Moto G6 Play vs. Moto E5 Plus: Which should you buy?

They’re so evenly matched that it’s hard to go wrong either way.

If you’re starting to get confused by Motorola’s lineup, don’t worry — you’re not alone. The company’s two budget offerings, the Moto G series and the even-cheaper Moto E family, just got refreshed last month with three new models each. The Moto G6 and Moto E5 are the standard issues of each series, but there are also Play models, which prioritize battery life, and Plus models, which come with slightly better specs and designs.

Starting to make sense? Maybe, but let’s make this even more confusing. Because the Plus models are basically souped-up versions of their suffix-lacking counterparts, the Moto E5 Plus begins to spill into the range of the Moto G6 Play, both in price and performance. In fact, depending on where you buy it, the Moto E5 Plus could even cost more than the Moto G6 Play. So which one should you buy?

Specifications comparison

First, we start with the basics. Here’s how the spec sheets stack up:

What the Moto G6 Play does best

The Moto G6 Play would seem to be the better phone, at least on paper, than the Moto E5 Plus. That’s the way it’s worked for years with Motorola’s budget lineup — G aims for great but is really just good; E aims for good but is really just OK. But the formula is getting shaken up this year.

Yes, the Moto G6 Play is better is some respects than the Moto E5 Plus, but it’s not the trouncing you’d expect. The 5.7-inch 720p panel is slightly denser than the 6-inch screen on the E5 Plus, and the entire body — made of a shiny, grippy plastic — is a little more streamlined.

The 4,000mAh battery and 13MP rear camera are also very good for the price, and you can’t go wrong with Motorola’s incredible software, even if it’s unlikely to receive many updates over the course of its life.

Moto G6 Play specs

Indeed, the major advantage the G6 Play has over the E5 Plus is one of design: it’s sold unlocked and will be available practically everywhere, from Motorola’s own e-commerce store to Amazon (though its Prime Exclusive program) and many other retailers. It’s also compatible with every major U.S. carrier, something the Moto E5 Plus can’t boast at this point in time. At $199 for the version with a Snapdragon 427 processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage ($189 from Amazon), the Moto G6 Play is a bargain.

See at Amazon

Where the Moto E5 Plus pulls ahead

Despite getting unfairly overlooked because of its position in Motorola’s lowest tier of phones, the Moto E5 Plus is a formidable device. It’s a formidable device, featuring a larger 6-inch display with the same 18:9 aspect ratio and 720p resolution. But while its spec sheet almost perfectly matches the Moto G6 Play’s, there are some major advantages to buying a Moto E5 Plus — including the more powerful 15W TurboPower charger included in the box.

The E5 Plus also has a larger battery than the G6 Play — even though the Play moniker specifically represents long battery life. The 5000mAh battery inside the E5 Plus topples the G6 Play’s already-massive 4000mAh cell, and should lead to some of the best battery life in Motorola’s lineup. You might not love the persistence of Micro-USB on the Moto E5 Plus, but the same cost-saving measure affects the Moto G6 Play as well.

Moto E5 Plus specs

Then there’s the faster processor: the Snapdragon 430 inside the Moto E5 Plus is an octa-core chip, not quad-core like the Snapdragon 427, and has a much more robust Adreno 505 GPU compared to the G6 Play’s Adreno 308. (On the flip side, the Snapdragon 427 is optimized for connectivity: it supports all four U.S. carriers, and can carry download speeds up to 300Mbps, double that of the E5 Plus’s modem.)

If you’re OK with a bigger phone, the Moto E5 Plus is a better option than the Moto G6 Play. As long as you can find it.

The cameras in the Moto E5 Plus are also better: the rear camera is a 12MP sensor with large 1.25-micron pixels and an f/2.0 lens. The front camera is an 8MP sensor with large pixels, too. The Moto E5 Plus is clearly optimized for camera performance, too.

If you’re accustomed to Motorola’s Moto Actions that allow you to quickly launch the camera or flashlight, rest easy — they’re all here. In fact, the Moto E5 Plus is almost identical to the G6 Play in software, running the same build of Android 8.0. Inside and out, you’re sacrificing very little with the E5 Plus, and even gaining a bit in graphical power, battery life, camera quality, and screen size.

The only issue is, if you’re in the U.S. at least, the Moto E5 Plus isn’t being sold unlocked — it’s only available through carrier channels.

See at Cricket
See at Sprint

Which is right for you?

The E5 Plus almost sounds like an overall better phone than the G6 Play … so why would you buy the latter, unless you were that concerned with getting slightly better build quality? For starters, in the U.S. at least, the E5 Plus is only available through Sprint or Cricket (Cricket calls it the Moto E5 SUPRA for some reason, but it’s the same phone) — and if you’re buying from the former, the E5 Plus actually $88 costs more than the G6 Play. When the phones only cost around $200 to begin with, that’s a pretty substantial difference.

