How to install Flash on an Android phone or tablet

When Google released Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in 2012, Flash support found itself on the cutting room floor, no longer downloadable in the Google Play Store and dropped from the mobile platform. Convenient for watching TV on your phone or playing a slew of online games, Flash was an application that set the Android ecosystem apart from iOS, for better and worse.

Android users today operate their phones out-of-the-box sans Flash, yet many still want a way to get the software platform back again. Luckily, Adobe realized this and now allows Android users to download its Flash player directly from the company’s website. Because Flash is no longer supported on Android devices, you won’t find any security updates, bug fixes, or official support. You may experience stability issues when downloading and using Flash, too, many of which worsen when using modern devices running more recent versions of Android like Marshmallow, Nougat, Oreo, and Pie.

That said, read on if you’re still set on installing Flash on your device.

Installing Flash on Android devices running Android 4.1 or newer

If you’re running Android 4.1 — aka Jelly Bean — or newer, all you need to do is install a browser that supports Flash on your device. These are becoming rare, however. Let’s take a look at two options that we can currently recommend if you feel it necessary to deal with Flash content on your Android device.

Puffin

In short, if you need to access Flash content on your Android device, your best bet is to install the Puffin browser. It runs Flash in the cloud, though it does so as if it were running locally on your device. You can play games, watch video, and access a multitude of Flash content. It also boasts quick speeds and encrypts your browsing activity, a plus if you’re concerned about online security. Puffin also offers all sorts of other tools and an array of themes.

What’s the catch? The cloud servers that are handling your browsing are based in the United States. If there are location restrictions on the content you’re trying to access, then the content may not be available for users outside of the U.S. The browser is also blocked in countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Still, Puffin remains your best option if you need to access Flash on your Android device.

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Android

Photon Flash Player & Browser

Another great way to access Flash content, both on the web and on your phone, is Photon Flash Player & Browser. The app not only supports Flash videos but also Flash games — so if you’re feeling a little nostalgic, you can play some of those classic online games. As you would expect, the app supports formats like FLV and SWF, though it also supports more modern formats — so if you want to make this your default browser you can do so.

Another great feature here is that the Photon Flash Player & Browser claims to act as a VPN when you’re using it. In other words, it ensures that even when you’re on a public network, your browsing is secure and private. Plus, it unblocks content.

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Android

Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 with ScreenPad review

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ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GE

It’s not enough to just put great components in a well-built laptop these days. You need something special to stand out. Asus’s newest attempt is called the ScreenPad, a touchscreen built right into the touchpad that can be used as a second screen. Curious? So were we.

The company sent us a high-end configuration of the ZenBook Pro 15 to review, equipped with an 8th-gen Core i9-8950HK CPU, a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, a 4K IPS display, and the aforementioned ScreenPad. That configuration came in at $2,300, though you can also spend $1,800 if you’re willing to “settle” for a Core i7-8750HQ and give up the ScreenPad.

The ZenBook Pro 15 is powerfully configured and premium-priced. Does the ScreenPad offer enough innovation to put Asus’s latest powerhouse over the top against some stiff competition?

Large and in charge

Large or small, thick or thin — if you’ve seen one ZenBook, you’ve seen them all. There’s almost always the same iconic Asus concentric circle swirl on the lid and rose gold diamond-cut chamfered edges. And of course, you’re guaranteed to find at least one model sporting the company’s most recognizable Deep Dive Blue color that’s at once attractive and almost regal.

Yes, we’re talking about the ZenBook Pro 15 here, and it’s just as lovely as always. Add to the elegant aesthetic an almost solid-as-a-rock build quality, with a lid and chassis bottom that stubbornly resist bending and twisting. The keyboard deck does have some flex to it, which frankly is unusual for ZenBooks. The hinge swings open easily with one hand yet stays in place, further testifying to the company’s attention to quality.

Even with a slightly flexible keyboard deck, the ZenBook Pro 15 does well against the best-made notebooks like the Dell XPS 15, Razer Blade 15, and Apple MacBook Pro. And that’s true whether you’re talking about its build or its good looks.

When you turn on the ScreenPad, it turns into a piece of tech we’ve never seen on a laptop before.

It also falls in line with those competitors in its weight and measurements. It’s 0.75 inches thick, which isn’t quite as thin as the XPS 15’s 0.66 inches, the Razer Blade’s 0.66 inches, or the MacBook Pro’s 0.61 inches. In spite of how solid it feels, its 4.1 pounds is slightly lighter than both the Razer Blade and XPS 15, both of which come in at 4.5 pounds.

In short, the ZenBook Pro 15 is a very attractive and well-made notebook, and it’s great to look at and hold in your hands.

Asus also spent some time making sure that the ZenBook 15 Pro is a well-connected machine. It includes two USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports with 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 support, two USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 ports (which is better than the Gen 1 ports on most notebooks), and a full-sized HDMI port (1.4 only, unfortunately). The XPS 15 only has one Thunderbolt 3 port while the MacBook Pro has no legacy ports whatsoever. All of connectivity is mated with a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD card reader, providing for both legacy and futuristic support. Wireless connectivity is provided by the usual 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi supporting up to 1.13Gb/s and the latest Bluetooth 5.0.

