Google still tracks your location even when you turn off Location History

Mother Google is always watching.

Google Maps is filled with all sorts of tools/features to help you navigate the world around you, one of which is something called “Your Timeline.” Your Timeline uses Location History to create a private view of your exact whereabouts on any given day, and while it’s a pretty neat feature, can be a bit much for privacy-conscious users.

You can disable this by turning off Location History for your Google account, but even after doing this, new evidence from Associated Press reveals that Google still has a few tricks up its sleeves to continue tracking your location.

As per its research, AP notes that the following tracking tools still work even when Location History is disabled.

Google stores a snapshot of where you are when you merely open its Maps app. Automatic daily weather updates on Android phones pinpoint roughly where you are. And some searches that have nothing to do with location, like “chocolate chip cookies,” or “kids science kits,” pinpoint your precise latitude and longitude — accurate to the square foot — and save it to your Google account.

The argument is that turning off a feature called “Location History” should eliminate Google from following your location no matter what, but according to a representative from the company, that’s not necessarily the case.

There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services. We provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.

In addition to turning off Location History, users must also disable Web and App Activity to prevent Google from tracking your location through these other means. Additionally, while you can delete the data on your Maps timeline, each day needs to be deleted one by one.

Google does give you controls for stopping all location data from being stored, but as AP points out, these controls aren’t properly labeled for consumers. Turning off Location History should stop all location data from being tracked, but as we now know, that simply isn’t the case.

What do you think about this discovery? Is Google being clear enough about how it tracks users’ location or is there still work to be done here? Let us know in the comments below!

How to view your location history in Google Maps

Dark themes on Android should be the norm, not the exception

You don’t know the power of the dark side!

Once upon a time, Android cloaked itself in shadow and cerulean. Triumphant cries of #YOLOHOLO rang out throughout the net as users reveled in a mobile experience that didn’t blind them like the sun every time they checked their phone in bed. But then a shift came. Material Design ushered in a new age of bright, white Android apps, and one by one, even Google’s own apps were drained of their contrast and their charcoal. The manufacturers followed in Google’s footprints and system theme after system theme was dragged into the light.

Today, dark themes on Android are an exception, an increasingly uncommon feature sought out by users almost as fervently as it is avoided by nearly all major services and manufacturers. Android Pie dashed the hopes of a system-wide dark theme for another year, and none of Google’s most prominent apps have dark themes available for their Android apps.

This is unfortunate for users, but even more so for the developers that shun the darkness, for there are a holy trinity of benefits to these devilishly dark designs.

Hexes and helpers

Dark themes can help your device last longer — with a catch

Legends of dark themes whisper of miraculous power-saving, of letting a phone’s screen sip battery like a fine whiskey for days instead of mere hours. It is indeed possible for a dark theme to be a boon to your battery when two conditions are met:

• The phone uses an AMOLED display, where black pixels remain powered off and unilluminated
• The app uses true, hex black — #000000 — for the majority of the dark theme

If your phone uses an LCD or IPS display, it doesn’t matter if the theme uses hex black: your phone’s entire screen is illuminated and drawing power. If an app developer uses anything above #000000 — the HOLO days of Android used charcoal gradients — then every pixel is turned on and drawing power on an AMOLED screen. For a dark theme to be even possibly battery saving, the majority of the theme needs to be true black with the rest of the theme using high contrast colors for text, buttons, and accents.

Dark themes are better for AMOLED displays — as long as they’re using true hex black.

This powered-down perk does come with a drawback of its own. When an app uses hex black aka AMOLED black, scrolling text and swift movements can look jittery as individual pixels on your phone turn on and off. This is part of why dark themes on apps like Twitter use a dark color rather than true black, so every pixel stays on and the app doesn’t look stuttery or slow when scrolling through your feed.

The problem with using a dark color instead of true black in a dark theme is that it lowers the contrast, and high contrast is more than a want for dark themes: it’s an Accessibility need.

See in the dark

Dark themes aren’t just good; they’re good for you

High contrast modes are available for just about computing platform on the planet because for users with low vision, color-blindness, as well as for older users with eye strain — younger users with eye strain like me. High contrast is easier for those of us with bad eyes to read, and for everyone else, high contrast makes it easier to read/browse/work on a phone or computer for longer.

Darkness comes with a price on Android right now: images are inverted, too.