If you’re willing to put up with the carrier side of things, or are already a Sprint or Cricket customer, the Moto E5 Plus is a better phone overall. But if you want to keep your options open by purchasing an unlocked device to use on any U.S. or international carrier, go with the Moto G6 Plus. Either way, you won’t regret it.

Have you been using one of these phones? Are you thinking about picking one up? Let us know in the comments!

Moto G6, G6 Plus and G6 Play

• Moto G6 Plus review: Mastering the art of the mid-range phone
• Moto G6 review: Finding success in compromise
• Moto G6, G6 Play, and G6 Plus specs
• Join our Moto G6 forums

Amazon

Let these discounted Greenworks outdoor tools help you improve the look of your yard

The grass should be greener on your side.

Amazon is running a one-day sale on a bunch of Greenworks outdoor power tools, including string trimmers, blowers, cultivators, and more. These are all battery-powered tools, some of which include the battery and others don’t. Spring may be winding down, but that doesn’t mean your lawn doesn’t still need some care for a few more months.

You can grab this 21-inch mower without a battery for $161.15, which is over $300 less than the kit with a battery costs. Be sure to keep your property edges looking fresh with a new string trimmer for $97.49, and clean up after yourself with a cordless jet blower for $180.83. There’s also hedge trimmers, pole saws, and extra batteries on sale today.

Be sure to check out the whole sale now, before it ends.

See at Amazon

Review: Lutron’s Caséta Lamp Dimmers and Serena Shades Bring HomeKit Convenience to Your Lights and Windows

Three years ago, Lutron was one of the first vendors to venture into the HomeKit ecosystem with its Caséta Wireless lighting controls, which include plug-in lamp dimmers, wall-mounted dimmer switches, and remotes, all coordinated through a wireless “Smart Bridge” that plugs into your internet router.

The Caséta system has been such a mainstay in the HomeKit world that Apple is still selling it in its stores, including a $100 starter kit with a smart bridge, an in-wall switch, and a Pico remote control. Additional sets of one in-wall dimmer and one remote are available for $60 each. A host of other lighting switches and Pico remotes are also available to satisfy a range of needs, and the entire system is very popular with our readers.

Lutron’s Caséta lamp dimmer starter kit and Serena shade
Beyond lighting, the Caséta system also integrates with other products, including several styles of automatic HomeKit window shades from Lutron, as well as a joint Lutron-Honeywell thermostat and even some ceiling fans from Hunter. In addition to HomeKit, Caséta also integrates with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Samsung SmartThings, and Nest, as well as Sonos, Carrier, ecobee, Logitech, and Xfinity Home.

I’ve had the Caséta lamp dimmer system controlling the bedside lamps in my master bedroom for quite some time, and Lutron also sent along a demo setup of the company’s battery-operated Serena shades to see how the different products integrate both within the Lutron app and through HomeKit.

Serena shades are available in roller, single honeycomb, and double honeycomb styles in over 150 fabric and color options with a variety of opacities. Lutron’s higher-end Sivoia QS Triathlon shades intended more for professional home automation setups will also integrate with the Caséta system and HomeKit.

Each Caséta lamp dimmer plugs directly into an electrical outlet and has its own pair of outlets to control up to two lamps simultaneously. In order to control the lamps on either side of our bed independently, I needed to use both dimmer units included in the starter pack Lutron sent me.

There are large buttons on the face of each lamp dimmer to control brightness level or immediately turn connected lamps on or off. But given that the dimmer is frequently plugged into an outlet low on the wall or even tucked away in an inaccessible location such as behind or under a bed as in my situation, the Pico remote is key for manual control of lamps.

Installation and Setup

Setup of Caséta products is fairly simple, but it’s important to note that these devices utilize a separate Smart Bridge accessory to connect to each other, the Lutron app, and HomeKit. The Smart Bridge is a small white box that connects over an Ethernet cable to your router. It’s one more thing taking up space and an electrical outlet, but it’s not an uncommon move used by manufacturers to bring HomeKit support to connected products, particularly since Apple has only just recently started allowing for software HomeKit authentication.

Caséta Smart Bridge sitting on top of AirPort Time Capsule and next to Linksys Velop
Once your Smart Bridge is online, the Lutron app will walk you through the setup for each of your products. If you’re using a Pico remote, you’ll need to set that up separately, but it’s a simple process. For a lamp dimmer, just hold down on the bottom button until the LED flashes, and then the app will prompt you to assign it to a room and specify what kind of fixture it will be controlling. From there, you can easily rename the device and then go through a similar short setup process for the Pico remote associated with each dimmer.

If you’re using in-wall switches, setup is similar, although you’ll obviously have a bit more work to do on the installation side to swap out your existing switches for the Caséta ones.