A very nice selection of input options, and one that’s particularly innovative

Turn on the notebook, and your eyes are drawn immediately to the ScreenPad, the brightly-lit input device below the keyboard. The 5.5-inch LCD screen works just like a standard touchpad when off, except that it’s a bit thicker than the usual touchpad. We also noticed it requires quite a bit of extra force to actuate the left and right buttons. The surface is comfortable enough, and there’s reliable Microsoft Precision touchpad support and smooth Windows 10 gesture support. If you usually tap to click, then you’ll be fine with the ScreenPad as “just” a touchpad. But if you tend to click the buttons, then you’ll be less impressed.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

But when you turn the ScreenPad on, it’s transformed into a piece of tech we’ve never seen on a laptop before.

The first of its two operating modes is the ScreenPad mode, which offer mini-apps like a calculator, music player, and number pad that offer ostensibly useful additional features. While interesting, they were buggy, prone to crashing, which was a frustration. In this mode, these apps also take over the standard functionality touchpad when active. That’s right: Enable a ScreenPad app, and you lose basic touchpad functionality.

If Asus can work out the bugs, the ScreenPad could be a nice innovation.

One feature that we found genuinely useful was the ScreenPad Office integration, which provides a suite of edit controls when you fire up Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Unlike the ScreenPad apps, the Office tools retained the ability to use the touchpad for swiping and tapping, and the tools were both easily accessible and helpful.

Then there was the Extension Display mode, which adds a second display where you can drag apps just like you can with an external monitor. That, too, was buggy and reset often during our testing, but it worked just as you would expect. It was best for Windows 10 apps that were optimized for touch — as long as you change the input mode away from the default that forces you to control a tiny mouse cursor – because things are quite small at the default Full HD resolution.

None of this is to say that the ScreenPad shows no promise. Some of the functionality made lots of sense, such as the home menu that provides convenient access to customizable app buttons. Using the touchpad is intrinsic to a notebook’s workflow, and so it’s intuitive to glance down and tap a button to launch an app rather than heading to the start menu or clicking a button on the desktop. It’s more intuitive, we dare say, than Apple’s Touch Bar.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

If Asus can work out the bugs, then we think the ScreenPad could be a nice innovation. And, the company needs to get things up to snuff, because it’s implementing similar technology on its upcoming ZenBook general refresh that adds the ScreenPad and LED number pad technology to other machines. As of now, the ScreenPad gets in its own way more often than not.

Its other input methods are much more conventional. For you touch typists out there, the ZenBook Pro 15 has a typical chicklet-style island keyboard with black keys and attractive yellow letters that stand out without being harsh. There’s also three comfortable and consistent levels of backlighting. The keyboard’s travel is only so-so, less than it should be given the large chassis and falling behind the XPS 15 and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 15. Even so, it has a snappy mechanism with a soft bottoming action that combine for a comfortable — if not class-leading — feel.

The ZenBook Pro 15 also has a touch display, and so you can use that as well to quickly scroll through web pages and tap on-screen buttons. A fingerprint reader on the keyboard deck provides Windows 10 Hello support, and it’s fast and reliable as expected.

A 4K display that should have been more impressive than it was

Asus equipped our review unit with its 4K UHD IPS display that it promises will meet some seriously impressive specifications. It’s supposed to be Pantone-validated and factory calibrated for superior color accuracy, and we were disappointed when colors looked off to us and the display’s contrast was less than we’ve seen with other premium displays.

Unfortunately, according to our colorimeter tests, the display was somewhat inconsistent and ultimately disappointing. Its color gamut support is wider than average, certainly, at 96 percent of AdobeRGB and competitive with the excellent 4K display that graces both the XPS 15 and the XPS 15 2-in-1. That’s also higher than the other notebooks in our comparison group.

However, color accuracy was relatively poor at 3.65, higher than many other premium notebooks we’ve tested and far away from the “perfect” score of 1.0 or less. And contrast was also just average at 890:1, again falling way behind the two XPS machines and well into the middle of the pack.

Brightness was good but not great at 335 nits, again falling below many premium machines that tend toward 400 nits or higher. And gamma was way off at 1.4, meaning videos and images tend towards being too bright with blown-out well-lit areas.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Subjectively, this was a good display for productivity work and for viewing photos, if you can accept the low accuracy. But the contrast was noticeably less than you’ll find with notebooks like the XPS 15 and the Surface Book 2, and movies and TV shows were way too bright.

Perhaps our review unit was just poorly calibrated at the factory, but we came away unimpressed given Asus’s lofty promises. Just for kicks, we tried to calibrate the ZenBook’s display, and while we were able to improve color accuracy to 1.35 and gamma to 2.2, that was with a slight reduction in color gamut. Overall, the poor calibration is a pretty big disappointment on a premium device like this one.

ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 UX580GE Compared To

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G-5762)

Asus Zenbook Pro UX550VE

HP ZBook Studio G4

Acer Aspire VX 5-591G 5652

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 (2017)

Dell Precision 15 3510

LG Gram 15 Z960

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro…

Asus Zenbook UX501VW-DS71T

Samsung ATIV Book 9 (2014)

Dell XPS 15 (2012)

Toshiba Satellite P855

Toshiba Satellite P755

HP Pavilion g6

Lenovo IdeaPad U550

The audio was a much better experience, thanks to Harman Kardon tuning and a Smart Amplifier that powered the speakers to some serious volume. There was no distortion even at full volume, and the large chassis provided for some nice stereo separation. Bass is better than usual, and mids and highs were crisp and tight. You can even listen to some music on the ZenBook Pro 15 and be satisfied, and movies and TV shows can be enjoyed without reverting to headphones.

A hot performer – both literally and figuratively

Asus sent us the fastest configuration on offer, sporting the latest 8th-gen Core i9-8950HK processor. It’s the most powerful you can get in a notebook today. The six-core, 12-thread CPU is capable of bursting to a heady 4.8GHz, and it runs at 2.9GHz as its base frequency. That’s fast.

It’s also a challenge for notebook manufacturers, because packing that much processor power into a closed chassis creates challenges with heat and throttling. Dell’s XPS 15 and Apple’s updated MacBook Pro 15 both struggle at least a little to keep the Core i9 running at full speed, and the result is that the chip isn’t that much faster in actual use than the Core i7-8750H that you’ll find on more machines.

That’s exactly what we discovered in our benchmark testing. Yes, the ZenBook 15 Pro is faster in the Geekbench 4 synthetic benchmark than just about any notebook we’ve tested, beating out the XPS 15 and the Razer Blade 15 with the Core i7-8750H as well as the XPS 15 2-in-1 and HP Spectre x360 15 with the Core i7-8705G.

The Core i9 isn’t that much of an improvement over the fastest Core i7, but it’s still pretty fast.

But it’s not that much faster. The Core i9 is a full 36 percent faster when using both cores, but it’s only 14 percent faster in the multi-core test. In our real-world Handbrake benchmark that encodes a 420MB video to H.265, the ZenBook Pro 15 was again the fastest we’ve tested, completing the test in just 139 seconds. That’s fast, but it only narrowly beats out the XPS 15’s 150 seconds.

None of these results is so much faster that it puts the Core i9-8950HK into a different class completely than a notebook like the XPS 15. Because of that, it won’t be worth the extra $500 for most people. And even though it’s not that much faster, you’ll still contend with extra heat — the ZenBook Pro 15’s chassis got quite toasty — and some serious fan noise when the CPU and GPU are working especially hard. It’s worth noting that the XPS 15 is quieter and cooler.

Asus wasn’t as aggressive in configuring the ZenBook Pro 15’s storage, which can be configured in either 512GB or 1TB capacities. The company chose a Toshiba PCIe SSD that was plenty fast in both reading and writing data but not at the top of the class. You won’t find storage speeds holding you back, even if Asus didn’t choose the absolute fastest SSD on the market.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Overall, the ZenBook Pro 15’s performance won’t disappoint. The Core i9 isn’t as much of an improvement over the fastest Core i7 as we’d hope, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the ZenBook Pro can perform.

A spotty midrange gaming performer

The ZenBook Pro 15 also benefits from a moderately fast discrete GPU, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.  but in a laptop this thin, we were curious to see if those benefits would really be felt.

In our gaming benchmarks, the ZenBook Pro 15 turned in a mixed performance. That started with the 3DMark synthetic gaming benchmark, where the notebook scored a relatively low 6,534 in the Fire strike test. That’s slower than the XPS 15’s GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q and also the Dell G3 Gaming Laptop’s GTX 1050 Ti.

When we fired up our suite of games,  and the Dell G3. In Battlefield 1, the ZenBook Pro 15 managed 55 FPS in 1080p and medium details, and 39 FPS in ultra details — once again, falling behind the XPS 15 and the Dell G3.

You’ll find the ZenBook Pro 15 to be somewhat slow compared to other GTX 1050 Ti-equipped notebooks.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided showed similar results, and as expected there was no improvement when we jumped up to 4K resolution (the notebook didn’t offer 1440p as an option). Depending on the graphics quality, the ZenBook Pro 15 was either just slightly slower than the competition or significantly slower — not that any of these laptops are powerful enough for serious 4K gaming.

In conclusion, you’ll find the ZenBook Pro 15 to be somewhat slow compared to other GTX 1050 Ti-equipped notebooks, even in the MaxQ models. Asus fails to keep things cool enough to run its GTX 1050 Ti at full throttle. The company would probably have done better to join the Dell XPS 15 in utilizing the more efficient and cooler Max Q version of the 1050 Ti, which might have allowed the notebook to maintain higher overall frame rates. In the end, the ZenBook Pro 15 is fast enough for casual gaming sessions, but you expect some significant throttling.

A 4K UHD display and ultra-power CPU demand more battery, and don’t get it

Asus packed only 71 watt-hours of battery capacity into the ZenBook Pro 15. Given the 4K display and high-end components, we weren’t expecting much in the way of longevity.

And we weren’t surprised as we ran through our suite of battery tests. The ZenBook Pro 15 managed less than three hours when running the relatively grueling Basemark web benchmark, which is competitive with most of the notebooks in our comparison group. The XPS 15 with its Full HD display was the standout, thanks to its 97 watt-hour battery capacity — it would likely exceed the ZenBook’s score handily even with a 4K display.

