Spigen Rugged Armor for Pixel 2 XL review: Protection without the bulk

One of Spigen’s most common cases is a great choice for your phone.

Spigen has been making phone cases since dinosaurs walked the Earth, and they’re usually one of the first companies to offer cases and screen protectors on new devices. They have a few different styles for different tastes and levels of protection, but my favorite for a few years has been the Rugged Armor series. There are plenty of great cases for the Pixel 2 XL, but Spigen’s Rugged Armor should be on your short list of options.

Spigen Rugged Armor for Google Pixel 2 XL

Price: $11.99

Bottom line: This case protects your phone without being too bulky, and doesn’t cost much while doing it.

The Good

• Inexpensive
• Neutral design
• Doesn’t add much bulk
• Great protection

The Bad

• Only one color option

See at Amazon

I — Tom Westrick — have been using the Rugged Armor case for my Pixel 2 XL since I bought that phone in November 2017. I purchased the case with my own money.

Thin but protective

Spigen Rugged Armor What I like

My favorite thing about this case is how much it protects the device. Spigen’s Rugged Armor series have been my go-to cases for a couple years now, because it covers the entire device — minus the screen — without being too bulky. I’ll admit I don’t typically use cases 24/7, only an hour or so a day in the gym or when I’m running. But I’ll put a case on my phone if I’m traveling anywhere, and I had no issues with the bulk of the Rugged Armor cases.

The design is plain, but it works. It’s just a solid piece of rubber, and it does a great job at keeping the device protected. My phone was dropped countless times in airports, gyms, and on street corners with this case on, and the phone and case are no worse for wear.

The case has a generous cutout for the USB-C port, and I had no issues using it with any of my charging cables. The buttons are replicated on the case, which I love because it means I don’t need to dig my fingers in to try and change volume. There’s a cutout for the camera and flash, with no changes to the images or videos I take. Finally, I haven’t had to re-record my fingerprint with this case on.

You can have any color, as long as it’s black

Spigen Rugged Armor What I don’t like

The only downside to the Rugged Armor series is there’s only one color option: black. I don’t personally mind this since I’d buy a black case anyway, but it’d be nice to see blue, red or other colors available for those that want them.

A tried and true choice

Spigen Rugged Armor for Pixel 2 XL

For $11, this case is as good as you can get. It protects your device well without being too bulky, and it’s easy to put on and take off if you’re an intermittent case user like I am. This is great for anyone worried about drops, or just want something with a bit more grip than their phone has.

4.5
out of 5

I do wish there were more color options, but that won’t stop me from recommending this case to anyone.

See at Amazon

NVIDIA moving Shield TV to its GeForce Now service for some serious game streaming

GeForce Now allows you to play desktop games on the Android TV-based streaming console box.

NVIDIA today announced that its Shield TV will be switching over to the GeForce NOW service — basically a cloud service for gaming — that’s currently available on Macs and Windows machines, bringing desktop games to the Shield platform. It’ll let Shield owner play their personal library of games, or purchase new ones from digital stores like Steam and Uplay.

This all gets a little confusing because the previous thing on NVIDIA Shield was, erm, also called GeForce Now and was $8 a month. But now it’s the PC/Mac version of GeForce Now. Not the Shield version of GeForce Now. But the new one is also on Shield. The old one, and its monthly fee, is going away. From Shield. Now.

GeForce NOW is in a free public beta. NVIDIA says the Shield switchover should happen in the next week or so. You can see the full list of supported games here.

Best Amazon Prime Day Deals 2018

The celebrations have already begun!

Amazon Prime Day doesn’t officially begin until July 16 at 3pm ET, but that hasn’t stopped the company from beginning the deals a little bit early. Alongside the announcement, Amazon stated that a few deals would be available instantly for Prime members, and there are a few that you definitely won’t want to miss. In the coming days, we expect to see more deals leak, and our continuously updated tracker will highlight all the best Amazon Prime Day deals.

Be sure to check back often, as this page will be constantly adding fresh new deals. If you’re looking for deals on Amazon’s Echo hardware, Kindle Unlimited, Prime Pantry and more, we’ve got you covered.

Prime Exclusive Deals of the Day

In the lead-up to Prime Day, Amazon has switched over its Gold Box deals of the day to be all Prime member exclusive deals. Unlike some of the offers below, these prices expire at the end of the day, so you won’t have much time to think about them.

