No, Google won’t be releasing a Pixel Watch this year

Instead, Google’s focusing on helping third-party brands with their own watches.

Ever since a rumor surfaced this past May, it’s been expected that Google would debut its first Pixel-branded smartwatch alongside the Pixel 3 this fall (a Pixel Watch, if you will). Recent developments in Wear OS have led us to believe that 2018 would finally be the year, and now…

… it’s been confirmed that there is no Pixel Watch.

During IFA in Berlin, Tom’s Guide got confirmation from Wear OS’s director of engineering (Miles Barr) that Google will not be releasing a Pixel Watch this year. According to Barr:

To think of a one-size-fits-all watch, I don’t think we’re there yet. Our focus is on our partners for now. Our Google Pixel line of phones is the best experience and Google’s take on it, so I imagine we would focus heavily on the Google Assistant to integrate AI and machine learning into the device, which is Google’s forte.

It’s certainly disappointing to hear that we’re still no closer to a Google-made smartwatch, but even so, there’s plenty to still be excited about for Wear OS as a whole. Along with a slew of exciting watches from Skagen, Diesel, and Casio at IFA this week, Google also announced a brand-new UI for Wear OS that puts a big emphasis on the Assistant and the revamped Google Fit.

Additionally, we’re just a few short days away from Qualcomm’s September 10 event where we’ll learn about the company’s new smartwatch chipset and possibly see new hardware that’s powered by it.

2018 is still a big year for Wear OS, just not quite as magical as we had originally thought.

Google debuts all-new Wear OS interface with Google Assistant feed, coming to watches in September

Google Wear OS

• The best Wear OS smartwatches
• Discuss Android Wear in the forums!

Android Pie actually fixes a smartphone’s biggest problem: battery life

Welcome to our new AI-powered battery saving overlords (please don’t kill all humans).

I carry around a BlackBerry KEY2 as my “daily driver” but my other phone — the one I use for work and do random things to and install random stuff — is a Pixel 2. The small Pixel. The best Pixel. Well, best in everything but battery life.

The smaller Pixel 2 has a 2,700 mAh battery compared to the bigger 3,520 mAh battery in the XL version. You can talk about pushing fewer pixels and how it uses less battery until you’re blue in the face but the Pixel 2 has a small battery and doesn’t last nearly as long as its bigger sibling or many other phones. In fact, it has struggled to make it through the day on occasion — and I’m not one of those people who can never put their phone down. But all that was in the pre-Pie days.

Android Pie wasn’t the most flashy of updates, but it did one thing right. A very important thing.

Android Pie did some cool things with notifications and added in some half-baked gestures, but ultimately it looks a lot like Oreo. Which looked a lot like Nougat. There are folks who hate it all and wanted to see it burned to the ground and rebuilt into something different, but Pie wasn’t the update for them. But it is the update for everyone else. And that’s because it addresses the single most important thing about every smartphone in the world: battery life.

We always want the battery to last longer. You can buy specific phones with ginormous batteries or secret sauce that makes a battery last longer than it should — my KEY2 comes to mind there because BlackBerry isn’t ever going to tell us why it gets double the battery life of most other phones its size. Maybe it’s a Canadian military secret. Anyhoo, I was saying you can look for a phone that has a big honking battery if you want to, but most phones don’t fit that mold and have smaller batteries and dedicated forums filled with people and ideas to make them last longer.

Pie changes all of that. Google is using its powerful and scary Artificial Intelligence to make the battery last longer. Google calls it Adaptive Battery, but I call it “hot damn, this is so much better”. If I’m in a place with a strong signal and mind what I’m doing I can get almost three days from my Pixel 2 battery and that’s with the screen on about 7 hours worth during that time. And you can cruise on over to Reddit and see folks that are getting even better numbers since the Pie update. That’s downright amazing.

Android Pie’s Adaptive Battery doubles the battery life on my Pixel 2. It’s about damn time.

I admit I was skeptical when I first heard Google talking about machine learning that can predict your usage and get insane battery life, and there is a problem somewhere that makes your battery life suck if you don’t have a great signal. Clearly, the tech isn’t perfect. But it’s better than I expected and that’s always a plus. Android updates are always a mixed bag of good and bad and that one thing that really sucks, but I don’t even care about any of it with Android Pie. Google got Adaptive Battery right, or at least almost right, on the first try.