The ZenBook Pro 15 started to drop off when we switched to our web browsing test, managing just under four hours. Only the Acer Predator Helios 500 gaming laptop lasted for less time on this test, and the XPS 15 was again much stronger. We had to look at thinner and lighter 2-in-1 machines to find 4K notebooks that so poorly, for example the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 that only managed about a half hour longer on this test.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

When looping our test video, the ZenBook Pro 15 was even less impressive, matching the massive, 17-inch Predator Helios 500 at just under five and a half hours. Every other comparison group lasted longer, including the XPS 15 2-in-1 that managed just over six hours.

Toss in the ZenBook’s relatively hefty frame and its massive AC adapter, and this isn’t a notebook that you’re going to want to cart around for long-term mobile use. At the very least, you can’t expect to work a full day away from a plug, and you won’t want to carry that power brick around with you. We’d expect a significant jump in terms of battery life on the 1080p model, but we’d still expect it to sit near the back of the pack, given this system’s performance and the size of the battery.

Our Take

With the ZenBook Pro 15, you can’t accuse Asus of wimping out. The company equipped the notebook with the current latest and greatest components and created a good-looking, well-built, and fast 15.6-notebook that’s a real productivity powerhouse and a decent gaming machine for all but hardcore gamers. The ScreenPad is a real innovation that’s just begging for some bug fixes and polish to make it a truly useful component.

It’s not so much faster, though, that you’ll choose it just for the performance. And its battery life holds it back from beating out some of the competition.

Is there a better alternative?

The most obvious comparison machine is the Dell XPS 15, which is almost just as fast as the ZenBook Pro 15 and offers a better display and much better battery life. The Dell is more conservatively designed but also more robust all around, and it’s more expensive when configured with the Core i9 at $2,960 (on sale for $2,830). But that also brings 32GB of RAM and a 1GB SSD to go with the 4K display, and Dell often has sales that bring prices down significantly.

If you’re looking for a more gaming-oriented option, then don’t discount the Razer Blade 15. You’ll get an equally good-looking notebook that’s not so conservatively designed as the XPS 15, and you’ll also benefit from a much faster Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 GPU. Plan to spend well over $2,500, though, if you try to match the CPU.

Finally, there’s another 15-inch player coming from a slightly unexpected source. We’re talking about the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which will offer the absolute latest Intel six-core CPUs and a GTX 1050 Ti Max Q GPU. That’s more power than we’ve seen packed into the ThinkPad’s iconic and rugged design, making the X1 Extreme a viable option in this notebook class.

How long will it last?

The ZenBook Pro 15 has a robust design and up-to-date components, and so should provide years of operation. Asus adds a year of accident and spill protection to its standard one-year warranty, which is a real plus.

Should you buy it?

No. The ZenBook Pro 15 doesn’t offer any performance advantage over competitors, has mediocre battery life, and a poorly calibrated display. And for now, the ScreenPad is too buggy and limited to live up to its potential.

Mezmoglobe spinning desk toy will keep you focused (or totally distracted)

Considering how many hours we spend tapping away at our computers each day, it’s perhaps no wonder we’re suckers for innovative desk toys. And we’re far from alone in feeling that way. This week, a new kinetic desk toy called Mezmoglobe rocked up on Kickstarter — and, based on its blow away performance in its first 24 hours alone, it seems that there are plenty of other desk toy junkies out there.

Called Mezmoglobe, it’s the creation of Kristoph Krisjans, who previously introduced the world to his Moondrop fidget toy, designed to simulate how gravity affects objects on the moon. Mezmoglobe is a globe-shaped object hewn out of a solid piece of aerospace grade aluminum, using the latest high-precision CNC machines. A symmetrical helix pattern is milled along its spherical surface to produce a mind-bending “flowing” optical illusion when you spin it on its base. The results may just be the most perfect fidget toy since 2016’s ridiculously successful Fidget Cube.

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“From a very young age, I have always been fascinated by all kinds of physics toys — especially perpetual motion toys that present odd visual effects,” Krisjans told Digital Trends. “I am sure most people can remember a spinning top from their childhood. I had many types of tops, but my favorite ones had a drawn spiral on the top side so it would create the hypnotic effect when spun. A couple years ago, I saw one of those tops and it reminded me how cool the effect actually looks. I had an idea to put this principle in a high-quality desk toy that would look appealing not only spinning, but also standing still.”

As ever, we offer our usual warnings about crowdfunding campaigns, which can be subject to delays, failures to ship as described, or sometimes even failures to ship at all. As Krisjans noted, however, he has previously shipped 15,000 desk toys to 9,000 backers around the world — which should hopefully bode well for Mezmoglobe delivering on its promises.

If you would like to get involved, you can head over to the project’s Kickstarter page, where it has already raised more than 16 times its initial modest funding goal, with 33 days remaining on the clock. A single Mezmoglobe, available in a range of anodized color options, starts at just $35. Shipping is planned to take place in January 2019.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Here’s a real version of that endlessly spinning top from ‘Inception’
• Awesome Tech You Can’t Buy Yet: DIY ebikes, bionic chairs, and toilet targets
• ‘Starlink: Battle for Atlas’ hands-on preview
• Acer Spin 5 review
• HTC Vive review

Asus built a screen into a touchpad. Is it the future of computing or a gimmick?