I wasn’t able to experience the full installation process for the Serena shades considering I was using a prepackaged demo unit, but once they are mounted, it’s an easy process to install the six D batteries and walk through the usual setup in the app.

One interesting feature of the lamp dimmer kit is that one of the dimmers can be used as a range extender, increasing the range of the Smart Bridge network by up to 30 feet. It can come in handy if you have Caséta devices at the opposite end of your house from the Smart Bridge, with a Caséta dimmer somewhere in the middle helping boost the signal to make sure everything can communicate properly with the bridge.

Lutron App Control

While the Caséta ecosystem integrates with HomeKit, the Lutron app isn’t a full replacement for Apple’s Home app, so you can’t see all of your HomeKit devices in it. You can, however, manage all of the Caséta and Lutron shade products as well as thermostats from Honeywell, Carrier, ecobee, and Nest. Sonos speaker systems can also be integrated within the Lutron app.

The Lutron app offers quick access to all of your Caséta-compatible products, and tapping on individual devices in the app pops up a set of controls with buttons similar to those seen on the device itself or the Pico remote. For example, with the lamp dimmers, you’ll get options to turn the lights on or off, or adjust the brightness. Brightness can also be adjusted using a slider.

Both the lamp dimmer/shade and the Pico remotes that control them show up individually by default, which can be a bit confusing considering they really do the same thing, but there’s an option in settings to hide remotes from showing on the main screen.

Controls are a similar story with the shades, which you let you tap into the app to open or close them all the way, go to a preset “favorite” level, or manually adjust up or down with buttons or a slider.

More power comes in the form of scenes, which allow you to combine Caséta-compatible devices under a single command. For example, a “Good Night” scene could turn off all of the connected lamps and light switches around your house, lower the shades, and adjust the thermostat. These function essentially the same as scenes in HomeKit, but it’s important to note that these are not actually the same thing – a scene set up in the Lutron app will not appear in the Home app.

Setting up a “Good Night” scene in the Lutron app
Lutron scenes can be controlled not only from within the app itself but also through a Today widget. You can customize which scenes appear in the widget and then easily access the controls at a swipe. Lutron also includes an Apple Watch app that gives you quick access to scenes and individual devices right from your wrist.

Lutron app’s Today widget
There does appear to be some limited ability in the Lutron app to interact with HomeKit devices that aren’t officially supported, as my Emerson Sensi thermostat shows up on the main screen and I can adjust the temperature set point and heating/cooling modes within the Lutron app. Other HomeKit devices around my house do not, however, appear in the Lutron app.

In addition to manual control of Lutron-based scenes, you can also set up schedules for individual Caséta devices or combinations of them. Schedules can be customized by day of the week and set using either absolute times of the day or relative to sunrise or sunset.

Setting up a schedule in the Lutron app
Lutron also offers some geofencing features, allowing you to set a custom radius (1000 feet by default) that will trigger certain events when you are coming or going. The app can remind you if lights have been left on when you leave the radius, and you can set certain lights to turn on as you arrive home or turn off as you leave, for example. A toggle option lets you set whether or not the scenes activate only after sunset.

Geofencing setup
The geofencing also extends to a feature Lutron calls “Smart Away,” which can randomly turn certain lights on and off between 6 PM and 11 PM when you’re away from home in order to make your home appear occupied. The geofencing feature can activate Smart Away automatically when you leave home, or you can opt to turn Smart Away on manually as a scene from the app or Today widget.

Manual Control

Manual control for smart home accessories is a key feature, as not everyone coming into your home is going to be set up to control your lights and other accessories through their phones, and Lutron’s Pico remote does a great job at managing that aspect of operation.

The Pico remote can be held in the hand or slid onto a pedestal stand (included in some kits, otherwise sold separately) that looks fairly fashionable and makes it easy to wirelessly control your lamps. Like the dimmer itself, the Pico remote includes separate buttons for on, off, and brightness adjustments. A center button can be configured to quickly set a lamp to a preset brightness level with one touch. In addition to the included pedestal, Lutron sells other remote accessories separately, allowing you to mount a Pico remote to a wall like a standard switch or clip it to a car visor.

The Pico remotes for our bedside lamps typically sit on the nightstands next to the lamps, which allows for easy access to adjust the lighting level and turn the lamps on or off. But say you want to roll away from the lamp and you’re feeling sleepy, maybe to read a book at bedtime with the lamp lighting your pages from behind over your shoulder — you can take the remote with you into your bed and turn the light off right from there as you’re drifting off.

With app and HomeKit integration, you can of course also use your phone or Siri to turn off the lights, but that can be less convenient if you want to have your devices put away for the night and perhaps don’t want to wake a sleeping partner by speaking to your lamps.

The Serena shades also come with their own Pico remote, so you can similarly easily control the shades without needing to tap into any aspect of the smart home control. While they look very similar and can interchangeably slide onto pedestal accessories, Pico remotes are customized for each product so labeling and button functions on a shade remote are different than those on a lamp dimmer kit with no user configuration needed beyond the initial pairing.