More: Android Pie issue tracker: The biggest bugs and problems

I know that plenty of other people are seeing their phones crash and burn when it comes to the Pie update on their Pixel phones. It’s one of the biggest complaints with every update and Pie was no exception. I have no idea why it is so good for some and so bad for others (I expect it’s either app related or signal related) but I hope someone at Google can figure it out and whatever is done to fix it doesn’t F up my battery life. And here’s hoping Android Q can fix the next worst thing in the world and my phone can finally mow my lawn.

Happy holidays, y’all. Stay out of trouble!

Android 9 Pie

• Android 9 Pie review: Greater than the sum of its slices
• Everything you need to know about Android 9 Pie!
• Will my phone get Android Pie?
• How to get Android 9 Pie on your Pixel right now
• Join the Discussion

Here’s everything you can do with the PlayStation Aim controller!

This is your rifle. There are many like it, but this one is yours.

The PlayStation Aim controller was built to bring a new layer of immersion to PlayStation VR. Games that require you to shoot something are that much more immersive when you feel like a real gun is in your hands. It’s got all the functionality of a DualShock controller, but in an entirely new format.

When you first pick up the Aim controller, it does feel like the controller equivalent of a rifle. It’s light enough that the weight doesn’t make holding it for extended periods of time a drag, but it’s also hefty enough that you won’t wear out immediately. Furthermore, it is armed with a trigger mechanism, two analog sticks, and buttons all over the place.

This controller was built for games like Farpoint on PlayStation VR, adding serious degrees of immersion when you are shooting things in VR. It operates like a Move controller, with far more functionality than a normal move controller. The most comfortable way of using it involves using both hands to figure out where everything is and find what you need by touch.

An essential accessory

PlayStation Aim Controller

PlayStation Aim is here to revolutionize the way you play your shooting games in VR. To add to your VR experience and really get the full extent of your games, you can find this beauty for $59.75.

$60 at Amazon.

Buttons

The buttons on the PlayStation Aim controller are really what gives it the type of functionality that it has. There are L1, L2, R1, R2, Options, Share, and more built directly into the controller. Unlike a normal move controller, you have far more access to everything that you can do with a normal controller. In fact, when navigating the PlayStation menu, you’ll use those buttons and analog sticks to select the app or game you want to play. Yes, that means that these controllers are used for the entirety of the PlayStation and not just gameplay for the games they’re compatible with.

The Aim controller will even allow you to share screenshots or videos while shooting things in VR with the push of a button, as well as being able to jump completely out of a game and back to the home screen.

Where can I use it?

At release, the PlayStation Aim controller was only compatible with one game, Farpoint. While the selection started off small, more games have been added, making it more immersive than ever to play a shooter in VR.

• Arizona Sunshine
• Bravo Team
• ChromaGun
• Dick Wilde
• DOOM: VFR
• Evasion
• Farpoint
• Firewall Zero Hour
• Rom: Extraction
• Special Delivery
• The Brookhaven Institute
• Unearthing Mars 2

While you can try to use it in unsupported games, it really does not work out particularly well. Trying to use it like a two-handed move controller feels particularly unwieldy and doesn’t link up well, and trying to use it like a controller is difficult in the same way. It’s very obvious that the games with Aim support have put thought into ensuring that the controls sync up with the controller in your hand well.

And no, this game doesn’t work with Killing Floor Incursion. I’ve tried. Yes, I’m just as sad as you are.

Where do I buy an Aim controller?

The PlayStation Aim controller first hit the market on May 16th, 2017, and initially, finding one was a bit difficult. Thankfully that issue has been solved, and you can pick it up separately for about $60. There are even plenty of bundles available as well. This means you can order your controller offline, or head up to the store and pick one up in person. You should be able to find them at places like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and of course GameStop if you prefer buying in person.

An essential bundle

PlayStation VR, Aim controller with Skyrim VR, Bravo Team, and Farpoint bundle

If looking at this Aim Controller is the first that you’ve heard of PlayStation VR, and you find yourself getting hooked, this bundle is the one for you. Not only do you get everything you’ll need to play the PlayStation VR, but you also get two games you can play with the Aim controller and your own copy of Skyrim VR! Find it on Amazon for $184.99!

$185 at Amazon.

Which games are you most excited about?

While I wish that Killing Floor Incursion had compatibility for the PlayStation Aim to work, I’m sure there are plenty more out there we all wish we could see. Which games do you hope have Aim support when they release, and which games that already have the support are your favorite? Tell me about it in the comment section below, or shoot me a Tweet at @OriginalSluggo.