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Your laptop needs more than just updated specs and clean design to stand out these days. Asus has taken that to heart in its most recent premium laptop, the ZenBook Pro 15. What’s the stand-out feature? Well, Asus calls it the ScreenPad, a second touchscreen built right into the touchpad of the laptop.

Asus taken Apple’s Touch Bar concept to another level by layering an IPS LCD display over the swiping surface and implementing some interesting functionality. The  innovative new touchpad technology is certainly ambitious, but is it actually useful?

The ScreenPad as a bigger, better Touch Bar

To consider whether the ScreenPad brings value to the laptop experience, we first need to consider what it actually does. And on paper, that’s quite a bit.

To begin with, there are a few modes that you can trigger via a keyboard function key. There’s the ScreenPad mode, which enables the various apps and utilities that Asus and third-party developers can create using a software development kit.

Why would you want a full-sized, Windows 10 desktop on a 5.5-inch screen? We don’t know. Haven’t figured that out yet.

Those apps are the most ScreenPad’s most visible features, and where there is the most promise. Fire up the ZenBook Pro and swipe down from the top of the ScreenPad, and you’re faced with a customizable row of icons. Click on one of those icons, and the touchpad transforms into an optimized interface for a specific task. It’s kind of cool.

For now, the list of options is relatively short. If you’re a Spotify user, then you can control the playlist and playback using the ScreenPad. There’s also a stand-alone music player for those who prefer local tunes. Meanwhile, if you fire up YouTube (in Chrome only, for now), you can control playback using the ScreenPad or sign Adobe PDFs. There are also some useful utilities like a numeric keypad, calculator, and calendar app, all of which are more helpful than on the Touch Bar thanks to the increased screen real estate.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

But the best example of a viable use case for the ScreenPad is the Office tool. When you open an Office app, a set of useful edit controls pop up on the touchpad that Asus says have some predictive capabilities (that I didn’t notice in this version). And those edit controls are right where you need them – imagine using the touchpad to select a word and right there next to your finger is a set of formatting controls. That’s genuinely useful, and it’s also customizable. We can imagine that kind of functionality being extended to any number of apps, which would be a real boon to productivity if the integrations are well designed.

It’s a short list for now, but it does a solid job of demonstrating just how useful the ScreenPad could be. In theory, at least.

The ScreenPad as a second display

The second bit of functionality it has is the Extension Display mode, which turns the ScreenPad into a small secondary display. Essentially, the ScreenPad can act just like an external monitor embedded right in the keyboard deck. This is where things get a little strange.

The ScreenPad feels at least as natural to use as Apple’s Touch Bar, and unlike the Touch Bar, it doesn’t take away the notebook’s function keys.

Windows 10 UI is difficult to control in extension mode — everything’s quite tiny at the default Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution. You can switch between cursor mode, which lets you try to control a tiny cursor to select the tiniest elements, and touch mode, which feels more natural but turns off cursor control on both displays. Fortunately, you can switch the ScreenPad to a more reasonable 800 x 600 resolution.

Why would you want a full-sized, Windows 10 desktop on a 5.5-inch screen? We don’t know. Haven’t figured that out yet. It’s certainly best for Windows 10 apps that are made for touch as compared to legacy Windows or web apps that aren’t. In case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t a ton of those. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing feature that can be useful for things like playing a YouTube or Netflix video while you’re working (assuming again, that you aren’t using the touchpad).

Okay, so, does it help you work?

Asus has an interesting concept with the ScreenPad, and the execution is surprisingly good. It’s larger than the Touch Bar and in a more convenient location. We constantly access our touchpads (if we’re not using a mouse, of course), and that makes it a natural place to include more functionality. In this respect, the ScreenPad feels at least as natural to use as Apple’s Touch Bar, and unlike the Touch Bar, it doesn’t take away the notebook’s function keys.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

However, there are some significant issues as well. The main problem right now with the ScreenPad is it’s too buggy. Features sometimes work, and sometimes they don’t. The ScreenPad software resets on occasion, and it can lock up — with the only apparent way to recover being to reboot.

Outside of bugs, there’s a fairly large limitation to the ScreenPad apps in that the touchpad functionality turns off. That means that simply opening the music app to play some tunes, for example, limits you to using the touch display (or a mouse) to control things on the primary display. That’s an unfortunate constraint, and it makes ScreenPad apps a somewhat dubious proposition.

But if Asus can fix the bugs and add some polish, and if third party developers create useful implementations, then the ScreenPad could be a useful enhancement that we’re sure other manufacturers will duplicate. Asus looks to be expanding the ScreenPad concept to other laptops with its new NumberPad feature in the new ZenBooks, so we’re looking forwarding to see more uses for this interesting concept.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft Surface Laptop review
• Acer Aspire 5 review
• Microsoft Surface Go review
• Samsung Chromebook Pro review
• Asus ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 with ScreenPad review

There’s no silver lining for iCloud users, and Apple needs to fix it

Apple’s iCloud service launched back in October 2011, just a couple of days before the iPhone 4S was released. Designed as a one-stop cloud storage service, it replaced MobileMe and provided iPhone owners with an easy way to wirelessly back up photos, documents, apps, settings, contacts, and more.

