U.S. Senate rebukes Trump, reimposes sanctions on ZTE

ZTE’s woes continue as the U.S. Senate rolls out a new bill that prohibits the manufacturer from doing business with U.S. firms.

It’s a turbulent time for ZTE. The U.S. government issued a Denial Order against the company back in April, essentially prohibiting the Chinese manufacturer from buying hardware components from the likes of Qualcomm or Intel. The order effectively killed ZTE’s smartphone business as it prevented Google from certifying the manufacturer’s phones.

It looked like there may be a resolution a few weeks ago, as Donald Trump revealed that he was working with China’s president Xi Jinping to revoke the ban. Last week, ZTE finalized a deal with the Commerce Department that would see the Chinese company pay a $1 billion fine in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

The U.S. Senate has now taken matters into its own hands, and has included an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act that once again places sanctions on ZTE. The bill passed the Senate floor with an overwhelming majority, but it still has to go through the House before it ends up on Trump’s desk to be signed into law.

Notably, the House version of the bill doesn’t include the amendments prohibiting ZTE from doing business in the U.S., so it remains to be seen whether the final bill will have those provisions intact.

Adobe Scan now now automatically turn business cards into phone contacts

Adobe

Artificial intelligence could soon make manually typing up information off a business card a thing of the past. Adobe Scan, the smartphone scanning app, can now recognize business cards and automatically import them into the contacts on a smartphone. Adobe announced the AI-focused update to Adobe Scan on June 19, which also brings new PDF creation tools into Microsoft Office 365.

Adobe Scan uses Sensei to import contacts

After taking a photo of a business card with Adobe Scan’s built-in camera, Adobe’s Sensei A.I. automatically corrects for shadows and perspective distortion. Adobe says the app can even recognize and crop out a finger holding onto one edge.

With the image converted into something that looks more like it came from an actual scanner, Adobe Scan moves to the next step of text recognition. Sensei is smart enough to tell a business card apart from other documents and when a business card is detected, the app adds a “save to contacts” button. Tapping that option will send the information, including name, phone number, company name, and email address, into a new contact on the user’s smartphone. 

The 1-year-old app already boasts 10 million downloads, and business card recognition is simply the latest in a series of a new A.I.-based features that Adobe has introduced to Scan recently.

Microsoft 365 gains new PDF tools

Coming in the month of the 25th anniversary of Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office users will notice a new ribbon inside the software family following an update to Adobe Document Cloud. That new shortcut adds Adobe Acrobat original PDF tools. Users can now use the Adobe PDF option in the top menu ribbon to create a PDF, including the option to add an e-signature.

The ongoing Microsoft and Adobe partnership also brings options to create and edit PDFs inside SharePoint and OneDrive. The reverse is also true for both programs — PDFs can be converted into Word, Excel, PowerPoint or .rft files from SharePoint and OneDrive.

Toady’s announcements also include updates to Adobe Sign for business, including a new user interface with the tool inside Microsoft Dynamics. Adobe Sign also sees updates to help companies comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and is now authorized by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program as an e-sign tool.

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Apple Pay Launches in Poland

Apple Pay today launched in Poland, according to reports from several MacRumors readers who are living in the country and Polish Apple site ThinkApple. iPhone, iPad, and Mac users in Poland are now able to add eligible cards to the Wallet app for use with Apple Pay.

Image via MacRumors reader Kornel
According to Apple, the following banks support Apple Pay in Poland:

• BGZ BNP Paribas
• Bank Zachodni WBK
• Alior Bank
• Raiffeisen Polbank
• Nest Bank
• mBank
• Bank Pekao
• Getin Bank

Visa and Mastercards from the above listed banks will work with Apple Pay, and several MacRumors readers have been able to successfully add their cards to their iPhones.

Apple CEO Tim Cook first promised to expand Apple Pay to Poland during Apple’s earnings call covering the second fiscal quarter of 2018. At the time, he also said Apple Pay would come to Ukraine and Norway, with the payments service yet to launch in the latter country.

Following the launch of Apple Pay in Poland, Apple Pay is available in more than 20 markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, and Ukraine.

Apple Pay in stores is available on the iPhone 6 and later and all Apple Watch models. Apple Pay on the web and in apps is available on the iPhone 6 and later along with the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, all iPad Pro models, and Macs with Touch ID or an accompanying iPhone or Apple Watch.