Update August 2018: We’ve updated this article formatting and included two new games with PlayStation Aim compatibility: Evasion, and Unearthing Mars 2!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Start scheduling the lights at home with the $56 Philips Hue Smart Bulb kit

You won’t want to miss this 20% discount.

Amazon has the Philips Hue A19 Smart Bulb Starter Kit on sale for just $55.79 right now. This deal marks its lowest price since early January of this year; it regularly sells for $70 when not discounted.

This offer is actually part of a larger sale on all Philips Hue products which are all currently 20% off at Amazon in celebration of Labor Day.

This Philips Hue Starter Kit includes two white A19 60W LED smart bulbs and the Philips Hue Hub which can maintain and control up to 50 Hue lights simultaneously. With this kit, you’ll be able to start scheduling your lights to turn on or off at specific times of the day. You could automate them to make it seem as if someone is home even when everyone’s gone, or set them to turn on around the time you get home from work each day. You can even begin voice controlling the lights with Amazon’s Alexa using a device like the Echo Dot.

Remember to head over to Amazon’s Philips Hue sale to check out the rest of the options available to you this weekend.

See at Amazon

The Microsoft Excel Master Certification Bundle is now just $49!

Microsoft’s Excel, the spreadsheet tool in its Office suite, has an incredible amount of depth that most people never touch. Figures and graphs are what Excel is usually used for, but there’s so much more potential if you have the correct knowledge.

Master Microsoft Excel for less than $50! Learn more

Whether it’s PivotTables, Pivot Charts, macros, or powerful formulas, in-depth Excel training to automate spreadsheets and solve complex problems can be quite expensive. There’s a lot of content to cover, and there are many questions to answer.

If you’re interested in extensive spreadsheet training, Android Central right now has a Microsoft Excel course that includes over 28 hours of content spread over nine courses. Instead of paying the regular price of $1,066, you’ll instead pay just $49. That’s 96 percent off the regular price! But that’s not all — if you buy this weekend and use coupon code LABORDAY30 at checkout you can save an additional 30% and pay just $34.50.

Use code LABORDAY30 for an extra 30% off — you pay just $34.50 Learn more

Access to this course remains open forever, so even if you don’t have the time at this moment, you can jump in whenever you’d like. At just $34.50 for extensive Excel training, how can you go wrong?

Spider-Man coming to PS4 on September 7!

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a gamer can!

There are some pretty amazing titles for the PlayStation 4, and we’re here to keep you updated on all the new ones! Be sure to check in with us every week to see what new titles you should be expecting, or excited for!

Notable release this month

Here’s what we’ve found so far!

Spider-Man

Coming September 7

We all remember playing the old Spider-Man games on our PlayStations when we were kids. Now, with a new one releasing, you can relive that nostalgic feeling with a lot better gameplay. You can pre-order it on Amazon for $59.88 to be one of the first to play as soon as it comes out! Not only that but with a pre-order you get access to more Spidey suits, 5 extra skill points to get ahead of the system, a Spider-Drone Gadget, and a custom Spider-Man theme to use on the home screen of your PlayStation 4!

See on Amazon

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Coming September 14

We have been waiting for this moment since December of 2017 when Square Enix leaked they were working on another Tomb Raider game. Finally, coming really soon, you can play Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Take on the role of Lora Croft and discover the demons around the world, but also this time from within yourself. Discover whether the worlds pending doom truly is your fault or not. Have you been making the right decisions for the good of humanity? Go down this emotional roller coaster in less than two weeks. Pre-order it on Amazon for $59.99 to get your own copy plus 3 collectible art cards and a steel casing for the game!

See on Amazon

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Coming September 21

Seems like a lot of nostalgic value is coming to your PlayStation 4 this month! For $39.99 you can pre-order this title on Amazon and be prepared to relive the best parts of your childhood all over again. Join Spyro to save all of his family, friends, and neighbors from a stone-cold future. (Ha. See what I did there?) Collect the eggs, save the dragons, and kill Ripto. Are you ready?

See on Amazon

Other PlayStation 4 games releasing this month!

