: They keep us in touch with people, they help us find places and things to do, and they enable us to capture special moments.

But you can have too much of a good thing, and there’s a growing realization that our smartphones can also detract from our lives.

It’s only by actively interacting with people that we boost our well-being.

We have been conditioned to answer to our phones. Every new ping or alert grabs our attention, because we think it might be something pleasing or important, even though it often isn’t. If you’ve ever had someone take out their phone and check an incoming alert mid-conversation with you at the dinner table, then you know how annoying it can be … but you’ve probably done it yourself.

Our smartphones hold such a treasure trove of potential interest that we can easily spend an hour idly browsing in and out of apps, many of which have been specifically designed to be addictive. When we use apps like Facebook the research suggests that passive consumption makes us feel worse, it’s only by actively interacting with people that we boost our well-being.

Some people even allow their phones to interrupt their sleep, checking them in the night or reading work emails just before bed when they can’t do anything about them anyway. There’s no doubt this is bad for your health. Apart from the increase in stress this creates, there’s also the potential impact of blue light from the screen. Few us of have jobs so important that we need to be instantly contactable 24/7, but that’s the situation smartphones have created.

Google’s Vice President of Product Management, Sameer Samat Google

Google’s new Digital Wellbeing features aren’t going to solve this issue in one fell swoop, because it also requires some awareness and willpower on our part. But what they will make it easier for us to reduce wasted time on our phones. As Google’s Vice President of Product Management, Sameer Samat, said, “People tell us a lot of the time they spend on their phones is really useful. But some of it they wish they’d spent on other things.”

When we looked into whether smartphone addiction exists, we found that awareness was one of the most important first steps in recognizing a problem. When people used the Moment app, which tracks time spent in apps and the number of unlocks you do every day, just like Google’s new Dashboard, it turned out that most were underestimating how long they spent on their phones and how many times they checked them. Being aware helped them reduce that wasted time.

The new App Timer enables you to make sure that 20 minutes of Twitter doesn’t turn into an hour.

Wind Down, which goes a step beyond blue-light filtering to turn your screen from color to grayscale, is a nice reminder that it’s bedtime. It will help many of us resist the powerful addictive pull of our phones, and get some shuteye instead of five more minutes of Reddit.

Shush is perfect for social situations: Just place your phone face down when you’re having dinner with friends, playing a game with your family, or working on something important, and the distraction is gone. We can decide when we want to check our phones, instead of answering to them all the time.

As the research mounts about the potential negative impact of smartphone use or overuse, it’s refreshing to see a big tech company address it directly like this. Making small changes to the way we use our smartphones allows us to ensure that they enhance rather than detract from our lives and these new tools will help.

Andy Boxall, Senior Writer

When Sameer Samat, Google’s VP of product management, said Android Dashboard’s Digital Wellbeing features will help us, “be fully present,” because it will silence those annoying, distracting notifications and ensure we’re not so beholden to the digital devil in our hand, that was the last straw for me. This had to be an elaborate gag, and Samat was actually a new member of the Impractical Jokers team, on stage to prank us all. This is Google, a company that has made, and continues to make, its fortune based on us staring at a screen with its ads and content on it. And it wants us to spend less time doing that? Yeah, right.

Here’s a secret: You can already turn your phone off, which will — newsflash — stop it from disturbing you entirely.

But wait, it’s OK, Google’s in on the joke. It knows that these features won’t make much of a difference to its bottom line, because they don’t work. Wait, say the well-intentioned but misguided souls who can’t see through Google’s ruse, it’ll help hopelessly addicted. No, it won’t. Because using and benefitting from any of these things requires self-control, and being unable to stop scrolling through Facebook when you should be sleeping, shows this is currently in short supply for many.

Why such cynicism? The vast majority of the features are already available in third-party apps such as Moment, which clearly haven’t had much of an effect on the hypnotized masses so far. Shush, which silences the phone when you flip it over, has been seen on phones like the HTC Droid Incredible since at least 2010. Sure, not all phones could do it then, and soon it will be preinstalled. But here’s a secret: You can already turn your phone off, which will — newsflash — stop it disturbing you entirely. Or if that’s too jarring, use Airplane Mode. It’s the same, but without the same degree of Band-Aid-ripping finality.

When was the last time you did that? If you’re not sure, then how will a notification saying you’ve been using Snapchat for an hour make any difference to your daily phone use? The passing of time isn’t a mystery. We’re all aware of how much time we spend procrastinating on our phones, yet we don’t do anything much about it, despite the tools already available.

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

I was told, when I first scoffed at the digital wellbeing farce, that I was out of step with common consensus, and it has been widely well received. Of course it has. Everyone will agree it’s a good thing, and it truly has the potential to help tackle what (if I’m serious for a moment) is a genuine, growing issue, particularly among young people.

Except it won’t, because we don’t really want it to. Using a phone too much is the same as any other activity that affects our health and wellbeing. We all-too-often choose to worry about it another day.

Using and benefitting from any of these things requires self-control.

Google’s concern for your digital wellbeing is a cursory nod in the direction of those who enjoy telling others what they’re doing wrong. The don’t-eat-red-meat, cut-down-on-booze, careful-with-that-chocolate-cake crowd. The inclusion of Dashboard in Android P is a pacifier for those same people who moan about big companies not helping us break free of our phones to suck on. “We’re doing all we can,” Google will say, and in fact, it is. It’s us that’s the problem. We won’t take ownership of any possible addiction, because if we were genuinely concerned and motivated, we’d have done so already.

Samat’s wife had a third, and very effective method of curbing phone use. She locked it in a safe at the beginning of a holiday, and didn’t give it back until the end. How about trying that after work?

Simon Hill

Just because these features are already in third-party apps and other phones doesn’t mean they’re useless or don’t work. It’s an Android tradition to pick the best functions from manufacturer UIs and popular apps and bake them into the platform.