Unfortunately, high-contrast mode on most platforms is just a color inverter. It doesn’t change any hard-to-read fonts to something more legible, text isn’t enlarged or spread out any better, and on Android and Chrome OS, all photos and videos are inverted, too, which makes for a trippy experience when browsing music apps or social media. These high contrast modes are also all-or-nothing, so services that naturally offer dark themes like YouTube Music are almost as blinding as an empty Google Doc.

By offering and encouraging more high contrast dark themes, Android could make itself easier on the eyes of heavy users and low-vision users, letting us keep using our favorite phones and favorite apps long into the night without our retinas yelling at us.

In the dark of the night

Dark themes let users browse and binge all night long

Because high-contrast themes with pure black backgrounds and properly spaced text are easier to read and use for longer periods of time, what a good dark theme means to a developer is more screen time, more engagement and likely more revenue.

The longer we can use an app, the more money its developer can make.

For apps that are ad-supported, the longer someone uses the app, the more ads they’ll scroll through and the more money the developer will get. For apps that have in-app purchases or premium upgrades, the longer a user can spend in an app before their eyes need a break or the battery runs down, the more likely they are to go premium.

And the longer we can use our apps before our eyes beg for oblivion and our batteries beg for a charger, the longer and longer into the night we can use our Android phones for anything and everything.

Snuff out the light

Android Pie may not have brought the dark revolution that we were hoping for, but dark themes are continuing to creep back in from the shadows of Android. Android Pie included a toggle to let Quick Settings and system popups be dark, and YouTube should soon finally get its long-awaited dark theme, but there could be so much more.

Dark themes are better for our eyes, better for our batteries and better for developers’ bottom lines. The time has finally come for Android and its developers to come back over to the dark side, so head to your favorite app, dive into the settings and find the “Send feedback” or “Contact developer” option.

Tell them to come to the dark side. We have cookies.

A widespread Instagram hack is locking users out of their accounts

Here’s your destination for all things Insta!

When you think of social media apps, one of the first that probably comes to mind in Instagram.

Launched back in October 2010 as an iOS exclusive, Instagram has quickly grown up to be the most popular platform for sharing photos and videos with people around the world.

Whether you need a refresher of the app or want to stay on top of the latest news surround it, here’s everything you need to know about Instagram.

The latest Instagram news

August 14, 2018 – Instagram users are reporting a strange hack that locks them out of their accounts

Since the beginning of August, Instagram users have reported a bizarre hack: users will be ‘logged out’ of their account, and once they go to log back in, their username will no longer exist. Their handle will be changed, along with their profile picture, as well as the email and phone number that’s connected to the account, making it impossible to access their information.

On Twitter, there have been more than 100 of these types of anecdotal reports in the last 24 hours alone. According to data from analytics platform Talkwalker, there have been more than 5,000 tweets from 899 accounts mentioning Instagram hacks just in the last seven days. Many of these users have been desperately tweeting at Instagram’s Twitter account for help. (Mashable)

Once the accounts have been hacked, the picture is typically set to a Disney or Pixar character. The email associated with the accounts is switched to a Russian .ru email address. Their bios and personal information are also deleted.

To prevent things like this from happening to your Instagram account, we recommend turning on two-factor authentication. Plenty of users who have been affected by the hack didn’t have two-factor authentication turned on — however, it is worth noting that even having this extra security step might not fully keep your IG profile safe.

The extra security measure didn’t protect Chris Woznicki, who was using two-factor authentication at the time his account was hacked 10 days ago. Woznicki says Instagram sent him security emails notifying him the email address on his account had been changed (once again, to a .ru address) and 2FA had been disabled. But by the time he saw the messages, it was too late and he had already lost access to his account, which had 660 followers. Others have reported similar occurrences. (Mashable)

July 19, 2018 — Instagram now shows you when your friends are online

If you frequently send direct messages to other Instagram users, you’ll now that there’s never been a way to know if your friends/followers are online and actively using the app. Thankfully, this changes today!

As part of a new update, Instagram will now show you when other people are online. On your inbox page for DMs and when browsing your friends list to share a post from your main feed, you’ll begin to see a green indicator next to profile pictures of other users if they’re on the app at that time. With this, it’ll be much easier to know if you’ll get an immediate response from someone if you send them a private message.

All the big details

The Home tab is where you’ll spend most of your time

When you’re using Instagram, most of your time will likely be spent on the Home tab. This is the page you’re taken to each time you open the app, and it acts as a central hub for everything Instagram has to offer.