Related Roundup: Apple PayTag: Poland
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macOS ‘Quick Look’ Bug Can Leak Encrypted Data Through Thumbnail Caches

A long-standing bug in macOS’s Quick Look feature has the potential to expose sensitive user files like photo thumbnails and the text of documents, even on encrypted drives, according to security researchers.

Details on the Quick Look flaw were shared earlier this month by security researcher Wojciech Regula and over the weekend on security researcher Patrick Wardle’s blog (via The Hacker News).

Image via Wojciech Regula
Quick Look in macOS is a convenient Finder feature that’s designed to present a zoomed-in view when you press the space bar on a photo or document that’s selected.

To provide this preview functionality, Quick Look creates an unencrypted thumbnail database where thumbnails of files are kept, with the database storing file previews from a Mac’s storage and any attached USB drives whenever a folder is opened. These thumbnails, which provide previews of content on an encrypted drive, can be accessed by someone with the technical know how and there’s no automatic cache clearing that deletes them. As Regula explains:

It means that all photos that you have previewed using space (or Quicklook cached them independently) are stored in that directory as a miniature and its path. They stay there even if you delete these files or if you have previewed them in encrypted HDD or TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt container.

This is an issue that’s existed for at least eight years and concerns have been raised about it in the past, but Apple has made no changes in macOS to address it. “The fact that behavior is still present in the latest version of macOS, and (though potentially having serious privacy implications), is not widely known by Mac users, warrants additional discussion,” writes Wardle.

As Wardle points out, this information is valuable in law enforcement investigations, but most users are not going to be happy to learn that their Mac records file paths and thumbnails of documents from every storage device that’s been attached to it.

For a forensics investigation or surveillance implant, this information could prove invaluable. Imagine having a historic record of the USB devices, files on the devices, and even thumbnails of the files…all stored persistently in an unencrypted database, long after the USB devices have been removed (and perhaps destroyed). For users, the question is: “Do you really want your Mac recording the file paths and ‘previews’ thumbnails of the files on any/all USB sticks that you’ve ever inserted into your Mac?” Me thinks not…

It’s worth noting that if the main drive on the Mac is encrypted, the Quick Look cache that’s created is too. Wardle says that data “may be safe” on a machine that’s powered off, but on a Mac that’s running, even if encrypted containers are unmounted, the caching feature can reveal their contents.

“In other words, the increased security encrypted containers were thought to provide, may be completely undermined by QuickLook,” writes Wardle.

Wardle recommends that users concerned about unencrypted data storage clear the Quick Look cache manually whenever a container is unmounted, with instructions for this available on Wardle’s website. It’s also worth checking out Wardle’s site for full details on the Quick Look bug.
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Apple Fined $9 Million for Misleading Some Australian Customers Over ‘Error 53’ Device Repairs

The Australian government today fined Apple $9 million for misleading some customers into believing they could not have their iOS devices fixed by Apple if they had been previously repaired by a third-party repair shop, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

Today’s ruling comes after the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) launched an investigation into Apple after the ACCC received complaints over “error 53,” issues.

Error 53, widely publicized in 2016, caused some iPhone 6 users who had the Home buttons on their iPhones fixed by a non-Apple technician using non-original parts to see their iPhones bricked following a software update.

When the error code first surfaced, Apple said that error 53 was a protective security feature meant to prevent “malicious” third-party components from potentially compromising a user’s iPhone, but after public outcry, Apple released a software update restoring functionality to bricked iPhones. Following the software update to unbrick iPhones, Apple claimed that the error 53 issue was meant to be a factory test and never should have impacted consumer devices.

Amid error 53 investigations led by the ACCC, Apple admitted that between February 2015 and February 2016, at least 275 Australian customers had been told in store or over the phone that they could not have their iPad or iPhone fixed if it had been repaired by a third party, such as in the error 53 situation.

Apple’s refusal to provide repairs to Australian customers who had previous repairs done by third-party shops violates Australian Consumer Law, according to an Australian Federal Court.

When it learned of the ACCC’s investigation, Apple launched an outreach program that has compensated approximately 5,000 consumers who were affected by error 53. Apple’s Australian arm is also improving staff training to make sure its stores comply fully with Australian Consumer Law, and Apple will now provide new devices as replacements instead of refurbished devices if a customer requests one.

In the United States, Apple was hit with a lawsuit over error 53, but it was dismissed after the company restored full iPhone functionality through a software update and reimbursed customers who had paid for out-of-warranty device replacements.

Tags: Australia, Error 53
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Is the Australian bee the key to better outdoor gear?