It’s not like they’re aiming to stop people using their phones, it’s about cutting down when you’re overdoing it, and the evidence suggests that awareness does make a difference. More than half of people who used Moment to track their activity for at least 30 days reduced their screen time by an average of 24 minutes.

Contrary to your belief, people don’t realize how much time they’re spending on their phones. Most of us lack your impeccable internal clock and it’s very easy to get lost in a game or app and not notice the time passing. There’s a difference between a general feeling that you’re using your phone too much and setting eyes on the cold, hard statistics.

Yes, it requires willpower and self-control to reduce your smartphone use, and not everyone will, but that’s not the point. The point is to help people who are concerned and do want to cut down.

If you’re going to reduce things to the old self-control argument, you may as well tell smokers to just quit, alcoholics to stop buying booze, fat people to stop eating, junkies to stop shooting up, or gamblers to stop betting. There’s no point in helping them is there? Because by your logic if they wanted to stop, they’d have done it by now.

The chance that these tools might help some people makes them a good thing, and it’s encouraging people to stop and think about it when they might not have done that before. It’s also not being enforced nanny-style – it’s optional. Decide for yourself.

Andy Boxall

I understand that realization of a problem is one of the first stages of recovery from addiction, and this kind of feature can prompt that. I also agree that people are oblivious to how long they are using their phones. However, as you said, Dashboard and all its tools are optional. All of those addictions you mention aren’t cured by half-measures, are they? They require major lifestyle changes.

If Google, and all the hand-wringers concerned for the future of society, were serious about this and really wanted lives to change, then make Dashboard and its warnings on by default. Force us to go in and turn all those alerts, vibrations, greyscale screens, and app shutouts off. That would get everyone’s attention, even those without my atomic internal clock.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Never happen, right? Uproar would ensue, and that’s because while we say it’s a good thing to cut down, actually doing so would be a pain. It’s much more comforting to know the features are simply there, and that if the mood took us, we could activate them and suddenly rejoice as we gain the time to smell the flowers, feel the sunshine, and listen to children laughing again.

On the whole, society has already decided about this, and that decision is one filled with apathy.

Opinion pieces represent the views of their individual authors, and not Digital Trends.

Editors’ Recommendations

• I wore Levi’s smart jacket for three months, and it changed how I use my phone
• In the fight to protect your PC and privacy, Firefox is on the front line
• How to connect a PlayStation 3 controller to your PC
• Here are 9 tips to help you master ‘Fortnite’ on your phone
• Google Home review

Everything you need to know about Discord, the chat app for gamers

When playing video games on PC, players often need to solve two problems: Talking to each other, and organizing people long enough to actually get a game going.

Discord is the latest in a long line of apps that solve that problem. The free platform, which blends the approachable chat UI found in apps like Slack with video and voice chat, a la Skype, has quickly become one of the most popular, reporting 90 million users, with 14 million people logging on every day. Discord is great to use to talk to your friends while playing games, but it’s also useful for creating places where people can congregate, meet up to find other players, and socialize.

Here’s everything you need to know about Discord, including where to get it, what it costs, and why you might want to check it out — especially before firing up your next multiplayer game.

So, what is Discord?

Discord is a chat app, similar to programs such as Skype or TeamSpeak, or professional communications platforms like Slack. It’s geared specifically toward video game players, providing them with ways to find each other, coordinate play, and talk while playing. It supports video calls, voice chat, and text, allowing users to get in touch however they please.

Discord is especially useful if you’re trying to play PC games. The app makes chatting pretty easy, and offers search functions that can help you find other people and add them to a friends list for quick communication. Lots of people use it not just for talking to each other while playing games, but as an organizational and social tool.

Thanks to this breadth of functionality, users have also embraced Discord as a semipublic, forum-style community platform: Groups of players with common interests, such as fans of a particular game or studio, can create or join “servers,” both public and private, where lots of people can meet and hang out, chatting via text, video, or voice.

While most of the servers are related to gaming, you can also find public Discord servers that focus on a variety of topics, including things like anime, cryptocurrency, self-improvement, and just making friends and hanging out. There’s also nothing requiring servers be created for gaming, so if you want a place in Discord to discuss a topic, you can always make one. Handy places to find and search for public servers include Discord.me, Disboard.org and Discordservers.com.

Oh, and finally, Discord is free.

What separates Discord from other platforms?

Though there are a lot of free communication programs online, Discord stands out thanks to its wide array of chat options. It combines all the best features of more commonly used programs, such as Skype and Slack, with an easy-to-use interface. A voice chat program wouldn’t be much use if it slowed down your games while you’re using it, so the team making Discord is dedicated to making it as efficient as possible.

That versatility has led large groups of users to embrace Discord as a place to meet and chat with people who have similar interest, not just friends. It’s part communications app, part social media portal. While the chat room side of the app, in which users can join public or private “servers,” is probably its most popular, it also provides a social forum that’s great for organizing people to play games as well. Essentially, you don’t need video games to make Discord useful: It’s extremely handy for joining with groups of friends in a private server, or meeting like-minded folks in public ones.

Discord is also accessible through a number of means, which makes it easy to use even if you’re not sitting in front of a gaming PC. The app has a downloadable PC program you can run on your computer — which is the handy, lightweight version best for running in the background while you play games — as well as a web-based version and a mobile version. That means you can interact with people in your Discord chat servers from basically anywhere, extending the social capabilities of the app.

Find a server (or make one)

So how does Discord work? In a word: “Servers.” As with other chat apps, such as Slack, Discord lets you set up a chat room it refers to as a server, to which you can invite people. When you invite someone to the server, they get a link that lets them join it, where they can either text or voice chat with other people using that server. Each server can be broken down further into “channels,” small spaces for discussions on specific topics, as opposed to one giant live forum. Channels come in text and voice versions, to further make them easier to use. You can also make individual channels on your server private, so only people who are invited into those rooms can use them. On top of that, the whole server can be either public, which anyone can join, or private, which makes it invite-only.