At the very top, you’ll see three icons. From left to right, these are for taking a photo for Instagram Stories, opening IGTV, and going to your inbox for direct messages. Below that are circles for people you follow so you can view any of their Instagram Stories posts.

Underneath all of this is your main feed. Here, you’ll be able to endlessly browse through posts from people and hashtags you follow. On each post there are buttons for liking it, leaving a comment, privately sending it to one of your contacts, and adding it to your Saved page (more on that later).

Find new stuff on the Explore page

If you tap on the magnifying glass icon at the very bottom, you’ll be redirected to the Explore page.

On Explore, you can scroll through photos/videos from people and hashtags you might not be following but that Instagram thinks you’ll be interested in nonetheless.

You can search for a specific person or hashtag at the very top, and below that are recommended categories to filter the page by — including things like Humor, Animals, TV & Movies, and more. By default, this is set to For You.

Play around with the editing tools

Editing photos has been a big part of Instagram for years, and in 2018, that hasn’t changed one bit.

After selecting a photo you want to post, you can browse through a list of numerous filters. As you tap each one, you’ll instantly see how it’s going to affect the look of your picture. If you don’t like any of the filters you’re seeing, keep swiping to the left until you see the Manage button. Tap on this and you can add even more to your collection.

In addition to filters, tapping the Edit button at the bottom will allow you to fine-tune your photos even more with controls for the brightness, contrast, fade, highlights, etc. And, if all else fails, tapping the sunshine icon at the top-middle will enable you to control the Lux for your post and instantly ramp up the saturation and brightness for a much more vibrant-looking photo.

Take advantage of the Saved feature

If you come across a post on Instagram that you particularly like, it’s easy to save it for later without notifying anyone.

When looking at the post you want to save, tap the bookmark icon at the very right. Once you do this, head over to your profile,tap that same icon once again, and it’ll be right there for your viewing pleasure.

No one is notified when you add their photos to the Saved section, and if you want to go a step further, you can create a Collection to categorize the posts you add here.

Be sure to check out IGTV

This past June, Instagram added one of the biggest new features to its app in years — IGTV.

IGTV is Instagram’s take on long-form video, and unlike something such as YouTube, is designed around having people create and share vertical video content.

You can access IGTV through the main Instagram app or by downloading the standalone IGTV one, and upon opening it, you’re able to browse through videos from people you follow and what’s currently trending/popular.

IGTV clearly has a long ways to go before it’s on the same level as YouTube, but even this early on in its life has a lot going for it. The interface is easy to understand, it’s integrated nicely into an app that billions of people are already using, and anyone can make their own IGTV content and manage it through their phone or a web client.

Download: IGTV (free)

There’s more to see with Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is basically Instagram’s way of taking Snapchat head-on, and while I briefly mentioned it in this guide, there’s not enough time to dive into everything it has to offer.

Thankfully, Hayato already put together a fantastic guide going through absolutely everything you could want to know about Stories. Check it out below!

Instagram Stories on Android: Everything you need to know!

NVIDIA’s new Shield TV bundle throws in a Samsung SmartThings Link

The whole smash costs $219, but we’re already seeing it on sale.

NVIDIA today announced a new bundle for Shield TV. Dubbed the Shield TV Smart Home Edition, you get a Shield TV (which is still an excellent option for cord-cutters and the only Android TV box we recommend), the non-rechargeable voice remote, and a Samsung SmartThings Link — a USB fob that you’ll plug into the back of your Shield TV to enable access to Samsung Smart Things. That gets you all the power of Smart Things living alongside Google Assistant, which is pretty cool.

And you get it all for $219.

(Actually, if you go the Best Buy route you’ll save $20.)

See at Amazon

NVIDIA Shield Android TV

• Read our Shield Android TV review
• The latest Shield Android TV news
• Shield vs. Shield Pro: Which should I buy?
• Join the forum discussion
• Complete Shield Android TV specs

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Stay connected and safe with this $25 dashboard mount for your phone

Whether you use your phone for navigation or music while driving, this is an essential accessory to keep you as safe as can be.

In an ideal world, nobody would use their phone while driving. In the real world, this simply isn’t the case.

While there’s never any excuse for checking Twitter, texting, or watching YouTube videos while on the road, you might need to use your phone for turn-by-turn directions, answering an incoming call, or controlling your music while you drive.