HomeKit

In addition to controlling things manually or through the Lutron app, once your products are set up you can also control them via HomeKit, which means the Home app on iOS (and soon macOS with macOS Mojave) or via Siri. This opens up a host of other integrations, letting you add the Caséta dimmers and switches and Serena shades to rooms, scenes, and automations with other HomeKit products.

Siri is especially convenient, allowing you to turn the lights on or off and open or close the shades by voice. You can even use commands like “set the shades to halfway” or “turn on Eric’s lamp to 50 percent” and the devices will quickly respond appropriately. Siri control works great with HomePod, which can hear you from across a room even while speaking quietly.

As noted up top in the setup section, individual Caséta products are not directly compatible with HomeKit, as connectivity is managed through the Smart Bridge that attaches over a wired connection to your Internet router and then wirelessly to all of your Caséta devices.

In practice, it doesn’t alter the way these devices function with HomeKit, as they appear as separate devices in the Home and quickly respond to commands via the Home app and Siri. If you tap into the details on each Caséta product within the Home app, you’ll see the Smart Bridge show up as a subpage, where you can see its information and remove it from your HomeKit home if necessary.

Wrap-up

Lutron has assembled a nice ecosystem of switches, dimmers, and even shades that work nicely together and with Apple’s HomeKit system. The Caséta products are easy to set up and work consistently both through the Lutron app and through HomeKit.

The Smart Bridge requirement adds an additional piece of equipment into the equation and likely increases the overall cost, but once it’s up and running the bridge is essentially invisible in terms of operation and can be tucked away somewhat to minimize the visual aspect.

As with most HomeKit devices, and smart home products in general, it’s not cheap to completely outfit your home with the Caséta ecosystem. As noted up top, if you’re looking for some in-wall switches, the starter kit with a switch and a Smart Bridge will set you back $100, with additional switches priced at $60, although you may find an occasional deal at another retailer to bring the cost down.

Lutron offers a number of bundles in various combinations of accessories, so make sure to figure out what will work best for you. For example, the lamp dimmer bundle I’ve been using is priced at $190 and includes the Smart Bridge, two lamp dimmers, two Pico remotes, and two tabletop pedestals for the remotes. But you can also build a piecemeal system starting with a Smart Bridge for $80 and individual sets of dimmers or switches paired with Pico remotes (no pedestals included) for $50–$60 each, or omit the Pico remotes and save a few dollars. The full list of starter kits, individual products, and accessories is available on the Caséta Wireless website. Lutron also has an Amazon storefront for the Caséta ecosystem.

Serena shades are custom manufactured based on your specifications, and pricing varies considerably depending on shade style, size, mounting method, fabric, and more, but expect to pay more than $400 (significantly more in some cases) per shade. It adds up quickly, but quality standard shades aren’t necessarily cheap either, and many homeowners find the convenience of powered shades worth the cost, especially for window locations that are out of easy reach.

Note: Lutron provided the Caséta lamp dimmer starter kit to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this review. The Serena shade demo unit was also provided free of charge and returned to Lutron at the conclusion of the review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Tags: HomeKit, Lutron
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‘Monument Valley 2’ Nearly Doubled First-Year Revenue in Comparison to Original Game

Monument Valley 2 creators Ustwo Games today posted a new story on Medium (via The Verge) that highlights the first-year numbers and growth of the popular mobile sequel. Although there are numerous points of data to look at, one notable standout is that Monument Valley 2 earned $10.4 million in the one year period that began on June 5, 2017 (the game’s launch day) through June 4, 2018.

In comparison, the original game’s first-year revenue locked in at $5.8 million back in 2015, meaning that the sequel proved to be far more popular than the first Monument Valley and nearly doubled first-year revenue for Ustwo Games in the process. One major factor in the success of Monument Valley 2 was its surprise unveiling onstage at WWDC 2017, and its immediate availability later that day in the iOS App Store.

Once word got out about the game’s launch, it achieved its highest one-day revenue of $728,000 on June 6, 2017 — the day after Apple’s WWDC keynote. Continuing comparisons, in its first year the original game’s highest one-day revenue hit $145,530 on April 3, 2014, the day of its launch.

Infographics via Ustwo Games on Medium
China was a huge factor in Monument Valley 2’s success this past year, with the game offered as an initially free download on Android in the country. China accounted for 91.4 percent of the game’s unique installs, compared to 2.7 percent in the United States. China also made up for 62.3 percent of purchases for the game in its first year, followed by the U.S. at 16.3 percent, the United Kingdom at 2.7 percent, Germany at 1.9 percent, Japan at 1.8 percent, Canada at 1.5 percent, and France at 1.3 percent.