• Genesis Alpha One – September 4
• God Wars: The Labyrinth of Yomi – September 4
• Shadows: Awakening – September 4
• Super Street: The Game – September 4
• Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner MARS – September 4
• Immortal: Unchained – September 7
• NASCAR Heat 3 – September 7
• NBA 2K19 – September 7
• NBA Live 19 – September 7
• SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy – September 7
• Boundless – September 11
• Dakar 18 – September 11
• Black Clover: Quartet Knights – September 14
• NHL 19 – September 14
• Fishing Sim World – September 18
• Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk – September 18
• Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition – September 18
• 8-Bit Armies – September 21
• Air Missions: HIND – September 25
• Metal Max Xeno – September 25
• Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom – September 25
• Omen of Sorrow – September 25
• Valkyria Chronicles 4 – September 25
• Life is Strange 2 – September 27
• Code Vein – September 28

Upcoming PlayStation Vita Releases

Nothing this month, stay tuned!

Upcoming Downloadable Content

There is no downloadable content coming this month, stay tuned!

• Destiny 2: Forsaken Expansion September 4

Q3 games you might be seeing soon

Stay tuned for more Q3 games to be released this year!

What are you playing?

Which PlayStation 4 game are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments section or shoot me a Tweet and tell me all about it!

Updated September 2018: We will continue to refresh this list at the beginning of a new month to ensure you’re in the know when it comes to the PlayStation games being released soon!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Philips Hue’s portable Go LED Smart Light offers millions of color options

Light up your night with your favorite shade.

The Philips Hue Go Dimmable LED Smart Light is currently on sale at Amazon for just $63.89. When not discounted, it can regularly be found selling for up to $80. This deal is part of a larger Philips Hue sale which is offering 20% off all Philips Hue products at Amazon over the Labor Day weekend.

This portable LED Smart Light is wireless and can be controlled using the Hue system or via its onboard buttons. If you want to control it using your phone and the Philips Hue App, you’ll need the Philips Hue Hub which is included in this discounted starter kit. Separately it’s $50, so it’s smart to get the kit which includes two bulbs.

The Philips Hue Go lasts for up to three hours on a single charge and is capable of changing between 16 million colors and various shades of white light. It can even be voice controlled using a device like the Echo Dot with Alexa. It’s compatible with Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit too.

There are a ton of other great deals to check out in Philips’ Labor Day sale, so make sure to take a look at that as well.

See at Amazon

Motorola One and Motorola One Power hands-on: Definitely not an iPhone X

Notches and flat backs highlight what are generally pretty basic devices with little advanced design.

We had quite the run-up of banter around the launch of the Moto P30, particularly around how the device has a striking resemblance to the iPhone X. The global variants of the device, the Motorola One and Motorola One Power, are built on the same basic platform and have very similar design cues … but it takes just a few moments to see that these are hardly iPhone X lookalikes.

The “iPhone X clone” similarities really come down to just a couple areas: the One Power’s camera pod, the One’s shiny flat back and gently curved corners, and both phones’ bottom edges and display notches. You’ll notice that each of those areas is a detail of the design, not a design element or theme itself. Yes when you add them up it’s pretty easy to see some design inspiration, but nobody’s going to hold or see either of these phones in person and actually think it’s a ringer for an iPhone X. The similarities really don’t go beyond a handful of easy-to-mock details.

Motorola typically offers different versions of devices for different parts of the world, and these are no exception — the Motorola One, which most of the world will see, is physically different from the India-specific One Power. It’s somewhat misleading to call these the “same” phone, and many of the design cues that were pointed out in the Moto P30 are split between the two.

These are distinctly different designs, and neither is particularly inspiring.

The standard Motorola One is smaller, with a 5.9-inch display, and with a shiny flat plastic back. The frame of the phone is consistently curved with a casual rounding of the corners that, when paired with the shiny back, definitely has hints of iPhone designs. Interestingly, the One looks more iPhone-like in many aspects than the One Power, but the latter is the one with the iPhone X-style oval dual camera system — the standard One has its cameras separated into their own stacks. Build quality is typical mid-range Motorola, very similar to what I saw in the Moto G6 earlier this year. It’s solid and built true to its materials, but you’re not fooling anyone in thinking it’s a Moto Z-level device.

The One Power has the size and massive battery to be very popular in India.

The larger 6.2-inch One Power honestly looks nothing like the iPhone X from the sides or back. Yes there’s the elongated camera pod in the top-left corner … but it’s sitting in a gently-curved metal back that’s segmented out at the top and bottom where it joins with the frame. With the larger screen and ridiculously big 5000mAh battery, the One Power is really heavy — but the Indian market values the larger screen and battery. Unlike the regular One, the One Power really feels like “specs over everything else” in terms of hardware. The casing is extremely generic with little grab your attention.