To help make these quick interactions as safe as possible, there’s the iOttie Easy One Touch 4. Dashboard mounts for phones aren’t anything new, but if you’re in the market for one and want something that’ll just work while keeping you your phone as safe as can be, iOttie’s option should be at the very top of your shopping list.

iOttie Easy One Touch 4

Price: $24.95

Bottom line: A simple accessory that does a fantastic job at keeping you (and your phone) safe while on the road.

The Good

• Easy installation
• Works on dashboards and windshields
• Use your phone vertically or horizontally
• Phone is held securely

The Bad

• A little pricey compared to some other brands

See at Amazon

Everything just works

iOttie Easy One Touch 4 What I like

Seeing as how this is the first car mount I’ve ever purchased, I was a little hesitant going into the installation process as I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Thankfully, iOttie makes installing the car mount as easy as can be.

After attaching the phone holder to the actual mount, all you have to do is place a circular pad on your car’s dashboard or windshield. Let it rest there for about half an hour, place the mount on top of it, push the suction lever, and it sucks onto the pad with a force to be reckoned with. No tools or prior mount knowledge are required to get this installed, and that creates for a great first impression of a product that ticks almost every box possible.

Once the mount is attached to your car, using it is dead simple, too.

There are a few different knobs you can loosen/tighten to adjust the position of the mount’s arm to get the perfect fit for your car. It can be moved up/down, the arm can be extended/shortened, and you can turn the phone holder so that your phone is held vertically or horizontally.

To place the phone in the mount, push the two horizontal tabs inwards. This causes the arms to open up, and once they do, just push your phone against the large button with the iOttie logo. The push of this button results in the arms closing up against the sides of your phone, and to help accommodate phones of all sizes, the bottom feet can be extended if need be.

You’ll want to make sure you get everything tightened up before heading out on the road, but once you do, the mount stays in place and shows no signs up moving/loosening up even when driving on Michigan’s notoriously bad roads.

The price of being the best

iOttie Easy One Touch 4 What I don’t like

When talking negatives, the only downside I can think of for the iOttie Easy One Touch 4 is its price. $25 isn’t a lot of money on its own, but a quick Amazon search will show many competing phone mounts for $8 to $10.

I can’t speak to the quality of those, but if you’re on a particularly tight budget or just feel like spending as little as possible, the One Touch 4 might not be for you.

iOttie Easy One Touch 4

There are hundreds of dashboard mounts everywhere you look nowadays, but if you’ve got $25 and want something that’ll just work, it’s hard to do better than the One Touch 4.

The installation process is simple, you can adjust/customize just about every aspect of it, and your phone is held in place with more than enough security.

5
out of 5

Some buyers might see this mount as a bit overkill compared to the cheaper options out there, but after driving with this mount in my car for the past week, I couldn’t be any happier with it.

See at Amazon

Nintendo Switch games, Cooler Master keyboar, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on these Cooler Master keyboard and mice combos, Nintendo Switch games, SanDisk microSD cards and more! Most of these prices will be gone when the day ends, so don’t miss your chance to save big!

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

DirecTV Now Rolling Out Support for Many Local ABC, NBC, and CBS Stations Owned by Nexstar

Live TV streaming service DirecTV Now this week began expanding support for local stations on its platform, with numerous posts on r/DirecTVNow reporting that local network affiliates for ABC, NBC, and CBS have appeared in cities across the United States.

As pointed out by CordCuttersNews, these affiliates are owned and operated by Nexstar Media Group, a television broadcasting company that owns or operates around 170 TV stations across the country. In November 2017, Nexstar announced that it had reached “mutually satisfactory agreements” with three of the big four networks for participation in live TV streaming services like DirecTV Now and PS Vue, and then throughout 2018 a few local affiliates began trickling out for select cities.

This week, however, it appears like a wide rollout of local affiliates has begun on DirecTV Now. Over the past 24 hours on Reddit, users have mentioned seeing the following local stations:

CBS

• WIAT in Birmingham, Alabama
• WIVB in Buffalo, New York
• KOIN in Portland, Oregon
• WNCN in Raleigh, North Carolina
• WROC in Rochester, New York

NBC

• WCMH in Columbus, Ohio
• KXAN in Austin, Texas
• WOOD in Grand Rapids, Michigan

ABC

• WKRN in Nashville, Tennessee
• WRIC in Richmond, Virginia
• WTNH in New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut

This is far from every local affiliate owned by Nexstar, and there are likely more that have appeared on DirecTV Now and other over-the-top streaming platforms in recent days. The full list of stations owned and operated by Nexstar can be found on the company’s Wikipedia page.