You can be a part of multiple servers at a time, making Discord a hub for social interaction. You might have one private server for you and your friends specifically, so you can coordinate before playing a game, while also being a part of several public servers (we joined the local Pokémon Go Discord server to try to find people to raid with, for example). There’s no limit on how many servers you can be a part of. You can easily switch from server to server at will: The list of your servers is always displayed on the left side of the app, and choosing your destination is simply a matter of clicking one or another.

Joining a server is as easy as clicking a link, though, generally speaking, you need to be invited first. Many servers are public and available through Discord’s search function — for instance, Pokémon Go players in Los Angeles have a public “PoGo LA” server to coordinate playing the game in their city, and anybody can join it. Discord also recently added “verified servers” — official servers created by game studios and other notable entities that serve as official community forums for fans to chat with each other, and with game developers.

Creating a server of your own is also a snap. A vertical list along the left side of the app shows the servers you’re already in, so you can switch between them easily. A “Plus” icon is the spot where you can make a server of your own. Give it a name (and a photo to define it, if you like) and that’s it — the server exists and Discord generates a link that lets you invite other people to use it.

Once inside, your server will have lists for voice and text channels on the left side of the screen. You can quickly add and name new channels using the “Plus” icons near the top of each list. Each channel has various control settings, as well, including the ability to make them private and invite-only, and choose who can create invite links.

Make friends

Like most other chat apps, Discord also supports the ability for you to create a list of “friends” who use the app that you can contact directly outside of any servers.

The easiest way to add friends to your list is by finding their names in servers you’ve already joined. You can right-click on a user name to find an “Add Friend” button at the bottom of the screen, which will send a friend request to that user. You can also click a user name and pull up that person’s User Profile, where another button is located for you to add the person as a friend.

It’s also possible to search for users and add them as friends. If you know their user name and they’ve set their privacy settings to allow for search, you can find them using the search field at the top-left of the screen. You can then add those public people as friends just by clicking on the photos of any user on the list.

You can also send friend requests directly from your friend list, without doing a search. From your friend list in the Discord client program, you can click the blue “Add Friend” button near the top-left side of the screen. That’ll bring up a field that lets you add the person’s complete user name and their four-digit “DiscordTag.” The user name you’re looking for should come out like this: HelpyHelpnotbot#8877. You’ll need to get that info from your friend to add them on Discord, though.

Once you’ve got some friends, clicking their names on your friends list allows you to quickly open up a direct message feed with them, or request video and voice calls. You can add set up a group video or voice chat with multiple friends, even without a server.

Connect accounts and build a profile

Discord lets you connect other social media accounts to the app to make it easier to track down people you know and flesh out your user profile. Since the app combines private communications with public chat rooms, connecting accounts goes beyond the usual use of finding people you’re already friends with to connect to on Discord. It also makes it easier for people to know who you are in the real world, should you so choose.

Connecting accounts is easy and works the same as with other chat or social media apps — mostly by just allowing you to connect by prompting you for your password for other accounts. The additional functionality of being able to find people you meet on Discord on other media portals has the added function of making Discord into more of a social network itself. If you’re using it to access public servers to find like-minded players in various games, it can be a handy way to meet people.

Texting it up

As you start navigating servers and channels, you can write text messages to anyone quickly and easily using the text field at the bottom of the Discord screen. There’s a lot more going on here than just knocking out quick messages, though. You can drag GIFs and images into chat by dragging them into the text field, or using the “upload” button on the left side of the text window. If you want to edit or delete one of your messages, right-click it to get a drop-down menu with those options.

Text on Discord also supports “Markdown,” giving you quick and easy ways to alter the text in your Discord chats without having to learn actual coding. Markdown is especially useful for doing things like adding bold, italics, and other formatting to your text messages. Its tricks are easy to learn, and Discord has a blog post explaining how it all works, so you can elevate your text game.

Be heard

Voice chat on Discord is pretty easy. Entering a voice channel on a server automatically kicks on your microphone, provided you have a working one attached to your computer. You can also access voice chat by creating voice calls or group calls to friends by clicking the phone icon on your Friends List.

Once you’re in voice chat, Discord offers some handy quick controls at the bottom of the voice chat window or channel window. Clicking the microphone icon mutes your own mic instantly, while clicking the headphones icon activates “deafen.” That kills all incoming sound from Discord, as well as mutes your microphone. You can also adjust your audio settings for voice chat and video in the Settings menu, which is accessed by clicking the gear icon. Getting out of a voice call or voice channel on a server requires you to hit the “hang-up” icon, which is a phone with an arrow pointing down.

Control who you see and hear

Just because you share a server with someone doesn’t mean you have to listen to them. Discord includes all the social media-style features that let you determine how you interact with people. Right-clicking a person’s name on the server list prompts a drop-down with a number of options, such as sending a private message, adding the person to your friend list, initiating a voice call, and muting or blocking them. Muting a user means you don’t see their texts or hear their voice, but they can still see and hear you. Blocking someone prevents them from seeing and hearing you as well.

When you’re an admin on a server — either because you created it or because the admin of a server you’re on gave you that power — you have even more control over undesirable people hanging around. Right-clicking names includes the ability to deafen users so they can’t hear anything from other users, or to ban them from a server outright.

Going mobile

All of Discord’s desktop and web functionality is also made available in its mobile app. You don’t need to be at your computer to stay connected with other people in your servers, or to your friends. Like the other versions, you can use the mobile Discord app to find servers, locate other users, and chat in general. There’s effectively no difference between the versions, which makes Discord even more useful — you can be always connected to other players, and potential games, no matter where you are.

Where do you get Discord?

You can find the web and PC versions of Discord on the program’s website, discordapp.com. You can also use Discord on Android and iOS mobile devices, by downloading its apps from the Google Play Store and the iTunes App Store.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• Have a big group chat? Messenger adds admin tools and links for groups
• Mozilla’s ‘Hubs’ builds a chatroom in VR for any browser and headset

Everything you need to know about Discord, the chat app for gamers

When playing video games on PC, players often need to solve two problems: Talking to each other, and organizing people long enough to actually get a game going.