Anyone signing up for iCloud got 5GB of storage for free to be shared across all their Apple devices. If you wanted more, you’d have to pay a monthly fee for it. Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years. Even back in 2011, 5GB wasn’t a huge amount, but in 2018 it’s positively pathetic.

5GB simply is not enough

No matter how many thousands of dollars you’ve dropped on new iPhones, MacBooks, or other Apple devices over the years, you still only get 5GB for free — an amount that’s woefully inadequate in the modern day.

Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years.

The most popular models of the iPhone 4S had 8GB or 16GB of storage. The iPhone X comes with 64GB or 256GB of storage. Why hasn’t Apple bumped up our free iCloud storage?

We take more photos than ever before; we capture video in ever higher resolutions; improvements to cameras alone make a strong argument for increasing that base allowance. Take one too many photos of your cat and you’ll be greeted with a warning that you’ve run out of space. You have two options: Delete some stuff or buy more storage.

No one wants to micromanage

The idea of micromanaging 5GB to try and juggle a backup of precious files is far from appealing. While you can go into iCloud and toggle specific apps like Mail, Messages, or Photos on or off, there’s no provision to select individual folders within or exclude folders from the backup.

To confuse matters further when backing up photos, Apple offers a second option with My Photo Stream which doesn’t count towards your iCloud limit. Unfortunately, it’s limited to 1,000 photos, it only includes the last 30 days, and there are a few other restrictions that don’t exist in iCloud Photo Library.

While My Photo Stream does allow you to share photos and videos across your Apple devices and through your iCloud account on a Windows PC, you’d have to manually download and then back up everything regularly to ensure that you don’t lose any of it.

Buying more storage

On release back in 2011, you could snag an extra 10GB for $20 a year, 20GB for $40, or 50GB for $100. In 2018, you’ll pay a dollar a month for 50GB or $12 a year, and you can get 200GB for $36 or 2TB for $120.

The jump in the amounts offered is another acknowledgement that we need more storage nowadays and it’s clear that storage has come down in cost. You may argue that those prices are very reasonable, but how do they compare?

Google recently updated its Google Drive storage plans to something called Google One which offers 100GB for $24 a year, 200GB for $36, or 10TB for $100.

Microsoft offers 50GB for $24 a year, or you can upgrade to Office 365 Personal for $70, which nets you 1TB as well as Microsoft’s Office software suite and a few other perks. For $100 a year you can get Office 365 Home which gives you 5TB and the Office software on up to five devices.

Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit.

There are many other cloud storage services out there with various pros and cons if you’re willing to do the research and the work to set them up.

Apple’s deal looks competitive at the lower end, not so much if you want more storage – perhaps partly because it has traditionally bought a lot of its storage from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

But there’s something else to consider: Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit. If their iPhone goes missing or breaks, they’ve lost all those files, and the fact they were warned it might happen is little comfort. It doesn’t make for a good customer experience.

Free storage and more control

Microsoft and Amazon only offer 5GB for free, like Apple, but anyone can sign up for that. Even the free 5GB you get from Apple isn’t really free because you have to buy an Apple device to get it – Apple’s Web-only iCloud accounts are limited to just 1GB.

Apple’s main phone manufacturing competitor, Samsung offers 15GB for free.

Google Drive offers 15GB for free, but you can also upload an unlimited number of photos and videos for free through the Google Photos app. Photos are limited to 16 megapixels and video to 1080p resolution, but you can back them up in full resolution as part of your free 15GB if you want to.

Google Photos

While Google Drive works on all the same platforms as iCloud, it also works on Android and Linux. We can’t see Apple ever catering for Android, even though lots of iPhone owners also use Android devices. It’s a real shame, because it would be useful to be able use iCloud on an Android phone, especially for families with a mixture of devices. This must lose Apple business, because if you’re shopping around for a cloud service to subscribe to, you want one that covers all your devices.

You also get more control over what you want to back up with Google’s software. Apple doesn’t let you drill into specifics to dictate that this document or that folder should be backed up, but this one doesn’t need to be.

The idea of having iCloud handle all that in the background, without you having to think about it, is appealing and it will suit many people. In fact, with limitless storage, this would be the ideal way for it to work, but with just 5GB it’s far from ideal.

Apple can do better

At the very least an update to iCloud is long overdue. A larger helping of free storage doesn’t seem too much to ask. Apple could also leave automatic management as the default but offer those who want it the option of more control over precisely what gets backed up.

The fact is that cloud services, syncing across devices, and backups are only going to grow more important as we do more and more on our phones. Apple has the deep pockets to make a cloud service that really stands out, and it would tempt more people into the walled garden and make them less likely to leave. We’re hoping to see Apple make announcements towards iCloud on September 12 at its iPhone launch event.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How to back up your iPhone
• MacBook Pro 13-inch with Touch Bar review
• The best cloud storage services
• Android 9.0 Pie vs. iOS 12: How notifications have changed
• Here’s how to get the iOS 12 public beta on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

There’s no silver lining for iCloud users, and Apple needs to fix it

Apple’s iCloud service launched back in October 2011, just a couple of days before the iPhone 4S was released. Designed as a one-stop cloud storage service, it replaced MobileMe and provided iPhone owners with an easy way to wirelessly back up photos, documents, apps, settings, contacts, and more.