Ustwo Game’s new infographic also has a few “fun facts,” including that 53 percent of players who began Monument Valley 2 finished it, and that the player base took over 2.2 million screenshots while playing the sequel. In total, the developers had to keep work on their follow-up game a secret for 490 days before it was ultimately revealed at WWDC 2017. Over its entire development cycle, it took 16 core team members 70 weeks to finish the game at a development cost of $2.3 million.

Speaking to The Verge, Ustwo Games studio head Dan Gray talked about the company’s resistance to going the freemium route with its games and the opinion by some in the industry that premium mobile games have died. “I think it has kind of plateaued,” he explained. “It definitely hasn’t died, which is what everyone said every year for the past six years.”

In the Medium post, Gray explained that the company likes to share its data to help out other developers, who can “get a handle on what they might expect from a successful premium launch,” and further the resistance to games that focus on in-app purchase payment structures. Monument Valley has become such a success in this field that other teams reportedly use “an MV” as a unit of measurement when forecasting success of their own games to investors, saying their game could launch with “X percent of an MV.”

“It’s harder and harder to make successful, premium, paid mobile games,” says Gray. “So I would rather help people out.” He says that the community of premium mobile game developers is very communicative, sharing details like release dates ahead of time to avoid clashing with each other. “It’s kind of like this secret society of people trying to help each other out,” he says.

Monument Valley 2 launched with a price tag of $4.99 on the iOS App Store, and has seen a discount to $1.99 a few times over the last year. Thanks to the one-time purchase, players get access to the entire game, which spans 14 chapters of puzzles of increasing difficulty. Although he didn’t specify what Ustwo is working on next, Gray said that he wants to use Monument Valley 2’s success “to do some really risky projects that no one is taking risks on.”

Tags: Ustwo, Monument Valley 2
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Additional Details About Apple’s New MacBook and MacBook Pro Keyboard Service Program

Following a few years of anecdotal complaints, and no less than three lawsuits, Apple on Friday initiated a new worldwide service program offering free repairs of MacBook and MacBook models equipped with low-profile, butterfly mechanism keyboards, which have been a source of frustration for some customers.

We’ve already reported about the service program in more detail, but the gist is that Apple and Apple Authorized Service Providers are now offering free repairs of affected 2015-and-later MacBook and 2016-and-later MacBook Pro models with sticky, unresponsive, or inconsistently functioning keys.

Many questions have arisen since the program was announced, so we wanted to consolidate some additional information that we have gathered from Apple and other sources we have spoken with:

• Apple distributed an internal document on Friday with more information about the service program. It notes that keyboards damaged due to attempted repair by a customer are still eligible for free service under the program. If your MacBook or MacBook Pro has physical top case damage unrelated to the keyboard, it also remains eligible.
• As to be expected, if your MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard has liquid damage, it is ineligible for the program.
• If a key press is not recognized, key presses feel abnormal or sticky, or keys are loose or missing, Apple has instructed Genius Bars and authorized service providers to clean or replace the affected keycaps if possible.
• Keycap replacement kits are available for English keyboards in ANSI and ISO layouts, along with British, French, German, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese keyboards.
• If characters are repeating, or previous keycap replacements were ineffective, Apple has instructed Genius Bars and authorized service providers to replace the whole keyboard, which requires replacing the whole top case, including the trackpad and speaker grilles.
• Be prepared to go a week-plus without your MacBook. Apple quotes a turnaround time of five to seven business days for service to be completed at Apple’s off-site repair centers, but wait times may increase as an influx of customers take advantage of the program.
• If your MacBook or MacBook Pro experiences keyboard issues after being serviced under the program, Apple says customers can bring their unit back in to be looked at again. This suggests, but doesn’t explicitly state, that the program may be used more than once.
• Apple is offering refunds to customers who paid to have an eligible keyboard repaired prior to this program, but a Genius has advised us that refunds are not available in person at an Apple Store, and must be requested by contacting Apple Support by phone, online chat, or email.
• It’s still not entirely clear if the replacement keyboards have been slightly revised to address the issues that prompted the service program in the first place. Apple has been fairly communicative with me about this program, but has so far skipped right over this question when asked.
• We do know that Apple has been replacing 2016 MacBook Pro keyboards with the 2017 version, which has slightly different markings on the Control and Option keys, but a Genius we spoke with believes the 2016 and 2017 keyboards are functionally equivalent.
• iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens also told me he believes the keyboard design hasn’t changed at all in a few years.
• However, anecdotal reports from customers suggest the 2017 MacBook Pro keyboard “has a different feel to it,” with some calling it “better” and less prone to issues. Marco Arment, for example, said it is “more ‘damped’ in both feel and sound, as if there’s more rubber somewhere.”

We’ll share any further information as we come across it. In the meantime, if you are experiencing keyboard issues, read our article on How to Get a MacBook or MacBook Pro Keyboard Repaired Free Under Apple’s Service Program.