The addition of local stations greatly adds to the convenience and value of OTT services, given that without these stations cord cutters don’t have the chance to get local news or watch TV shows on one the big four networks (ABC, FOX, NBC, and CBS). While services like Hulu and CBS All Access supplement missed shows on many of these networks, they require additional monthly fees to be added on top of the cost of DirecTV Now or PS Vue.

As some Redditors are sharing, the expanded rollout means that many DirecTV Now subscribers in cities like Buffalo and Austin now have access to all of their local channels. CordCuttersNews reports that those Nexstar stations not yet added could still be coming down the line, since some — including a “handful of NBC affiliates” — have deals that are not set to be renewed until later in 2018, at which time the OTT-related agreements are expected to be added to contracts with these stations.

DirecTV Now’s last big update came in May with the launch of its “True Cloud DVR” in a wide beta. The feature lets subscribers record 20 hours of shows and movies on DirecTV Now, and sync their recordings across devices like the Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad. The same update also brought a few UI changes that renamed “Watchlist” to “Bookmarks,” and aimed to make search more “customizable” so that users spend more time watching shows and less time navigating menus.

Tag: DirecTV Now
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AirPods Wireless Charging Case Said to Work With Any Qi-Certified Charging Mat

At its iPhone X event last September, Apple previewed a new wireless charging case for AirPods, for use with its upcoming AirPower charging mat. The new case looks similar to the current version, which charges via Lightning cable, but it has a built-in induction coil that also enables wireless charging.

Conveniently, it appears that the AirPower won’t be the only way to wirelessly charge AirPods placed in the new case.

Chinese publication Chongdiantou, citing unnamed sources within Apple’s supply chain, claims that the wireless AirPods case supports the Wireless Power Consortium’s universal Qi standard, implying that it will be compatible with any Qi-certified charging mat from companies beyond Apple.

This would differ from the Apple Watch, which uses a modified version of the Qi standard that only works with Apple’s official magnetic charging cable and dock, and MFi-certified third-party docks with magnetic chargers. (Apple Watch Series 3 models technically work with select non-MFi chargers too.)

Chongdiantou has made headlines recently after leaking photos of what is claimed to be an engineering prototype of Apple’s new 18-watt USB-C power adapter for 2018 iPhones. The website, citing unnamed industry insiders, also claimed that the AirPower should be released this September for around $149 in the United States. Overall, the publication lacks an established track record.

According to Bloomberg, Apple aims to release the AirPower by the end of September, so there’s a good chance its pricing and availability will be detailed at Apple’s usual iPhone event next month, which hasn’t been announced yet. The wireless AirPods charging case should be released simultaneously with the AirPower.

Apple’s marketing chief Phil Schiller said the wireless charging case will be optional, so customers with the original AirPods will be able to purchase it separately. Pricing has not been disclosed. Apple is also expected to announce second-generation AirPods with “Hey Siri” support at its September event, but it’s unclear if the wireless charging case will be standard, or also be optional for those.

AirPower can charge multiple devices at once, including the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, Apple Watch Series 3 models, and AirPods placed in the new wireless charging case. Apple said it would work to have its proprietary technology become part of the universal Qi standard supported by many companies.

Related Roundup: AirPodsTag: AirPowerBuyer’s Guide: AirPods (Caution)
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Hands-on: Xiaomi’s Pocophone F1 takes aim at OnePlus 6

Xiaomi is coming full circle. The company that pioneered the “affordable flagship” model is launching a new sub-brand to sell even more affordable flagships. Ironically, Xiaomi is taking cues from Huawei and BBK, who copied Xiaomi with their budget-focused sub-brands, Honor and OnePlus.

Editor’s Pick

Android smartphones with the best battery life (July 2018)

Some people might think that the most important feature in a smartphone is its display size. Others believe it comes down to a phone’s processor performance, or the amount of RAM, or how much storage …

Meet the Pocophone F1, the first phone from Xiaomi’s new brand. The device hasn’t been officially announced – the Pocophone sub-brand was just introduced last week – but we managed to get our hands on a unit.

Here’s what you need to know about the Xiaomi Pocophone F1.

Note: We’re still weeks away from the Pocophone F1’s official release. The software on our unit is likely not final, which could explain some of the bugs we encountered. Performance and camera quality may also be impacted.