Discord is the latest in a long line of apps that solve that problem. The free platform, which blends the approachable chat UI found in apps like Slack with video and voice chat, a la Skype, has quickly become one of the most popular, reporting 90 million users, with 14 million people logging on every day. Discord is great to use to talk to your friends while playing games, but it’s also useful for creating places where people can congregate, meet up to find other players, and socialize.

Here’s everything you need to know about Discord, including where to get it, what it costs, and why you might want to check it out — especially before firing up your next multiplayer game.

So, what is Discord?

Discord is a chat app, similar to programs such as Skype or TeamSpeak, or professional communications platforms like Slack. It’s geared specifically toward video game players, providing them with ways to find each other, coordinate play, and talk while playing. It supports video calls, voice chat, and text, allowing users to get in touch however they please.

Discord is especially useful if you’re trying to play PC games. The app makes chatting pretty easy, and offers search functions that can help you find other people and add them to a friends list for quick communication. Lots of people use it not just for talking to each other while playing games, but as an organizational and social tool.

Thanks to this breadth of functionality, users have also embraced Discord as a semipublic, forum-style community platform: Groups of players with common interests, such as fans of a particular game or studio, can create or join “servers,” both public and private, where lots of people can meet and hang out, chatting via text, video, or voice.

While most of the servers are related to gaming, you can also find public Discord servers that focus on a variety of topics, including things like anime, cryptocurrency, self-improvement, and just making friends and hanging out. There’s also nothing requiring servers be created for gaming, so if you want a place in Discord to discuss a topic, you can always make one. Handy places to find and search for public servers include Discord.me, Disboard.org and Discordservers.com.

Oh, and finally, Discord is free.

What separates Discord from other platforms?

Though there are a lot of free communication programs online, Discord stands out thanks to its wide array of chat options. It combines all the best features of more commonly used programs, such as Skype and Slack, with an easy-to-use interface. A voice chat program wouldn’t be much use if it slowed down your games while you’re using it, so the team making Discord is dedicated to making it as efficient as possible.

That versatility has led large groups of users to embrace Discord as a place to meet and chat with people who have similar interest, not just friends. It’s part communications app, part social media portal. While the chat room side of the app, in which users can join public or private “servers,” is probably its most popular, it also provides a social forum that’s great for organizing people to play games as well. Essentially, you don’t need video games to make Discord useful: It’s extremely handy for joining with groups of friends in a private server, or meeting like-minded folks in public ones.

Discord is also accessible through a number of means, which makes it easy to use even if you’re not sitting in front of a gaming PC. The app has a downloadable PC program you can run on your computer — which is the handy, lightweight version best for running in the background while you play games — as well as a web-based version and a mobile version. That means you can interact with people in your Discord chat servers from basically anywhere, extending the social capabilities of the app.

Find a server (or make one)

So how does Discord work? In a word: “Servers.” As with other chat apps, such as Slack, Discord lets you set up a chat room it refers to as a server, to which you can invite people. When you invite someone to the server, they get a link that lets them join it, where they can either text or voice chat with other people using that server. Each server can be broken down further into “channels,” small spaces for discussions on specific topics, as opposed to one giant live forum. Channels come in text and voice versions, to further make them easier to use. You can also make individual channels on your server private, so only people who are invited into those rooms can use them. On top of that, the whole server can be either public, which anyone can join, or private, which makes it invite-only.

You can be a part of multiple servers at a time, making Discord a hub for social interaction. You might have one private server for you and your friends specifically, so you can coordinate before playing a game, while also being a part of several public servers (we joined the local Pokémon Go Discord server to try to find people to raid with, for example). There’s no limit on how many servers you can be a part of. You can easily switch from server to server at will: The list of your servers is always displayed on the left side of the app, and choosing your destination is simply a matter of clicking one or another.

Joining a server is as easy as clicking a link, though, generally speaking, you need to be invited first. Many servers are public and available through Discord’s search function — for instance, Pokémon Go players in Los Angeles have a public “PoGo LA” server to coordinate playing the game in their city, and anybody can join it. Discord also recently added “verified servers” — official servers created by game studios and other notable entities that serve as official community forums for fans to chat with each other, and with game developers.

Creating a server of your own is also a snap. A vertical list along the left side of the app shows the servers you’re already in, so you can switch between them easily. A “Plus” icon is the spot where you can make a server of your own. Give it a name (and a photo to define it, if you like) and that’s it — the server exists and Discord generates a link that lets you invite other people to use it.

Once inside, your server will have lists for voice and text channels on the left side of the screen. You can quickly add and name new channels using the “Plus” icons near the top of each list. Each channel has various control settings, as well, including the ability to make them private and invite-only, and choose who can create invite links.

Make friends

Like most other chat apps, Discord also supports the ability for you to create a list of “friends” who use the app that you can contact directly outside of any servers.

The easiest way to add friends to your list is by finding their names in servers you’ve already joined. You can right-click on a user name to find an “Add Friend” button at the bottom of the screen, which will send a friend request to that user. You can also click a user name and pull up that person’s User Profile, where another button is located for you to add the person as a friend.

It’s also possible to search for users and add them as friends. If you know their user name and they’ve set their privacy settings to allow for search, you can find them using the search field at the top-left of the screen. You can then add those public people as friends just by clicking on the photos of any user on the list.

You can also send friend requests directly from your friend list, without doing a search. From your friend list in the Discord client program, you can click the blue “Add Friend” button near the top-left side of the screen. That’ll bring up a field that lets you add the person’s complete user name and their four-digit “DiscordTag.” The user name you’re looking for should come out like this: HelpyHelpnotbot#8877. You’ll need to get that info from your friend to add them on Discord, though.