Related Roundups: MacBook Pro, MacBookTag: repair programBuyer’s Guide: MacBook Pro (Don’t Buy), MacBook (Don’t Buy)
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Facebook Confirms Development of Digital Health Time Tool for Mobile Apps

Facebook is working on its own in-house time usage insight dashboard, following in the footsteps of Apple’s iOS 12 keynote at WWDC, which included the announcement of a “Screen Time” digital health feature. Discovered by Jane Manchun Wong (via TechCrunch), “Your Time on Facebook” shows a list of of how long you’ve spent on the Facebook app over the last week.

This includes the average time you spent in the app per day, as well as the ability to set a limit to the amount of time you want to spend in the app, and an accompanying reminder about that limit. Confirming the feature is in testing, Facebook said, “We’re always working on new ways to help make sure people’s time on Facebook is time well spent.”

Image via @wongmjane
In the image shared by Wong on Twitter, the text in the dashboard reads, “Time spent is counted while you’re viewing the Facebook app on this phone,” so it appears this feature will not count Facebook web browsing. The dashboard also has a shortcut for users to jump to a page that allows them to change their notification settings and turn on do not disturb. Although discovered within the Android app for Facebook, once “Your Time on Facebook” rolls out to a wide audience it’s expected to launch across iOS and Android devices.

Facebook-owned Instagram is also developing a “Time Spent” usage insights feature so users can see how long they spend in the app. In May, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said, “Understanding how time online impacts people is important, and it’s the responsibility of all companies to be honest about this. We want to be part of the solution. I take that responsibility seriously.”

While the digital health trend continues on an app-by-app basis, it’s yet to be seen if any individual company will provide features that Apple doesn’t already have in its all-encompassing Screen Time area of Settings in iOS 12. Screen Time collects data on every app you open and use on your iPhone or iPad, breaking them down by different categories of apps, showing you exactly how much time you spend in each app, how often you pick up your iPhone, which apps send the most notifications, and more.

You can set up App Limits to reduce the amount of time you spend in any app, and view weekly reports to see an overall view of what you were doing on your iOS devices the last seven days. Improvements to digital health in iOS 12 also include Do Not Disturb during Bedtime, greater control over notifications, “Downtime,” and more.

Tag: Facebook
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‘China’s Hawaii’ plans to ease internet restrictions for foreign tourists

China looks set to lift parts of its “Great Firewall” in an effort to please foreign travelers and boost tourism.

But the easing of its tight internet restrictions would only affect a small part of the country, namely the southern island province of Hainan. Dubbed “China’s Hawaii” for its comfortable climate and miles of beaches, Hainan is receiving large amounts of government investment as part of plans to attract more travelers and to make the location a free-trade zone by 2020.

The so-called Great Firewall of China stops its citizens from accessing popular online services such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, as well as many overseas news websites. It was set up in a bid to limit Western influence in the country and to stop the spread of information that its leaders fear could lead to social unrest. The blocks can be circumvented by those who know how to use the relevant tools, though such action is taken at their own risk.

The Hainan plans were published on the local government’s website last Thursday, June 21, but, somewhat ironically, the content had disappeared by the following day, the South China Morning Post reported. Multiple news sites throughout China continued to report the development, however.

About three times larger than Hawaii’s Big Island, visitors to Hainan will be able to access many online services that are usually blocked, simply by heading to designated zones in its two main cities, Haikou and Sanya. But as Shanghaiist points out, the plans offered no information on the precise location or size of the proposed zones.

There’s also no information on whether other popular online services — among them Instagram and Snapchat, or indeed Google — would be unblocked as part of the initiative.

If Hainan does loosen the country’s internet restrictions, it won’t only please foreign tourists coming to the island. As part of its expansion efforts, local officials are looking to hire as many as 50,000 workers from overseas in the next two years and to increase the number of foreign students to 3,500, most of whom will be used to accessing internet services unrestricted.

The proposals may surprise some, as they come just over a year after the Chinese government vowed to crack down on unauthorized VPN services that many people use as a firewall workaround.

If the Great Firewall is taken down in parts of Hainan, expect the central government to keep a close eye on online activity there, and for it to quickly step in if it detects what it considers to be troublesome behavior.

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Blue Origin eyes a date for the sale of tourist spaceflight tickets

There are moneyed folks around the world right now with an eye on the ride of a lifetime with Blue Origin, the space tourism company led by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. But to be at the front of the line, they’ll need to buy a ticket the moment they become available. But when’s that likely to be?

Well, news from those in the know indicates that Blue Origin will start selling seats for its suborbital space trips as early as next year.

Rob Meyerson, vice president at Blue Origin, revealed the tidbit during a recent presentation, Space News reported.