The brand

We know, the name is a little crazy (un poco loco, you could say). However, Xiaomi has already committed to it, in two versions no less. The brand will be called “Pocophone by Xiaomi” globally and “Poco by Xiaomi” in India.

The branding and the simple design of the retail box are a good clue of what to expect from Pocophone devices — a no-frills experience at a good price.

Pocophone F1 specs

Flagship performance

Pocophone Head of Product Jai Mani teased a “back to basics” approach to product design, saying the F1 will focus entirely on speed. From what we can tell so far, the first Pocophone delivers.

Thanks for all the love! Many friends asked me questions about this new project I mentioned yesterday, here’s my answer: @IndiaPOCO @GlobalPOCOPHONE pic.twitter.com/MK9MZUz0Zy

— Jai Mani (@jaimani) August 10, 2018

The phone comes with a Snapdragon 845 processor clocked at up to 2.8GHz and 6GB of RAM, along with 64GB of storage. There’s also a liquid cooling system that’s supposed to enable sustained high-speed operation.

The Pocophone F1 feels very fast, despite the non-final software our unit is running. Everything is as smooth as you’d expect from a Snapdragon 845 phone, with no lag or jarring episodes of jankiness.

Running AnTuTu on the Poco F1 results in scores of around 240,000. That’s a very respectable performance for a phone that sells for around 430 euros (~$490) – in fact, it’s about the same score as the Galaxy S9 Plus, which goes for twice the price. Some rumors suggested the F1 could reach much higher scores, over 280,000, which would put it ahead of the OnePlus 6 and Xiaomi’s own Mi 8. We didn’t reach such scores in our testing. It’s possible there’s a Pocophone F1 variant coming with 8GB of RAM, which could help it rise through the ranks.

The Pocophone F1 feels very fast. Everything is as smooth as you’d expect from a Snapdragon 845 phone.

Cutting some corners

Obviously, you need to cut some corners to create a faster and cheaper phone than the competition. On the Pocophone F1, the biggest compromise seems to be the plastic back, which is something we haven’t seen on a high-end phone in years. Plastic isn’t inherently bad, and most users won’t care once they slap a case on the phone. That said, the F1 definitely feels cheaper than some competitors.

The feeling of cheapness is aggravated by the screen, which picks up oils like crazy. If there’s an oleophobic coating on it at all, it’s the worst we’ve ever seen on a brand-new phone.

A nice display — with a notch

The display is a Full HD+ IPS LCD spanning 5.99 inches. An OLED would’ve been nice, but we can’t blame Xiaomi for sticking with LCD, especially considering how nice color reproduction is on the Pocophone F1.

The phone’s fat notch feels completely unnecessary. It’s not like Xiaomi crammed a ton of components in it.

We didn’t like that the screen “floats” over the metallic frame – the glass sticks out a millimeter or so, meaning it will get no protection in case of a face-down drop. Invest in a good case, the one that’s bundled with the phone leaves the display exposed too.

Finally, the phone’s fat notch feels completely unnecessary. It’s not like Xiaomi crammed a ton of components in it, and the thick bezels going around the screen make the notch look out of place. After all, the main reason we even put up with notches is to get rid of those pesky bezels.

If you just want something that lasts a long time, you don’t need to pay $1000 for the Galaxy Note 9 and its 4,000mAh battery.

The battery is great

If you just want something that lasts a long time, you don’t need to pay $1000 for the Galaxy Note 9 and its 4,000mAh battery. The massively cheaper Pocophone F1 has the same battery capacity. We easily got six to seven hours of screen-on time between charges with medium usage.

Bits and pieces

The Pocophone F1 features a fingerprint sensor on its back and it’s extremely fast — probably the fastest I’ve ever tested. Other hardware tidbits include a USB Type-C port and very loud single speaker on the bottom of the phone.

According to the Pocophone F1’s retail box, the device should feature IR-based facial recognition. The notch includes a secondary front camera, but we couldn’t find the software setting required to activate face-unlock. This is likely because the phone isn’t running finalized software.

Mediocre cameras

The Pocophone F1’s dual camera pairs a 12MP main sensor with a 5MP secondary one. The camera does a decent job in good lighting, though we occasionally ran into overexposure in situations when overexposure shouldn’t have been an issue. Other times, pictures turned out washed out or slightly blurry even in broad daylight. The portrait mode also needs some work.

The front camera features a 20MP sensor, using Xiaomi’s pixel binning technology to combine data from four individual pixels. The end result is a 5MP image that’s supposed to look better than what you’d get from a conventional sensor. In practice, we weren’t blown away by the results.