Anyone signing up for iCloud got 5GB of storage for free to be shared across all their Apple devices. If you wanted more, you’d have to pay a monthly fee for it. Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years. Even back in 2011, 5GB wasn’t a huge amount, but in 2018 it’s positively pathetic.

5GB simply is not enough

No matter how many thousands of dollars you’ve dropped on new iPhones, MacBooks, or other Apple devices over the years, you still only get 5GB for free — an amount that’s woefully inadequate in the modern day.

Very little has changed with iCloud in the last seven years.

The most popular models of the iPhone 4S had 8GB or 16GB of storage. The iPhone X comes with 64GB or 256GB of storage. Why hasn’t Apple bumped up our free iCloud storage?

We take more photos than ever before; we capture video in ever higher resolutions; improvements to cameras alone make a strong argument for increasing that base allowance. Take one too many photos of your cat and you’ll be greeted with a warning that you’ve run out of space. You have two options: Delete some stuff or buy more storage.

No one wants to micromanage

The idea of micromanaging 5GB to try and juggle a backup of precious files is far from appealing. While you can go into iCloud and toggle specific apps like Mail, Messages, or Photos on or off, there’s no provision to select individual folders within or exclude folders from the backup.

To confuse matters further when backing up photos, Apple offers a second option with My Photo Stream which doesn’t count towards your iCloud limit. Unfortunately, it’s limited to 1,000 photos, it only includes the last 30 days, and there are a few other restrictions that don’t exist in iCloud Photo Library.

While My Photo Stream does allow you to share photos and videos across your Apple devices and through your iCloud account on a Windows PC, you’d have to manually download and then back up everything regularly to ensure that you don’t lose any of it.

Buying more storage

On release back in 2011, you could snag an extra 10GB for $20 a year, 20GB for $40, or 50GB for $100. In 2018, you’ll pay a dollar a month for 50GB or $12 a year, and you can get 200GB for $36 or 2TB for $120.

The jump in the amounts offered is another acknowledgement that we need more storage nowadays and it’s clear that storage has come down in cost. You may argue that those prices are very reasonable, but how do they compare?

Google recently updated its Google Drive storage plans to something called Google One which offers 100GB for $24 a year, 200GB for $36, or 10TB for $100.

Microsoft offers 50GB for $24 a year, or you can upgrade to Office 365 Personal for $70, which nets you 1TB as well as Microsoft’s Office software suite and a few other perks. For $100 a year you can get Office 365 Home which gives you 5TB and the Office software on up to five devices.

Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit.

There are many other cloud storage services out there with various pros and cons if you’re willing to do the research and the work to set them up.

Apple’s deal looks competitive at the lower end, not so much if you want more storage – perhaps partly because it has traditionally bought a lot of its storage from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

But there’s something else to consider: Most people won’t be prepared to pay extra for storage and so they just turn the automatic backup off when they reach the limit. If their iPhone goes missing or breaks, they’ve lost all those files, and the fact they were warned it might happen is little comfort. It doesn’t make for a good customer experience.

Free storage and more control

Microsoft and Amazon only offer 5GB for free, like Apple, but anyone can sign up for that. Even the free 5GB you get from Apple isn’t really free because you have to buy an Apple device to get it – Apple’s Web-only iCloud accounts are limited to just 1GB.

Apple’s main phone manufacturing competitor, Samsung offers 15GB for free.

Google Drive offers 15GB for free, but you can also upload an unlimited number of photos and videos for free through the Google Photos app. Photos are limited to 16 megapixels and video to 1080p resolution, but you can back them up in full resolution as part of your free 15GB if you want to.

Google Photos

While Google Drive works on all the same platforms as iCloud, it also works on Android and Linux. We can’t see Apple ever catering for Android, even though lots of iPhone owners also use Android devices. It’s a real shame, because it would be useful to be able use iCloud on an Android phone, especially for families with a mixture of devices. This must lose Apple business, because if you’re shopping around for a cloud service to subscribe to, you want one that covers all your devices.

You also get more control over what you want to back up with Google’s software. Apple doesn’t let you drill into specifics to dictate that this document or that folder should be backed up, but this one doesn’t need to be.

The idea of having iCloud handle all that in the background, without you having to think about it, is appealing and it will suit many people. In fact, with limitless storage, this would be the ideal way for it to work, but with just 5GB it’s far from ideal.

Apple can do better

At the very least an update to iCloud is long overdue. A larger helping of free storage doesn’t seem too much to ask. Apple could also leave automatic management as the default but offer those who want it the option of more control over precisely what gets backed up.

The fact is that cloud services, syncing across devices, and backups are only going to grow more important as we do more and more on our phones. Apple has the deep pockets to make a cloud service that really stands out, and it would tempt more people into the walled garden and make them less likely to leave. We’re hoping to see Apple make announcements towards iCloud on September 12 at its iPhone launch event.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How to back up your iPhone
• MacBook Pro 13-inch with Touch Bar review
• The best cloud storage services
• Android 9.0 Pie vs. iOS 12: How notifications have changed
• Here’s how to get the iOS 12 public beta on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

Printing metal just got easier with Desktop Metal’s new supercharged tech

Few things are more hardcore than 3D-printing metal. We can think of just two off the top of our head: Pressure cookers and cave diving. That’s about it. The point is, 3D-printing metal is really cool.