He added that the company also plans to begin flying its first test crews “soon,” though he didn’t offer a more specific time frame.
As for ticket prices, that’s also yet to be determined.

Bob Smith, chief executive of Blue Origin, said in April that once his team is confident about the safety and stability of the New Shepard rocket and crew capsule, “we’ll have the conversation internally about what prices are and what that whole process looks like.”

Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin’s main competitor in the space tourism race, has already taken around 700 bookings for its suborbital flights, with each one costing $250,000. It hopes to launch its service within the next 12 months. Virgin Galactic has said that the growing list of customers means anyone booking a ticket today will more than likely have to wait until at least 2021 before they’ll be able to hop aboard.

Blue Origin’s trip will take up to six passengers at a time to a point about 62 miles (100 km) above Earth. As they admire the stunning views, they’ll be permitted to unbelt for several minutes to enjoy floating about in a weightless environment.

“For the suborbital mission, training is going to be relatively simple,” Bezos said in a 2016 interview, adding that he wants people “to be able to get out, float around, do somersaults, enjoy the microgravity, look out of those beautiful windows.”

Blue Origin’s New Shepard has flown eight times so far, with the booster returning safely to terra firma all but one time. The company unveiled a revamped capsule at the end of last year with comfier seats and larger windows than the original design.

Bezos in space?

It’s not clear if Jeff Bezos will be aboard Blue Origin’s maiden tourism flight.

“I want to go into space, but I want to do it in Blue Origin vehicles,” the CEO said, adding that while such a trip is a personal ambition, his main aim is to bring down the cost of space access with reusable rocket technology.

If Blue Origin can achieve that, Bezos believes the developing technology will pave the way for “millions” of people to one day live and work in space. “I want us to be a space-faring civilization,” he said.

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5 changes Apple needs to make in the next iPhone

The rumor mill is already grinding overtime on what Apple might have in store with the next iPhone release. We were impressed by the iPhone X, and the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus had plenty to offer people keen to save a few bucks or to stick with a familiar design.

Whether Apple will unveil a plus-sized version of the iPhone X, alongside a smaller sequel, and a more budget friendly device – as the rumors suggest – remains to be seen. A trio that hits different price points seems likely, but don’t hold your breath for the flagship to be any cheaper than the iPhone X.

Better performance, a more capable camera, and improvements to battery life are a given, just as we can be sure we won’t see the return of the headphone jack or Touch ID. But whatever does come out of Cupertino in September, there are a few things we’d like to see Apple do with the next iPhone.

Fast charging out of the box

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

As the purveyor of some of the most expensive mobile hardware around it’s an absolute joke that Apple doesn’t include a fast charging kit out of the box. While battery life hasn’t advanced as much as we would like in recent years, the ability to charge your battery up more quickly is a well-established feature.

Fast charging is a standard across the Android market now and not just in high end devices – you can buy a Moto G6 for $250 and get a TurboPower charger in the box with it that’ll give you 6 hours of use from a 15-minute charge.

You can actually get a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes with the iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus, but you have to buy a USB-C to Lightning cable and a power brick that supports USB-C Power Delivery. If you buy them from Apple, that’s an extra $75. Shop around and you can get them a fair bit cheaper — though we would warn against buying anything that isn’t Apple certified – but you really shouldn’t have to do this.

If Apple expects us to pay $1,000 for the iPhone X, or even $700 for the iPhone 8, then it should be including a fast charger in the box. Gouging us for what is a standard feature now is unjustifiable and we’d really like to see Apple sort this out.

Adopt USB Type-C

Maurizio Pesce/Flickr

For a long time, Apple justified its proprietary ports by making them more capable than the popularly-adopted alternative standards, but now that USB-C is widespread that argument is dead. The Lightning port doesn’t do anything for the phone buying public that USB-C can’t do. If it’s good enough for a MacBook, it’s good enough for the iPhone, right?

It’s time Apple adopted the industry standard. MicroUSB is vanishing fast, and everyone is switching to USB-C. If Apple would get onboard, we could enjoy a utopic future of shared chargers where anyone can plug into any cable or charger that’s available. Families with a mix of Android devices and iPhones could cut their accessory clutter in half. You could take one cable with you to charge all your devices.

What proprietary ports allow Apple to do is include an authentication chip in Lightning cables that ensures any non-certified accessories won’t work with its devices. That means Apple can make sure the $3 cable you buy won’t charge your iPhone, but its $25 cable will.

Apple argues that this allows it to vet cable manufacturers and ensure quality. There’s no doubt that there are some terrible counterfeit products or just poorly made cheap options out there, but you know that it’s also partly because this system allows Apple to sell cables at a markup that would make the iPhone blush. And having used a lot of cables, we can say with confidence that Apple’s cables are not higher quality than cheaper alternatives that are Apple certified.