Courtesy of Louise Docker via Flickr

Over the past few years there has been a significant push within the outdoor industry to design products that are better for the environment without sacrificing performance. Some companies, like Columbia Sportswear and Jack Wolfskin, have taken to using recycled fabrics, while also looking for ways to reduce the amount of water consumed during production. Others — such as Fjällräven — are focusing on removing harmful chemicals like fluorocarbons from their fibers too. But soon, a company called Humble Bee might show these gear manufacturers a completely new way to approach the challenges the come with protecting nature, by actually finding ways to mimic it instead.

Humble Bee is a New Zealand-based biotech startup that is focused on studying the habits of the Australian bee in an effort to find ways of improving the products we use while also eliminating our reliance on plastics and harmful chemicals. While versatile, cheap to produce, and durable, these martial can take thousands of years to decompose, leaving a long and lasting impact on the environment. Instead, the company is looking to nature to provide us with viable options that can offer the same level of performance we’ve come to expect from plastics, but in a form that is biodegradable and less destructive to the environment.

The Australian bee has been of particular interest to Humble Bee because it creates a nesting material that resembles a type of naturally occurring plastic in many ways. This “bioplastic” is not only waterproof, but it is also resistant to heat — including flames — and can repel most chemicals, too. If a method for mass producing the substance could be found, it might serve as a true replacement for a variety of types of plastics, including those used to create outdoor gear. The fibers could be used to create a waterproof jacket or build a better tent.

Veronica Harwood-Stevenson, the founder of Humble Bee, won the Bright Ideas Challenge sponsored by the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency and immediately invested the prize money into researching her idea. Her work showed that there is a great deal of promise in mimicking the materials created by the Australian bee, although the next challenge involves finding ways to mass-produce it on a scale large enough to have an impact on the outdoor industry.

“Outdoor apparel is definitely what we’re most interested in because of the chemicals being used and because chances are, if you like the environment, you don’t want the products you enjoy to be screwing up the environment,” Harwood-Stevenson told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Chemicals are often added to outdoor gear products to add a waterproof or dirt-resistant finish. Being able to re-create the bee’s natural fibers could eliminate the need for those chemicals, while also creating a material that is much more biodegradable at the same time. That solves a host of challenges that gear manufacturers face when creating more environmentally friendly products. Humble Bee still has some challenges to overcome before that can happen, but it is making progress toward those goals.

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Chinese search giant Baidu creates an open-source A.I. for detecting cancer

Baidu, the Chinese search giant, is sometimes hailed as China’s Google. And just like Google, it has a bunch of innovative side projects which go way beyond straightforward search. We recently covered Baidu’s amazing handheld universal translator. Now the company has announced its latest feat: Using artificial intelligence algorithms to help pathologists better diagnose cancer.

The company has developed an A.I. that is capable of analyzing slides containing biopsied tissue. Reviewing these slides can be difficult, even for experienced pathologists, but Baidu’s deep learning technology is able to look for tiny tumor cells faster and with greater accuracy than previous approaches. In tests, the algorithm was able to outperform both a professional pathologist and the previous winner of the so-called Camelyon16 challenge, a competition intended to evaluate algorithms for automated detection of cancer metastasis in lymph node tissue sections.

“Using A.I. to analyze pathology images is a very challenging task,” Yi Li’s, a machine learning research scientist at Baidu, told Digital Trends. “A digitized pathology slide at 40x magnification often contains billions of pixels, which is too large for a neural network to process. As a result, the mega-image is divided into tens of thousands of smaller individual images so that a neural network can analyze each of them separately. What’s unique about our neural conditional random field (NCRF) algorithm is that it can look at multiple images — including the potentially cancerous region and its surroundings, simultaneously. This new capability significantly reduces the number of false positives [in the form of] misclassified normal cells.”

To its credit, Baidu is keeping this technology to itself. Instead, it is making it available to the medical research community via open source in the hopes that it can help as many people as possible. (And, you know, help raise Baidu’s name value in the process!)

“We hope this open-sourced algorithm can serve as a high-quality baseline for future research in this area,” Li said. “The algorithm is only evaluated on a limited number of public datasets at this stage. However, the algorithm needs to be further assessed using much more clinically relevant data to prove it still maintains higher accuracy than experienced pathologists. Our team will continue improving the algorithm and collaborating with researchers with whom we can share new datasets.”