People are going to have to come to terms with the fact that there’s a difference between following industry trends and “copying” a phone design. The iPhone X, along with a couple other pioneering phones, set a trend with design decisions that have caught on across the industry. At some point, we have to stop comparing every phone with a notch and softly rounded corners a copy of the iPhone X — the phone’s been out for a year, and dozens of high-profile phones have been released since then with many of the same cues. Inexpensive phones, like the Motorola One and One Power, have always had simple hardware with little visual flair that’s cheap to implement — the difference now is that this particular design has reached the point of being cheap.

The One Power’s display looked much nicer than the 720p panel on the One, which makes sense considering its higher resolution and positioning as the better device. Though the One didn’t particularly grate on my eyes — I could just tell it was similar to a display from a Moto E5 or G6 Play. Yup they both have a notch at the top, and it’s a pretty darn wide one at that — big enough for a camera, flash and a large speaker, with room to spare. But with an 18:9 aspect ratio it doesn’t bother me; I’m far more annoyed by the sizable Motorola logo blessing the bottom bezel.

These slot right in the Moto E5 and G6 lines … with minimal differentiation.

If the Motorola One and One Power weren’t running Android One software, there wouldn’t be anything that would truly differentiate them from Motorola’s recent release of mid-range devices. Though both of these phones have merits as mid-range phones with modern looks, a solid build and good specs, it’s tough to pick out much in the Motorola One or One Power that isn’t available in Motorola’s current range between the Moto E5, G6 or X4 series.

As always, Motorola will likely find a place in its lineup where it can slot these phones in specific markets to complement the entire range. And as we’ve already discussed, the more modern design helps differentiate from the rest of the competition just that extra bit in the cutthroat mid-range market.

The ASUS VivoBook, Lego Harry Potter, 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 the ASUS VivoBook, Lego Harry Potter, Philips Hue smart lights and more!

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!

Huawei unveils EMUI 9 based on Android 9 Pie, beta applications start today

Pie on your P20.

The Huawei Mate 20 is launching in just over a month, and following on from yesterday’s Kirin 980 SoC announcement, we’ve just had our first glimpse of the software that’ll run on the new handset.

EMUI 9.0 is based upon Android 9 Pie, and brings improved performance, faster gaming, a streamlined UI, digital wellbeing features and visual improvements.

EMUI 9 beta screenshots

The new UI sees Huawei building upon the foundations of EMUI 8, with a focus on lighter colors, and improvements to the consistency of EMUI’s look and feel. New fullscreen visuals for alarms and incoming calls aim to take advantage of the large screens of modern smartphones, while artistic illustrations punctuate the Settings app and other preloaded apps. EMUI’s settings have also been simplified considerably, surfacing the most useful options in each section, and reducing the number of menus from 940 to 843.

EMUI 9 beta screenshots

And in Huawei’s own apps, controls and tabs have been relocated down to the bottom of the screen, where they’re easier to reach on larger devices like the P20 Pro and Mate 10.

The new EMUI is faster, prettier and smarter.

As you’d expect in firmware based on Android 9 Pie, there’s a new task-switching setup based around gesture input. A swipe up from the bottom bezel opens the recent apps menu, or sends you home. And a swipe inwards from the left bezel goes back. The new gesture navigation system wasn’t enabled in the beta version of EMUI 9 we tried at an event in Berlin today, but it’s likely this will be the default setup on the next Huawei flagship.

EMUI 9 also doubles down in performance; Huawei quotes 12.9% smoother operation on the new version, with app load times up 12% in Instagram, 16% in Amazon and 11% in Spotify compared to EMUI 8. Huawei’s GPU Turbo 2.0 feature also promises faster gaming on the new OS version, further improving upon the GPU Turbo feature pushed out to phones including the P20 Pro and Honor 10 in recent months.

The new software should also make it easier to track your usage and make it easier to disconnect, with digital wellbeing features built in as standard. This isn’t exactly the same as Google’s Digital Wellbeing features on the Pixel phones; rather, Huawei has built its own interpretation of those features, with the ability to limit app usage and “wind down” with a greyed-out interface as bedtime approaches. Parents will also be able to set limits on app usage for kids.

The EMUI 9 beta process starts today. Huawei announced that The P20, P20 Pro, Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, Honor 10, Honor View 10 and Honor Play will be able to apply to test this early version of EMUI 9. Expect the full version to ship on the Mate 20 later this fall.

Huawei P20 + P20 Pro

• Huawei P20 and P20 Pro review
• Huawei P20 and P20 Pro specs
• The Porsche Design Mate RS is a P20 Pro that costs $2000
• Join the discussion in the forums