We don’t think there’s much hope that Apple will switch from Lightning port to USB-C port in the next iPhone, but what we can see happening is a move to include a USB-C to Lightning cable in the box. That would at least be a step in the right direction, but full adoption of USB-C would be much better.

Get rid of the side switch

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

We know Jony Ive and his design team favor minimalism. In his own words, they’re on a mission to “get rid of anything that isn’t absolutely essential.” To that end we’ve seen the death of the standard 3.5mm audio port in all iPhones and the Touch ID home button in the iPhone X.

Does it strike anyone else as weird that the side switch to put your iPhone on silent has survived this cull? Is Apple really suggesting that it’s absolutely essential? Because every Android phone we’ve ever used (apart from some OnePlus devices) lacks this switch and we’ve never missed it.

We’re sure there are some people who use this switch every day and love it, but honestly, it’s not an elegant solution to the problem. What makes it superior to just holding the volume down button for a second?

Our preferred silent mode trigger is placing the phone face down. It works perfectly in a meeting setting, even acting as a visual demonstration that you’re not going to be distracted by your phone during the conversation. Schedule Do Not Disturb for nights, where you can set any exceptions you need to and still be sure your alarm will go off.

What’s the situation that we need a mechanical silent switch for? Just get rid of it, Apple.

Reduce the camera bump

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

We understand that as camera technology has improved, and phones have been shaved down to be as svelte as possible, the camera module on the back inevitably protrudes. Apple’s iPhones have had increasingly large camera bumps over the last few years, but the camera bump in the iPhone X is big.

The problem is that it makes the design feel unbalanced. It’s the first thing that touches down on any surface and it causes the phone to wobble when placed on a flat table or desk. It makes the need for a protective case even clearer, but when a device feels this nice in hand, it’s annoying to have to dress it up in plastic. All the effort that went into making it so slim is lost anyway.

It’s a tradeoff that we accept, because we’d take a better camera over a slight bump in the design any day, but it would be nice if Apple could find a way to reduce or get rid of that bump. It’s an obvious compromise in something that has been designed so carefully.

Scrap the notch

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Speaking of design compromises, we come to the notch. Apple had to find a way to accommodate the tech for Face ID into the front of the iPhone X, and the inelegant solution it hit upon was a notch out of the top of the screen.

Yes, you get used to it. No, it doesn’t ruin the phone. But would we rather have an iPhone that was truly full edge-to-edge screen on the front? Of course, we would.

This compromise disappointingly prompted a bunch of Android manufacturers to follow suit, even though they really didn’t have to – the fact they don’t have the same FaceID tech to fit in and they all have bottom bezels rubbishes the idea they couldn’t have done things differently.

Let’s be honest here, the best thing we can say about the notch is that it isn’t that bad. You forget about it after a few days with a notch toting phone, but that doesn’t make it good.

If Apple could fit everything in without a notch, then the iPhone wouldn’t have one. Let’s hope it can figure out a way to do exactly that in the next iPhone.

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Is your 1440P monitor actually a downscaled 4K panel in disguise?

High-refresh rate 1440P displays like this PG279Q are one way to avoid downscaled 4K.

Some monitor manufacturers may be trying to save money when producing 1440P monitors by using downscaled 4K panels instead of native 2560 x 1440 panels. While that might seem like a free upgrade for those affected, there is no way for them to make full use of the increased resolution of the panel. Worse still, by downscaling away from the panel’s hardware-native resolution, the image quality is actually worse for it.

Whether we’re talking about the best monitor overall or the best gaming display, we almost always recommend a 1440P panel. They tend to have better feature sets like higher refresh rates, and even if it’s not always the case that they are more affordable by themselves, graphics card requirements are far lower with a 1440P display. That doesn’t mean 4K displays don’t have their uses, but when people buy a 1440P monitor, that’s what they want, not a downscaled 4K one.

But according to Prad.de, that’s exactly what some consumers have been stuck with. In its “Wolf in sheep’s clothing,” report, the German site suggests that the reason some of these (as yet unnamed) manufacturers take part in the practice, is because 4K panels have come down so much in price that they’re more affordable to manufacture. It does suggest this isn’t a common practice and one that typically only happens in times of high demand or low supply, but that some people with new “1440P” monitors may actually be running 4K panels instead.

The panels are said to be limited to the reduced resolution through a lock in the firmware, so it’s not possible to boost the resolution to its native. That’s unfortunate for users caught out like this too, as it can mean a worse image because of it.

For those potentially affected, one method for checking to see if you’ve been caught out by a downscaled panel is to look at text to see if it’s oddly blurry where it should be sharp and crisp. While larger visuals are said to be mostly unaffected, smaller icons and images may be noticeably blurry. Another method highlighted by TechSpot, is to look at the pixel size of your monitor. A true 2560 x 1440 display should have a pixel width of 0.23mm, while a 4K panel will have pixels that measure 0.16mm.

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