Today’s deals include:

• Amazon Dash Buttons – $0.99 (Was $5)
• TP-Link Wi-Fi Smart switch – $27.99 (Was $51)
• Samsung wireless charging stand (2018) – $39.99 (Was $70)
• Marshall Stanmore Bluetooth speaker – $169.99 (Was $349)
• Pelican cases and luggage – Various Prices
• MegaWheels Classic Hoverboards – Various Prices
• Men’s Shirts – Up to 40% off
• Vincero Luxury Watches – Up to 30% off

Echo Hardware

To kick things off, the company slashed $100 on the price of the Echo Show, dropping it down to just $129.99. This is the lowest we’ve ever seen it go and makes it the same price as the smaller screened Echo Spot. We’ve seen Amazon offer Voice Shopping exclusive deals in the past during Prime Day, so if you don’t have an Alexa device, or want another, this is a no-brainer purchase.

The Echo Dot is also down to $34.99, which is the lowest we’ve seen it hit this year.

Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Music Unlimited

If you’ve yet to try out Amazon’s Music Unlimited service, you can get a four-month membership for just $0.99. That’s right, all four months of unlimited access to all the music in the company’s library (which is rather extensive) for just one dollar. Prefer to read books instead of listening to music? No worries, Amazon has three months of Kindle Unlimited available for $0.99 as well. This gets you access to over a million book titles, and you can read as many of them as your heart desires during that time frame.

You can also go all-in on a Kindle Unlimited subscription and save 40% when you checkout with the coupon code PDKU18. This drops the one-year subscription down to $80.32 and the two-year subscription to $143.86. If you want to just buy a few books, you can get $10 towards any Kindle, print, or Audible book purchase when you buy any Kindle book for $5 or more before July 15.

Amazon’s In-house brands

Amazon has a bunch of its own brands, and right now it’s offering 20% off home, kitchen, and other AmazonBasics gear, 30% off Amazon Elements multivitamins, and up to 25% off Stone & Beam furniture. There are a bunch of other Amazon brands from AmazonFresh to Mama Bear and Goodthreads that will also have discounted items available.

Twitch Prime Games and Gear

Finally, Amazon is offering a free PC game each day through July 18 via Twitch Prime. There are popular titles like Pillars of Eternity, Q.U.B.E, Hue, and more. You’ll also get exclusive in-game look for Warframe and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and if you’re looking to load up on Twitch apparel, the merch is 50% off right now.

Of course, to take advantage of any of these offers you need to be an Amazon Prime member. If you aren’t already, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial so you can access all these deals and save during the big event.

The Thrifter team is going to be covering ALL things Prime Day, and you won’t want to miss out. Sign up now to have tips, tricks, deals, and more delivered right to your inbox.

How to share screenshots from your Lenovo Mirage Solo

If it looks stupid but it works, it’s still kinda stupid.

While game achievements exist, not every game supports them. And when things are going wrong on your device, sharing a screenshot is the easiest way to get it resolved. Unfortunately, your options are a bit… limited if you’re using the Lenovo Mirage Solo.

Here’s how to share screenshots from the Lenovo Mirage Solo!

What doesn’t work

Most Android devices take a screenshot the same way: press volume down and the power button at the same time. While the Mirage Solo has power and volume buttons on the headset, trying to use this key combination doesn’t actually do anything.

You can get screenshots from any Android device — from smartphones to TVs to watches — with the following ADB command:

adb shell screencap -p /sdcard/screen.png

That works on the Mirage Solo — you can enter developer mode and use ADB just like you would on any other device. But, the resulting image is just black. If you’re trying to dunk on your friends’ virtual fishing score, a blank black image isn’t going to do any good.

What does work

Fortunately, you can Cast the entire interface of your headset to any Chromecast or Android TV. This includes the Settings screen and other areas of the interface you wouldn’t expect to work. But it all does work. From here, just take a photo of the screen or get fancy and plug your Chromecast into an HDMI capture card.

What say you?

Do you plan to share screenshots from your Mirage Solo? Let us know down below!

These Milanese Fitbit Charge 2 bands are priced as low as $3 today

Find a new look for your Fitbit with these discounted Milanese bands.