Once you’ve got some friends, clicking their names on your friends list allows you to quickly open up a direct message feed with them, or request video and voice calls. You can add set up a group video or voice chat with multiple friends, even without a server.

Connect accounts and build a profile

Discord lets you connect other social media accounts to the app to make it easier to track down people you know and flesh out your user profile. Since the app combines private communications with public chat rooms, connecting accounts goes beyond the usual use of finding people you’re already friends with to connect to on Discord. It also makes it easier for people to know who you are in the real world, should you so choose.

Connecting accounts is easy and works the same as with other chat or social media apps — mostly by just allowing you to connect by prompting you for your password for other accounts. The additional functionality of being able to find people you meet on Discord on other media portals has the added function of making Discord into more of a social network itself. If you’re using it to access public servers to find like-minded players in various games, it can be a handy way to meet people.

Texting it up

As you start navigating servers and channels, you can write text messages to anyone quickly and easily using the text field at the bottom of the Discord screen. There’s a lot more going on here than just knocking out quick messages, though. You can drag GIFs and images into chat by dragging them into the text field, or using the “upload” button on the left side of the text window. If you want to edit or delete one of your messages, right-click it to get a drop-down menu with those options.

Text on Discord also supports “Markdown,” giving you quick and easy ways to alter the text in your Discord chats without having to learn actual coding. Markdown is especially useful for doing things like adding bold, italics, and other formatting to your text messages. Its tricks are easy to learn, and Discord has a blog post explaining how it all works, so you can elevate your text game.

Be heard

Voice chat on Discord is pretty easy. Entering a voice channel on a server automatically kicks on your microphone, provided you have a working one attached to your computer. You can also access voice chat by creating voice calls or group calls to friends by clicking the phone icon on your Friends List.

Once you’re in voice chat, Discord offers some handy quick controls at the bottom of the voice chat window or channel window. Clicking the microphone icon mutes your own mic instantly, while clicking the headphones icon activates “deafen.” That kills all incoming sound from Discord, as well as mutes your microphone. You can also adjust your audio settings for voice chat and video in the Settings menu, which is accessed by clicking the gear icon. Getting out of a voice call or voice channel on a server requires you to hit the “hang-up” icon, which is a phone with an arrow pointing down.

Control who you see and hear

Just because you share a server with someone doesn’t mean you have to listen to them. Discord includes all the social media-style features that let you determine how you interact with people. Right-clicking a person’s name on the server list prompts a drop-down with a number of options, such as sending a private message, adding the person to your friend list, initiating a voice call, and muting or blocking them. Muting a user means you don’t see their texts or hear their voice, but they can still see and hear you. Blocking someone prevents them from seeing and hearing you as well.

When you’re an admin on a server — either because you created it or because the admin of a server you’re on gave you that power — you have even more control over undesirable people hanging around. Right-clicking names includes the ability to deafen users so they can’t hear anything from other users, or to ban them from a server outright.

Going mobile

All of Discord’s desktop and web functionality is also made available in its mobile app. You don’t need to be at your computer to stay connected with other people in your servers, or to your friends. Like the other versions, you can use the mobile Discord app to find servers, locate other users, and chat in general. There’s effectively no difference between the versions, which makes Discord even more useful — you can be always connected to other players, and potential games, no matter where you are.

Where do you get Discord?

You can find the web and PC versions of Discord on the program’s website, discordapp.com. You can also use Discord on Android and iOS mobile devices, by downloading its apps from the Google Play Store and the iTunes App Store.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Free Pluto VR chat and messaging app for gamers enters Early Access on Steam
• How to use Skype
• Hang out via video chat, then tag friends in Stories with Snapchat’s new tools
• Have a big group chat? Messenger adds admin tools and links for groups
• Mozilla’s ‘Hubs’ builds a chatroom in VR for any browser and headset

The iPhone’s viewfinder might soon let you see both cameras simultaneously

Apple may be considering beefing up the viewfinder in the camera app for dual-lens iPhones. The company was awarded a new patent that shows views from both camera sensors on the display at the same time, essentially allowing users to see the difference between two cameras and better judge which would be better for a particular use.

The new patent is called “Digital Viewfinder User Interface for Multiple Cameras,” and shows that users would be able to zoom from both cameras where appropriate, and even offer a composite image when the appropriate zoom for a particular setting sits between the two cameras. Users would also be able to zoom each camera individually from the viewfinder.

The feature would likely be pretty helpful, if it was ever deployed. Sometimes, it makes sense to use a telephoto lens rather than the standard lens on the iPhone, but camera users can’t always discern when to use which camera. Currently, the iPhone automatically switches lenses depending on the zoom — but some prefer to have a little more control over their shots. In the patent application, it can be seen that it would also apply to video — and users could even record video from the two cameras at the same time.

The patent is actually a continuation of a patent that was first filed in 2015, and it’s unclear why Apple didn’t implement it when it was first awarded the patent. It’s possible the company didn’t use it because of the toll it would have on processing power — it already takes quite a bit of power to use one camera sensor. Still, as time goes on and Apple’s processors get more powerful, it’s possible the company could reconsider it — and the fact that it filed a continuation proves that it’s still something Apple might be working on. Of course, Apple regularly files new patents, and they often don’t make it into a new product, so it’s entirely possible that this is simply another patent that ends up never being used.

If implemented, we imagine that the new viewfinder will show up as an option, but not as the default view in the camera. Apple is also rumored to be adding a third camera to a new iPhone model — and if that happens the company may have to take the concept to the next level.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Here’s what Google Lens’ Style Match, Smart Text Selection features look like

Like a pair of sneakers someone’s wearing? Or maybe a dress? There are quite a few apps and services — like Amazon’s Firefly or Samsung’s Bixby Vision — that let you simply point your smartphone camera at the object and search for it, or similar styles. Google is following suit with a similar feature in Google Lens, but it has the potential to reach far more people.