It’s entirely possible Xiaomi is still tweaking camera performance on the Pocophone F1. We’ll reserve final judgment for when we get a review unit.

Good software, with some bugs

Despite a few bugs, software on the Pocophone F1 feels quite solid and polished. MIUI 9.6 – based on Android 8.1 — is feature rich and a pleasure to use, a few usability gripes aside.

We ran into a weird issue where the notifications icons didn’t show up at all in the status bar, making it almost completely useless. It’s possible this is just a bug to be fixed with an update. Another bizarre, slightly embarrassing slip-up is the mispositioned clock on the lock screen, which is cut off by the notch.

Who is this phone for?

Even in its current unpolished state, the Pocophone F1 lives up to Xiaomi’s promise to “focus entirely on speed.” If you want an affordable phone that performs great — even in a couple of years — the F1 may be a great choice for you.

If you want an affordable phone that performs great — even in a couple of years — the F1 may be a great choice for you.

If you’re looking for a more complete package, the Pocophone F1 is harder to recommend. It’s not exactly a looker, with its fat bezels and plastic back. The cameras are pretty mediocre, at least in their current state. The software is not as good as, say, Oxygen OS.

Ultimately, it could come down to the Pocophone F1’s price. The 64GB model we obtained was briefly put on sale by a European retailer for the equivalent of 430 euros. In the same country, the OnePlus 6 sells for 530 euros (~$603), the Asus ZenFone 5Z for 515 euros (~$585), and Xiaomi’s own Mi 8 for 500 euros (~$570).

The 15-20 percent price difference is nothing to scoff at. If Xiaomi manages to maintain it in other markets, the Pocophone brand could be off to a strong start.

We should find out the full details about the Pocophone F1 on August 22, when the phone is officially unveiled. In the meantime, let us know what you think about it.

Motorola’s P30 looks like every other iPhone X-clone we don’t want

Pop quiz: Name a phone with a notch above the screen and a vertical camera array, offset to one side, on the back. That’s right, it’s the rumored Motorola P30, a device said to be coming soon from the company.

Of course, we didn’t really mean the Motorola phone when we asked our question, it’s just us being silly. We meant the Xiaomi Mi A2. Or the Vivo V9. Or the Huawei P20 Lite. Or any number of others that borrow their design from the Apple iPhone X. Motorola may become the next, and here’s what we know about the P30 so far.

There may be a family of P30 phones from Motorola, according to a leak by AndroidPure, which claims the company is working on the P30, the P30 Play, and a P30 Note phone. While Motorola has not confirmed or officially announced the devices, they have been spotted on the company’s own website in China, and a smartphone has been teased through Motorola’s Weibo channel that may be the P30.

The Motorola P30 will apparently have a 6.2-inch screen with a 19:9 aspect ratio, and a very iPhone X-style notch at the top. On the back will be a dual-lens camera set on one side of the device, with a 16-megapixel and 5-megapixel lens. The cameras will likely have artificial intelligence inside, although it’s not clear what functions it will support.

The processor type isn’t known, but it is expected to be an octa-core chip along with 6GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of internal memory. A 3,000mAh battery will provide the power. The Motorola website leak showed prices in China could convert over to around $300 or $350 for the P30.

Motorola P30 Note and P30 Play

Less is known about the Motorola P30 Note and P30 Play, but the Weibo teaser indicates a future Motorola phone will have a 5,000mAh battery, which may end up being one of these two phones. The P30 Play is the cheapest of the three, at around $260 converted over, so it’s more likely to be the P30 Note which is priced almost identically to the standard P30 in the leak. The P30 Note will likely come in either a 4GB/64GB or 6GB/128GB version.

The leaked photos, which appear to be official-looking renders of a mystery Motorola phone, shows a small chin at the opposite end of the device’s notched display, along with a smooth rear panel complete with a fingerprint sensor in the top-center. The curved shape of the phone makes it look very similar to the iPhone X.

The phone is also reminiscent of another leaked Motorola phone, the Motorola One Power, which was initially thought to arrive at the beginning of August and have a large 4850mAh battery. It’s possible the One Power may be an international version of one P30 model as it has also been rumored with Android One installed. Whether the P30 range is the same as the One Power, or they’re all different, remains to be seen.

Motorola may launch the P30 in China on August 15. We’ll keep you updated here.

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