While supplies last, you can pick up a Milanese Stainless Steel Band for Fitbit Charge for as low as $3 at Amazon by entering promo code 23WL8NTD during checkout. The code is valid on all colors and sizes of the band, however some options are priced up to $3.60 with the code. In any case, this offer should make the bands inexpensive enough where you could pick up a few that suit your style for the regular price of one.

There are small and large size bands to choose from, along with colors like Blue, Rose Gold and Champagne Gold. Replacing the band on your Fitbit Charge 2 is a nice way to keep it feeling fresh while using it daily.

Close to 3,000 Amazon customers reviewed these bands with 4.4 out of 5 stars collectively.

See at Amazon

Moment launches camera app for Android and iOS with tons of pro controls

You can shoot in RAW, control shutter speed, and lots more.

If you’re big into mobile photography, chances are you’re familiar with Moment. Moment’s become quite popular over the last couple years with extensive camera lenses and cases for the Pixel 2, Galaxy S9, and Apple’s iPhones. Now, Moment’s stepping away from the hardware game to release a pro camera app for both Android and iOS.

Titled Moment – Pro Camera, the app is designed to replace the default camera app on your phone while giving you access to all of the pro controls you could ask for. You can shoot in RAW, control exposure/ISO/shutter speed/focus/white balance, analyze all of your photo metadata in a DSLR-like format, and see a real-time histogram to know exactly what your exposure is like.

Despite all of these controls, Moment’s kept the UI for its app very clean and simplistic so that it’s not too overwhelming for people looking to gradually up their photo game. There’s also a section in the app where you can let it know you’re using a Moment lens if you have one, and according to Moment, it’s working on adding support for the Pixel 2’s Pixel Visual Core at some point down the road.

While all of that sounds great, Moment’s Android app is lagging a bit behind. At the time of publishing this article, the Android version doesn’t support video recording or the ability to switch between sensors if you’ve got a phone with dual rear cameras.

Speaking of the Android app, it’ll set you back $1.99 on the Play Store. For our iPhone friends, the iOS app can be downloaded for free but requires a one-time $2.99 payment to access all of the pro controls.

Download: Moment – Pro Camera ($1.99)

Popular Original iPhone Game Trism Relaunches Today

Trism, developed by Steve Demeter, was one of the first games in the App Store when it launched 10 years ago. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the App Store, a new version of Trism, Trism 2, is available for download today.

The original version of Trism came out on July 11, 2008, one day after the iOS App Store went live. Trism was a gravity-based puzzler where the goal was to match up three or more like-colored pieces, making it one of the first match-three games to become ultra popular on the iPhone.

Two months after its 2008 launch, as it soared up the App Store charts, Trism had earned Demeter $250,000, cementing its place as one of the most well-known original iPhone games.

Trism continues to be available for purchase from the App Store even today, but Demeter has decided to follow it up with the first sequel 10 years later, Trism 2. Like the original Trism, Trism 2 is a match-three game where the goal is to pair three or more bricks of the same color to make matches.

The game boasts an interactive open world, a “deep narrative storyline,” branching subquests, episodic content, and multiple endings. Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller tweeted about the new app this morning.

Hello #Trism II
10 years ago we first played Trism !!#Apple #AppStore https://t.co/ZR4RH9kZMB

— Philip Schiller (@pschiller) July 10, 2018

In an interview with Variety last week, Demeter said he first began work on Trism 2 in 2010, but it became a “nightmare cycle of starting and restarting, creating and destroying.”

“I poured my heart and soul into that game,” he said. “I would develop and iterate and then a new thing would come out, like ‘Candy Crush,’ and I would go back to the drawing board. So I’d develop and iterate again, and then something else would come out.”

Trism 2 was built and rebuilt again until it was perfect, with the aim of a Trism game that’s “Zelda meets Bejeweled.” The game is launching with two complete islands to play through, with another four in the works as downloadable content. There will be no paid DLC, micro transactions, or in-app purchases.

“The game is about the fans,” Demeter told Variety. “I really wanted to make this a love letter to them. I couldn’t make it free-to-play. I just couldn’t. I thought about that early on, but I just couldn’t do that.”