Google Lens is currently built into the Google Assistant on Android phones, as well as Google Photos. It lets you point the smartphone camera at objects to identify them, teach you more about landmarks, recognize QR codes, pull contact information from business cards, and more. At its annual Google I/O developer conference, the search giant announced four new improvements to Lens, and we got to try it out.

Built into camera apps

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

Google Lens is now built into the camera app on phones from 10 manufacturers: LG, Motorola, Xiaomi, Sony, Nokia, Transsion, TCL, OnePlus, BQ, Asus. That is not including Google’s very own Google Pixel 2. You are still able to access it through Google Assistant on all Android phones.

We got a chance to try it out on the recently announced LG G7 ThinQ, and the new option sits right next to the phone’s Portrait Mode.

Style Match

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

The biggest addition to Lens in this I/O announcement is Style Match. Like Bixby Vision or Amazon Firefly, you can point the smartphone camera at certain objects to find similar items. We pointed it at a few dresses and shoes, and were able to find similar-looking items, if not the exact same item. Once you find what you’re looking for, you can purchase it if available directly through Google Shopping.

It’s relatively quick, and an easy way to find things you can’t quite write into the Google Search bar.

Smart text selection

Perhaps even more useful is Smart Text Selection. Point Google Lens at text, say like from a book or a menu, and it can single out the text from everything else. You can then tap on the text and copy it or translate it. When we tried it, Lens managed to grab an entire three paragraphs of text, though we’d have to do more testing to see how well it can pick up handwritten text.

Real time

Google Lens now works in real time, so you don’t need to pause and take a photo for it to understand the subject. That means you can point it at several things and you will see it creating colored dots on the objects it grabs information for. Google said it is identifying billions of words, phrases, and things in a split second all thanks to “state-of-the-art machine learning, on-device intelligence, and cloud TPUs.”

Google said it will be rolling out all of these features toward the end of May.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Google Lens’ landmark, text recognition expands to all Android devices
• How to use Samsung’s Bixby assistant for all of your smartphone tasks
• Everything you need to know about Google’s Wear OS for smartwatches
• Flagship face-off: Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus vs. Google’s Pixel 2 XL
• Google’s new recommendation program showcases the best phones for business

Tello review: An in-depth look at the Sprint MVNO

Phone prices show no sign of slowing down, but competition in rate plans and cheaper service options always prove attractive to cost-conscious customers. Consumers like choice and they love when they save a buck or two. To this end, we’re giving our readers a look inside Tello, a relatively new Sprint MVNO that can save you money.

What is Tello?

Tello is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that uses Sprint’s network but charges far less. Sprint customers who have excellent coverage can bring their number and phone over and take advantage of its affordable plan prices. Since Tello runs on Sprint’s network, you can expect much of the same coverage area.

Coverage Area

Sprint has primary coverage, which applies to 4G LTE customers, and an extended coverage area for 3G and 2G customers. Extended coverage customers will face some obstacles with the carrier, as Tello says that its network doesn’t cover Sprint’s extended coverage areas.

Those who live within Sprint’s premier coverage areas (read as: blazing LTE) can expect the very best of Sprint and Tello. Sprint has updated some cities of the US with its new LTE Plus network; Tello takes advantage of it as well.

To view your coverage on Tello, go to the carrier’s main page and select “Support” at the top right, then “Coverage” under support options. Enter your address, city, state, and zip code to check 3G and LTE coverage.

One more important thing to know: Tello provides information at your given residential address regarding both indoor and outdoor coverage. Some locations only have outdoor coverage, so bear this in mind.

Tello advises that it wants to make sure all of its potential customers know what they’re getting into. It asks that customers enter their information during the signup process so Tello knows if it can provide service in a given area. We gave them high marks for this proactive approach.

Plans and Pricing

What helps Tello stand out from many MVNOs is that it lets you “mix and match” what minutes/texts/data combo works best for you. A 100 texting minutes with no internet (basic) phone plan costs just $5 a month.

Unlimited calls and texts are $11 a month; data prices range from $7 (200MB) to $34 (10GB) per month. The highest plan with unlimited calls, texts, and 10GB of data costs $39 a month.

Tello’s pricing is more affordable than Google’s Project Fi (another MVNO that utilizes Sprint). Unlimited calls and text are $5 monthly while the same on Fi costs $20. Tello’s 10GB of data costs $34, but Google’s new Bill Protection Plan offers 9GB of LTE for free after paying for the first 6GB ($10 per GB).

Where Project Fi gains the advantage is in its tri-carrier support. Aside from Sprint’s towers, it also takes advantage of T-Mobile and US Cellular for coverage.

Ting, another Sprint MVNO charges separately for both calls and texts, which contrasts with Tello’s combo price for the same. Whereas Ting charges $10 per GB beyond the first 2GB, it allows for more than Tello’s 10GB data allotment.

Although 10GB data is the maximum allowed, you do get unlimited 2G data after you’ve reached your data limit. Throttled speeds are better than no internet, right?

While Tello prizes itself on plan flexibility, it does offer some ready-made plans for customers who want to “pick and run.” For what it’s worth ,calls to Canada, China, and Mexico are included in all call plans at no additional charge.

If a low-cost plan isn’t your thing, Tello also offers pay-as-you-go options. Calls in the US will run you $.03/minute and just a penny to send a text. Data is rather expensive though at $2/MB. You can also call places like India, Namibia, and Cuba for a nominal fee.

Service and Activation

To start service, visit the carrier website and select “Join” at the top right. Fill out the needed information, then join. Tello will contact you for verification before processing your order. The carrier says it verifies every customer to prevent internet fraud, a wise move in our cyberspace age.

Bring Your Own Device

Sprint customers can bring a Sprint-branded phone to Tello. Tello is careful to point out in its FAQ that “You can enroll into our network any CDMA device free of contract, developed for Sprint or any Sprint MVNO.” If you purchase a phone from Tello, you can request a free SIM card to get started. Bring your own phone, and your SIM card is $9.99.