One of the leaders in the hardcore industry is the aptly named Desktop Metal, a company that’s practically hell-bent on making this hardcore technology accessible, not just for the military industrial complex, but for the civilian industrial complex as well.

Last year, the company launched two new systems: DM Studio and DM Production. These printers promised to handle all steps in the metal printing process — from early stage prototyping to mass production — using a proprietary “microwave enhanced sintering” that makes its process as straightforward as printing plastic.

Now, it has added two new tools to the Desktop Metal suite. The first is Studio System+, a system that expands on the company’s flagship printer by offering more functions and the ability to print smaller metal parts with higher resolution. Users can also livestream the build in real time, a perfect feature for those of us who like to watch our pizzas cook in the oven.

The second, Studio Fleet, is a bundled system of printers, debinders, and furnaces that support rapid fabrication of high-quality, complex metal pieces, according to the company. Studio Fleet can be ordered in 3:1:1 or 5:2:1 (printers:debinders:furnaces) configurations.

Desktop Metal

“The production of metal parts in low volume and high resolution presents significant challenges to manufacturers,” Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal CEO, told Digital Trends. “For the first time, the Studio System+ and Studio Fleet enable batch processing for low-volume production of complex metal parts in-house. We’ve designed the technology to be an end-to-end solution, reducing both cost and lead time.”

Both systems are intended for industry companies interested in prototyping or mass manufacturing, from fabricating customized prototypes to replacement parts.

Desktop Metal is selling its Studio System+ printer for $60,000. The Studio Fleets sell for $235,000 for the 3:1:1 and $315,000 for the 5:2:1 configuration.

“Trillions of dollars are spent annually producing metal parts and we are just at the beginning of a 3D-printing revolution,” Fulop said. “We expect significant adoption of metal 3D printing over the next decade as technology develops and becomes more affordable and accessible to manufacturers.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Put the pedal to the metal with the Nintendo Labo Vehicle Kit
• How Grammy-winner Elliot Scheiner helps Acura make one of the best in-car sound systems
• What is 3D printing? Here’s everything you need to know
• This prototype chainless bike suggests the future of cycling could be ceramic
• Yamaha YAS-207 soundbar review

Should you get professional monitoring for Nest Secure?

Best answer: Absolutely. While expensive, the Brinks monitoring service for your Nest Secure provides enough value that we recommend enrolling and using it.

Best Buy: Nest Secure ($399)

Someone will watch when you can’t

So, you bought a Nest Secure because you want to protect your home and your valuables, and a smart alarm system can notify you and let you know what’s happening any time through an app on your phone. However, there’ll be times when you’re not able to grab your phone the instant you hear an alert. An intruder doesn’t wait until you’re not in a meeting or at the movies to break in; batteries die and power outages happen; we all deserve a vacation away from beeping smartphones once in a while.

Brinks Home Security provides 24/7 monitoring of your Nest Secure and the service also includes cellular backup in case your Wi-Fi goes out. If Brinks sees an alert, it’ll try to contact you and any designated emergency contacts you have provided. If an alert is real (not triggered accidentally by someone who should be at your home) or the company is unable to contact you, police are dispatched to your home and Brinks stays engaged until the situation is resolved.

Professional monitoring for Nest Secure starts at $19 per month, and if you don’t have a Nest Secure yet you can get $100 off the purchase when you enroll. Call (833)327-4657 for the full details.

Our pick

Nest Secure

$399 at Best Buy

One of the best ways to protect your home and whats inside of it.

The Nest Secure is a great option when looking for a smart security system. There’s no need for professional installation, the system is fully expandable, and it all works great with Google Assistant and your smartphone.

Grab Samsung’s Pro Endurance 64GB microSD card for $30

Made for 4K!

The Samsung Pro Endurance 64GB micro SDXC card is down to $29.99 on Amazon. This card is only a few months old but has mostly sold for around $45 or more. Today’s deal price is the lowest we have ever seen.

The other capacities are also on sale. The 32GB version is down to $18.99 from $25. The 128GB card is going for $59.99 from a street price around $85. The regular Samsung Evo Select cards are also on sale, which run a little less expensive especially at deal prices.

You can use this card with plenty of devices, but Samsung designed it for dash cams, security cams, body cams, and things like that. It can record up to 26,280 hours of 4K and 1080p video. The card is resistant to water, shock, extreme temperatures, X-rays, magnets, and more. Get transfer speeds as fast as 100 MB/s and a three-year limited warranty. It also comes with an adapter to use it in an SD card slot. Users give it 4.5 stars based on 43 reviews.

If you need a good kit to use the 32GB card with, the Auto-Vox M8 is on sale and works as both a dashboard cam and backup camera.

See at Amazon

Micro SD cards, robotic vacuums, 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 Samsung Pro Endurance microSD cards, the iLife robotic vacuum cleaner, a Belkin surge protector, 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!