Trism 2 can be downloaded from the App Store for $2.99. [Direct Link]

Tag: App Store
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Snapchat Opens ‘Lens Explorer’ Section in iOS App to Enable Discoverability of User-Made Lenses

Snapchat today announced that all users can now discover and unlock thousands of user-generated Lenses built by the app’s global creator community with “Lens Explorer.” This marks the first time that Community Lenses will be discoverable alongside the main, Snapchat-created Lenses in the Lens Carousel.

To find the new section, navigate to the Lens Carousel, tap the new smiley face icon in the top right corner, and tap a Lens tile to unlock the Lens you want. Then, the app will navigate you to the Snap Camera to try it out, or you can see how it looks on other users in featured Our Stories. Additionally, if you know the name of a lens you can directly search for it.

The Lenses found in Lens Explorer are made by creators using Snapchat’s Lens Studio, a desktop app for Mac and Windows that lets creatives and developers build augmented reality face filters and other effects that go to use in the Snapchat mobile apps. Today, the company announced that since Lens Studio launched last December creators have submitted more than 100,000 unique Lenses that have been viewed more than 2.5 billion times.

Lens Explorer is rolling out beginning today to the iOS Snapchat app.

Tag: Snapchat
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AgileBits Denies Reported ‘Acquisition Talks’ Between Apple and 1Password [Updated]

Apple plans to deploy 1Password internally to all of its corporate and retail employees around the world over the next few months, according to BGR’s editor-in-chief Jonathan Geller, who cites an unnamed source.

The report claims Apple plans to offer a free license to the standalone version of 1Password to each of its employees and their families:

According to our source, after many months of planning, Apple plans to deploy 1Password internally to all 100,000 employees. This includes not just employees in Cupertino, but extends all the way to retail, too. Furthermore, the company is said to have carved out a deal that includes family plans, giving up to 5 family members of each employee a free license for 1Password. […]

Apple is also using the stand-alone version of 1Password — at first the company considered using the version that includes AgileBits syncing service that routes through cloud providers like Amazon AWS, but Apple quickly decided that wasn’t acceptable. The standalone version of the software lets users sync through iCloud, something Apple is undoubtedly more comfortable with.

The report claims 100 Apple employees will start using 1Password through this initiative starting this week, with all corporate and retail employees at the company expected to be activated within the next one to two months.

The report also mentioned that “acquisition talks were underway,” although “unlikely,” and AgileBits swiftly denied that claim.

Rumours of my acquisition are completely false. My humans and I are happily independent and plan to remain so.

— 1Password (@1Password) July 10, 2018

Apple employees have already received 1Password for free for several years, so it’s unclear what this “deployment” refers to exactly.

Tags: bgr.com, 1Password
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VELUX ACTIVE with NETATMO Smart Skylight System Gains HomeKit Support

Following a demo at CES in January, the VELUX ACTIVE with NETATMO smart skylight system has now launched on the iOS App Store [Direct Link] with HomeKit support. The app pairs with the new VELUX ACTIVE with NETATMO climate control and monitoring system to enable smartphone control and automation of the skylights, costing $295.

The company says that this marks the first time that skylights will be able to connect to Apple’s HomeKit platform, allowing users to open or close the skylight in the Home app or using Siri on iOS, Apple Watch, and HomePod. HomeKit support will be available in new VELUX skylights, as well as existing skylights made by the company and enabled through the new app.

The skylights include smart sensor technology to monitor CO2, humidity levels, and temperature in the home, which it combines with local weather data to automatically open the skylights if fresh air is needed. This helps create a more comfortable living environment through improved air quality, according to the company.

With HomeKit controls, homeowners can also further automate the skylight system and can add it into various scenes in the Home app, or automatically open or close it as they arrive or leave their home. The company explains that the VELUX ACTIVE skylight system was built with technology from French company NETATMO:

“VELUX ACTIVE with NETATMO is the result of two stunning technologies: high standard VELUX skylights and Netatmo’s know-how for creating simple and useful products and apps,” said Fred Potter, founder and CEO of Netatmo. “By automating the opening, closing and shading of skylights, we can make a big difference and improve indoor climate so users don’t have to worry about it.”

While the VELUX ACTIVE with NETATMO system runs for $295, that does not include the cost of the skylights themselves, or the installation fee for your specific home’s needs. More information on VELUX’s skylights can be found on the company’s website. The VELUXE ACTIVE with NETATMO system has an expected ship date sometime later this month.

Tag: HomeKit
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