Additionally, there’s a small list of other devices from other carriers that you can bring to Tello. These include the Apple iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, and SE sold unlocked, or from AT&T or T-Mobile. Additionally, you can bring Verizon-branded Apple iPhone 5S, 5C, 6, 6 Plus, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X.

Tello also supports Nexus devices (5X and newer), and the Alcatel Idol 5, Blu S1, Essential Phone, Motorola GX Pure Edition, G4, G4 Play, G4 Plus, G5 Plus, E4, E4 Plus, Z2 Play, and Samsung Galaxy devices from the Galaxy S7 and newer.

If you don’t want to bring a phone with you, Tello also sells gently used devices as well. Customers who want to purchase a phone will need to select “Shop” at the top of the main page, then “phones.”

Once the SIM card arrives in the mail, you’ll need to activate your service either 1) on the Web or 2) within the My Tello app. Download it, log in with your personal info, then follow the instructions on-screen.

Tello provided the Samsung Galaxy S6 we used for this review, but it offers much newer devices as well. There appears to be something for every budget.

Access service, Wi-Fi calls with My Tello

My Tello is useful for more than activation and service information; it is also useful for Wi-Fi calls. Wi-Fi calls are handy for customers who live in extended coverage areas that cannot access Tello’s cellular network.

Unfortunately, Tello does not provide Wi-Fi texting. The good news, however, is that you can use apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Google Duo or Google Hangouts. The lack of Wi-Fi texting may not be a deal breaker, but it does complicate an otherwise worry-free experience.

My Tello can also help with data usage as well as miscellaneous questions you may have. Contact Tello within the My Tello app for chat support.

Performance

Tello performs as you would expect Sprint’s network to perform. In many places, Sprint’s network remains on the old slow network, while it has updated some cities to LTE Plus. The new LTE Plus technology far outperforms the old LTE network, but it is only accessible to a few so far.

Tello Network Testing

I performed Tello network testing in three local cities and found the Galaxy S6 with Tello performed well in call quality and texts. Calls were nearly instantaneous, and texts were fast to process messages, even in non-LTE Plus cities. Wi-Fi calls did have some occasional static and echo, but calls in LTE Plus areas were crystal clear. In one instance, a Wi-Fi call dropped without warning.

In data performance, however, LTE Plus cities shined the brightest with their double-digit download speeds. Cities without LTE Plus registered in the single digits, some measured slightly above zero (0.01 Mbps, for example). LTE Plus cities saw as high as 44.2Mbps download speeds and as low as 2Mbps upload speeds.

Non-LTE Plus cities saw as low as 0.44Mbps download speeds and as high as 19-25Mbps. Upload speeds were between 0.01 and 2Mbps, with some registering as high as 4Mbps in LTE Plus cities. Of course, the throttled 2G data remaining after your LTE allowance is even slower.

Downloaded apps bore the same results, with faster downloads in LTE Plus cities and slower ones in non-LTE Plus cities. Cities lacking Sprint’s new LTE could see app download times as high as 4-5 minutes, while the LTE Plus spectrum downloaded apps in a minute or two.

Other factors impact data speeds, but Sprint’s LTE Plus technology is faster than its original LTE network. Unsurprisingly, Tello follows.

MVNOs: Advantages and Disadvantages

As one can see above, MVNOs often have price advantages over their parent companies. They allow you to activate and drop plans as you go, or pay as you go based on how much or little data (or minutes) you use. MVNOs don’t tie customers down to expensive unlimited options, or force customers to pay for texting when they only want data. MVNOs tend to have pricing and flexibility as their main advantages.

And yet, there are disadvantages. Among them, you must purchase a phone at full price or bring your own phone. Google’s Project Fi is an exception in this case, but there’s a credit check. A family of four might find it quite expensive if they purchased four Galaxy S9s outright.

If you select an online-only MVNO such as Tello, you can’t visit a retail store with phone problems, repair needs, or monthly payments. You can return your phone for repairs, fixes, and a full replacement if the need arises, though, but unfortunately, you’ll have to wait some days to receive it back. Monthly payment drafts could exclude customers who prefer to pay by check or cash only.

A limited phone selection is another drawback; Project Fi’s Pixel and Moto X4 phone selection is such an example. Tello has a better phone selection than Fi, but there are no high-end Android phones past the Galaxy S7 edge to purchase at Tello.

MVNOs can either support the extended coverage area of their parent carrier or not. While Tello does not support Sprint’s extended network, Sprint MVNOs like FreedomPop and Ting do.

One other disadvantage that Google’s Project Fi exploits is single-network or single-carrier access. Tello, like typical MVNOs, offers one-network access. Fi grants access to three, making it one of the most competitive network MVNOs in existence.

MVNOs have their good and bad, and it pays to check a number of factors before you proceed.

Is Tello right for you?

Is Tello right for you? Based on what you want in your first or next MVNO, it’s a definite yes. Want flexibility in your package selection? The most affordable pricing ever seen in a carrier? Okay with an online-only experience? To keep your old phone? If you want all of the above, Tello is for you.

However, if you want more LTE data, Wi-Fi texting, extended coverage on Sprint’s network, or better phone selection, other MVNOs may prove superior.

Choosing an MVNO, like choosing a pair of glasses or shoes, is all about knowing what you need and want. Check out our MVNO Buyer’s Guide for even greater clarity.

Gmail’s new confidential mode is finally rolling out. Here’s how to use it

Aleksey Boldin/123rf

After Google announced its Gmail overhaul late last month, users could enable the new interface immediately but certain features didn’t go live right away.

One of those features is the new privacy-focused confidential mode, which allows users to set an expiration date for emails, similar to ethereal messages on Snapchat. Google is now starting to enable confidential mode in a staged rollout, so don’t panic if it’s not available to you right away.

Enable the new Gmail interface

Step 1: To find out if you have confidential mode on your account, you’ll need to first enable the new Gmail interface.