Li notes that the goal isn’t to replace doctors in performing this valuable task, but rather improving pathologists’ efficiency in their daily work. Should this algorithm work as well as hoped, doctors in the future will no longer need to spend hours looking at every slide from a biopsy, but just focus on the affected areas as identified by the algorithm.

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A flaw in Apple’s Quick Look for MacOS exposes the contents of encrypted files

Security experts claim that Apple’s Quick Look feature in MacOS leaks sensitive data even if the content is locked behind password-protected encryption. Introduced in MacOS 10.5 Leopard, Apple designed Quick Look to give you a glimpse into a file without manually opening it with an app. But for the sake of convenience, Quick Look serves up a dish of potential privacy concerns. 

Used by the Finder app in MacOS, Quick Look stores a thumbnail containing the file’s full name, path, and a miniature image of what is stored inside the file, even if it’s password-protected and encrypted. This cached data also isn’t secured: It’s stored openly without passwords or encryption in the user’s TMPDIR directory and accessible to any person or application. The data even remains on the Mac after you reboot the device, delete the original files, and/or disconnect an external storage device. 

That said, if someone gains physical access to your Mac device, they can view the contents of any stored file. That makes Quick Look a highly useful tool for forensic investigations, surveillance implants, and for nosy significant others who simply want a quick way to snoop through your files. 

“Imagine having a historic record of the USB devices, files on the devices, and even thumbnails of the files … all stored persistently in an unencrypted database, long after the USB devices have been removed (and perhaps destroyed),” says chief research officer Patrick Wardle of Digital Security. “For users, the question is: Do you really want your Mac recording the file paths and ‘previews’ thumbnails of the files on any/all USB sticks that you’ve ever inserted into your Mac? Me thinks not.” 

The blog builds on a report issued by Wojciech Regula from SecuRing in early June who pointed out that the cached thumbnails remain on a Mac even if the originating files were deleted, previewed on an encrypted drive, or previewed using a TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt container. 

As a proof-of-concept, he created and mounted a VeraCrypt drive, stored an image of Luke Skywalker on the drive, and then pressed the spacebar so Quick Look could cache the encrypted image. After that, he could copy the thumbnail to another location on the Mac, grab the file’s full name and location, and export a miniature copy of Luke Skywalker’s image. 

“If you open a folder with files residing on an external drive, thumbnails will be created on the boot drive depending on the file type and the installed Quick Look plugins,” Wardle adds. “The previews, metadata and file paths are stored in SQLite database files deep inside the var folder. The path to this folder contains arbitrary folder names. With the proper commands the preview pics can be extracted from the database.” 

Currently, Mac owners can manually clear the Quick Look cache using the “qlmanage” command. In the latest version of MacOS High Sierra, simply navigate to Launcher > Other > Terminal and type “qlmanage -r cache” at the prompt without the quotes. After that, reboot the Mac and the thumbnails should be gone. 

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Moto G6 Play review

Research Center:

Moto G6 Play

For years, the Moto G-series has been our go-to pick for budget phones. They deliver solid performance and a close to stock version of Android for under $300.The budget market has become fiercely competitive, though, and phones like the Honor 7X and Nokia 6.1 have upped the ante with beautiful designs and capable cameras.

With this year’s crop of Moto G6 series phones — the Moto G6, Moto G6 Play, and the Moto G6 Plus — Motorola has focused on making its budget phones look like pricier, flagship phones. We’ve already looked at the G6 and the G6 Plus, so it’s time to look at the most affordable in the series, the G6 Play. It features a similar design as its more expensive siblings, but some components and features have been pared down to keep the price point low.

Gorgeous design, average screen

The Moto G6 Play takes design cues from its more expensive cohorts, but there are a few subtle cost-saving differences. Some of these tweaks can even save you money in the future.

For example, on the back of the G6 Play is a gorgeous, glossy body that looks strikingly similar to the other G6 series phones with one exception: It’s not glass. The back of the G6 Play is plastic, a choice we prefer as there’s a much smaller chance for cracks over the Gorilla Glass 3 on G6 and G6 Plus. Repairs for the glass backs on the latter two could end up costing as much as the phones, something you don’t need to worry about on the G6 Play.

The back of the G6 Play is plastic, a choice we prefer as there’s a much smaller chance for cracks.

There’s the same round camera module on the back of the G6 Play as the other two G6 phones, but it only packs a single-lens camera. Best of all, it’s nearly flush with the body, so it’s easier to use the phone when it’s laying flat on a desk. The fingerprint sensor is also on the rear in an easy-to-access position.