Step 2: Launch Gmail from your browser, and click on the gear icon on the upper-right-hand side of the window, where you’ll be able to enable the new Gmail interface.

Step 3: Once the interface is enabled, open the compose window as if you’re sending an email. At the bottom of your compose window, you’ll notice an icon with a lock and a clock on the right of the toolbar. If you see that icon, congratulations — you have confidential mode.

How to use confidential mode

Confidential mode comes with Google’s new Information Rights Management tool, which allows you to set restrictions on how your email is displayed, viewed, and shared. Essentially, an email sent with confidential mode cannot be forwarded or printed, and you can set up an expiration date and add a passcode requirement for added security when the email is viewed.

The biggest caveat with confidential mode right now is that you must enable it for each email you send, so you can’t set it as the default for all communications.

Step 1: Open the email composer window and compose an email as usual, filling out the fields for the recipient, the subject, and the email body.

Step 2: Click on the confidential mode icon at the bottom of your compose window. A popup with options will appear. All emails sent in confidential mode restrict the recipients from being able to “forward email contents, copy/paste, download, [and] print,” Google advises.

Step 3: The popup will allow you to set an expiration date and require a passcode to view the email. While you can toggle the passcode requirement, an expiration date is a requirement for confidential mode, meaning you can’t require a passcode but have an email set to never expire. Expiration dates come with predefined expiration intervals set at 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 5 years. Setting a custom expiration date is not a possibility.

Step 4: Setting a passcode requirement makes the email more secure, akin to a two-factor authentication on a per-message basis. This way, if someone has access to your recipient’s computer, they’ll still need a passcode to view the email. Google will automatically generate a passcode and send it to the recipient’s phone via a text message every time the email is opened, and the recipient must enter the code to view the contents of the email. Requiring a passcode will require you to know your recipient’s mobile number.

Step 5: After you’ve completed the confidential mode information, click Save. Once you’re finished with your email, hit Send. If you enabled the passcode requirement, Google will ask you to enter your recipient’s mobile number at this point. Currently, Google only supports sending passcodes to mobile numbers in a select number of countries.

When you send an email in confidential mode, the email isn’t stored in your recipient’s inbox. Instead, they’ll get a link to view the message on Google’s servers. The link is valid until the email expires. If a passcode was required, Google will notify the recipient that it will send one to their mobile number. 

Confidential mode is a good security measure for messages containing sensitive information, but it isn’t foolproof. Even though Google puts sharing restrictions on messages I received with confidential mode enabled, I found I can bypass them by merely taking a screenshot of the email. Alternatively, I could also use a camera or a smartphone to take a picture of the message.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Inbox full of spam? Here’s how to block an email address in Gmail
• So long to security? ‘GrayKey’ box picks the locks on Apple’s iPhones
• Gmail to get much-needed visual updates and advanced security features
• Google adds snooze button, Google Pay to Gmail for iOS
• How to create disposable email addresses

Baikoh review: An intense word game for the modern era

Word games provide an unrivaled style of entertainment that presents an educational challenge which enriches word power.

Everyone loves a good word game and that’s why games like crosswords and Scrabble have been around for ages, providing children and adults alike with countless hours of fun.

But if you’re looking for the next evolution in word games and not your classic grandma kind, then you might want to give Baikoh a chance. Developed by the indie studio Mum Not Pride, the game shows you word games can get a lot more creative and…ironic.

How do you play Baikoh?

Simple, download the app from the Google Play Store, it’s free. Then install it on your Android (it’s also available on iOS). Launch the application and check out the short tutorial before diving in.

Impressions

Created with Unity, Baikoh boasts a minimalist, yet beautiful interface that will instantly draw you in. The matte colors are very pleasing and the subtle backgrounds ensure your eyes won’t get tired as you immerse yourself in gameplay.

Like the majority of word games out there, Baikoh has a few different ways for you to play. There’s Solo Campaign which is divided into Solo and Zen, and Versus. Versus is just like Solo although you will use weapons against other humans. Basically, it’s the game’s multiplayer mode.

Solo and Zen are almost identical too, but the former mode does not allow players to use badges, traps, or bet baikoins.

But regardless of the mode you choose, gameplay is similar. You have to spell out words using the tiles on the screen. And you have to do it fast. Because tiles keep falling down from the top of the screen and creating stacks. Think of it as Tetris meets Scrabble.

The end goal? Don’t let the tiles reach the top of the screen. Keep spelling words as fast as you can. While shorter words are best for being quick, you will get more points if you create larger ones. Ah, and you need to be careful not to misspell words. Three misspells and you’re out.

If that’s not enough, the game is riddled with various obstacles or traps. There are giant face stones which take up the space of several letters, frozen tiles, bombs and much more. More traps are unlocked as you level up.

The game adjusts its difficulty based on your level, so the better you get, the harder the game will be.

As you progress, you will start earning baikoins, in-game currency, which can be traded for badges. These power-ups, if used wisely, can greatly prolong your game by doing things like destroying the tallest stack of letters.

Baikoh also includes a series of challenge rounds like Dictation, Word List or No Repeat. For example, in the former, you have to type the words that are dictated to you, as fast as you can.

Baikoh comes with some in-app purchases, in case you feel you need more baikoins or badges. But luckily, the game can be thoroughly enjoyed without having to spend money.

Like most mobile games, Baikoh does contain some ads. Watch an ad and you can get an extra life which allows you to jump back in the game after you’ve been eliminated. Ads also pop up at the end of the game, but fortunately, they don’t interfere with gameplay. So that’s a good thing.

For me, the game proved very challenging to play and I loved that. I did get frustrated a lot, but at myself, not the game. I often found myself in a situation where I just couldn’t zero in on the letter I needed to complete the word. And it drove me nuts. I definitely need to improve my observation skills.

The developers say Baikoh is a game about love and suffering, and I guess that sums it up right.  It can get intense and hard pretty quick, but nevertheless and the end of your gaming session you’ll be left craving more.