Flip the Moto G6 Play around and you’ll find a 5.7-inch display, with bezels on the top and bottom. The top is home to an 8-megapixel selfie camera and flash, while the bottom features the Motorola logo. We’re not sure why Motorola needs to add its brand name to the front of the phone, as it looks a bit tacky. The Motorola logo on the back is more than enough.

The IPS LCD screen has a resolution of 1,440 x 720 pixels with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It’s satisfactory, though text and images aren’t as sharp as you’ll find on the other G6-series phones or even the similarly priced Honor 7X. Colors, on the other hand, were vivid and the phone got bright enough to see outdoors.

Steven Winkelman/Digital Trends

The edges surrounding the screen have slimmed down (especially on the top), though they are chunky when compared to other smartphones. We don’t mind, and the phone looks quite modern considering its price.

The volume rocker and power button sit on the right edge, and up top is a 3.5mm headphone jack.  A MicroUSB charging port is on the bottom, which is a little disappointing. Motorola added the USB Type-C charging port to the Moto G6 and G6 Plus — it’s the same port you’ll find on almost all other Android phones — but the company said it will likely bring USB Type-C to all its budget options starting next year. It would have been nice to see it on the G6 Play, but it’s not a dealbreaker. The similarly-priced Honor 7X uses MicroUSB as well, so it certainly must help keep the cost down. Sadly there’s only one speaker output — the top earpiece.

Moto G6 Play Compared To

Motorola Moto G6

Essential Phone (PH-1)

Asus Zenfone AR

LG G6

Huawei Honor 8 Pro

HTC U Ultra

Meizu Pro 6 Plus

ASUS Zenfone 3 Deluxe Special…

LG V20

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

Huawei Nexus 6P

LG V10

Motorola Moto X Style Pure Edition

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Our review model is the Deep Indigo version of the Moto G6 Play, and it’s the only color available in the U.S. While we love the high gloss design, it definitely picks up plenty of smudges and scratches. There’s thankfully a transparent case included in the box that offers some protection.

Like the other G6 series phones, the Moto G6 Play doesn’t have an IP rating for water resistance, but it also lacks the water resistant coating that comes standard on the G6 and G6 Plus. You definitely don’t want to get it wet.

Slightly sluggish performance

The Moto G6 Play is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430 processor, 3GB of RAM, and it comes with 32GB of storage. There’s a MicroSD card slot in case you want to add more storage. Motorola does also offer a model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage at a lower price, but we did not review this version.

In our day-to-day use of the phone, performance was acceptable, though a bit sluggish. There’s a noticeable delay when opening new applications or when multitasking with split screen view. It’s still capable of handling most tasks like browsing social media, the web, and messaging, but performance will just get worse over time, so it’s a little worrying.

We did try running a few graphics-intensive games on the G6 Play, and we were pleasantly surprised.

We did try running a few graphics-intensive games on the G6 Play, and we were pleasantly surprised. Super Mario Run took a moment to load, but we had no problems playing the game without lag. We also gave PUBG: Mobile a run on its lowest settings, and we still had no issues other than long load times.

Here are a few benchmark results:

• GeekBench 4 CPU: Single-core: 748; multi-core 3,859
• AnTuTu 3DBench: 41,158

When compared to the Nokia 6.1 and Honor 7X, there’s really no contest. The Honor 7X scored an AnTuTu score of 63,311, and the Nokia 6.1 scored 88,595. Both phones outperform the Moto G6 Play by a long shot. It’s worth remembering though that benchmarks are good for a baseline comparison but may not reflect a phone’s ability overall.

Close to stock Android

The Moto G6 Play ships with Android 8.0 Oreo, and the phone should get at least one Android version upgrade — so it should receive Android P. Motorola takes its time with updates, though, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see the update arrive more than six months after it’s released by Google.

The Moto G6 Play has a near stock version of Oreo, which means there’s almost no bloatware. The only additional software features you’ll find are Motorola services. Moto Display, for example, lets you enable a custom, always-on display. Moto Actions let you use gestures to trigger actions, like flipping the phone upside down will trigger Do Not Disturb mode, and a double twist will open the camera. There’s no Moto Voice, which lets you use your voice to launch apps or check the weather (it’s available on the G6 and G6 Plus).

Moto Key is one of the only other software additions from Motorola, but it feels like a redundant feature since Google’s Autofill software works better and is built into Android. Moto Key lets you access certain websites, apps, and devices via your fingerprint sensor. We’re already logged into most of our services though, so we never found a real reason to use it. You can also use it to log into your Windows computer, though it requires additional software to work.

Average budget camera

Motorola introduced dual cameras on the Moto G6 and G6 Plus this year, but the Play didn’t get the same love. There’s only a single 13-megapixel lens with an f/2.0 aperture.

In good lighting, the camera performs well. Colors are vivid and relatively accurate, and detail is solid.

Like most budget phones, however, things go south in less than good lighting conditions. Color in our low-light photos appear muted, and there’s a ton of detail lost in significant noise. Unsurprising and unfortunate, but it’s a problem virtually all budget phones have.

The front-facing 8-megapixel shooter is a tad underwhelming.

The front-facing 8-megapixel shooter is a tad underwhelming as well. We took several test selfies in different lighting conditions and they all turned out to generally be fuzzy, without a lot of sharpness. Turn on the optional beauty filter, and you’ll look like an anime character with big eyes.

There’s also a panorama mode, which works surprisingly well.

Battery life worth bragging about

The Moto G6 Play is packed with a gigantic 4,000mAh battery, which Motorola claims should last for 36 hours with regular use. We found that claim accurate in our tests.

On an average day filled with web surfing, messaging, watching YouTube videos, and podcast streaming, the Moto G6 Play’s battery only depleted around 35 percent by 7 p.m. That means we were left with around 65 percent for the remainder of the evening, which can easily take you well into the second day.

Steven Winkelman/Digital Trends

The MicroUSB charging port doesn’t offer the same TurboCharge feature that you’ll find on the G6 and G6 Plus, but Motorola said the G6 Play has its own fast charging feature that will add hours of use to your battery over a period of minutes. When we charged our nearly dead G6 Play with the included adapter, it gained about 12 percent battery life over 25 minutes, which isn’t very impressive.

Warranty and availability information

The Moto G6 Play costs $200 and is available from Verizon Wireless, Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless Virgin Mobile, Republic Wireless, and Ting Wireless. AT&T will offer the phone on its postpaid plans. You can purchase an unlocked variant through third-party retailers including Amazon and Best Buy. Some carriers may only be carrying the 2GB RAM and 16GB model of the Moto G6 Play, which only costs $130.

Motorola offers a standard one-year warranty on the G6 Play that offers protection from manufacturer defects.

Our Take

The Moto G6 Play doesn’t look like a budget phone and can last two days, but everything else about it is average.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes. The Honor 7X costs $200, and it has a speedier processor with more RAM, a higher resolution screen, good dual cameras, but the battery will only last you a day.

If you can stretch your budget a little more, you can pick up the Moto G6 for $250 or the excellent Nokia 6.1 for $270. Both phones offer a gorgeous design and much improved specs over the Moto G6 Play, but the Moto G6 Play still beats them all with battery life.

How long will it last?

We believe the Moto G6 Play should last a year or two. Its processor is a little dated and it’s already a little sluggish, which is why it will likely run even slower the longer you use it. There’s no glass back, so you only need to worry about shattering the front screen. There’s also no IP-rated water resistance, so you want to keep this phone away from water.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but mostly if two-day battery life is important to you. If you can get by with a day of battery, we strongly think you should look at the Honor 7X or the Nokia 6.1.

How to sign up for YouTube Premium

YouTube’s $12/month subscription gets you a lot for your money.

YouTube Premium is finally here, and if you’ve got $12/month to spend, it’s absolutely worth the cash.

For that monthly fee, YouTube Premium grants you access to ad-free videos across all of YouTube, offline downloads, YouTube Original content, and all of the perks that come with YouTube Music.

Signing up for YouTube Premium is as easy as can be, and to get started, here’s what you need to do.

Open the YouTube app and tap the profile icon at the very top right.
Tap on Get YouTube Premium.

Tap Try It Free.

After selecting your payment method and completing the transaction, you’ll then see a splash screen welcoming you to YouTube Premium. Tap the red Let’s Go button, and you’ll see that your subscription is now live thanks to the Premium tag at the upper-left corner of the app.

Now, start exploring

If you made it to this part of the article, that means you’re now a YouTube Premium subscriber! Google’s currently giving all new members a 3-month free trial of the service, so you won’t be charged that $12/month fee until your first three months are up.

Now, stop reading this and start enjoying all of the benefits that come with your YouTube Premium subscription!

See at YouTube