Can I install an IR receiver on my Raspberry Pi 3 B+?
Best answer: Absolutely! A Raspberry Pi can make for a great media center computer, so attaching some sort of interface for a remote is a must. The good news is that there are several ways to get it done, and none of them are expensive. For most people, the best and easiest way is to use a FLIRC USB Universal Remote Control Receiver.
Amazon: FLIRC USB Universal Remote Control Receiver ($23)
Works with any remote on any computer
OK, so the FLIRC USB Receiver isn’t a “regular” IR receiver you would wire in, so why is it our best answer? Because it’s even better for almost everyone.
You’ll probably be wanting a way to use a remote control with your Raspberry Pi to use with media center software like KODI. That means the important part is that you can use a good, full-function remote to watch your movies and shows; not how the signal zaps from your hand to the enclosure the Raspberry Pi is in. And that’s where the FLIRC Receiver shines.
It’s compatible with almost every remote you can buy, including super-functional models like the Harmony 650 and it’s simple to set up. You plug it into a computer and run the setup software (and yes there is software you can run on the Linux-based OS you have on your Raspberry Pi as well as Windows and Mac) and walk through a few steps to tell the receiver what you’re doing with it and what remote you’re using. Then, it just works.
If you’re looking for a way to use a good remote with your raspberry Pi-based media center PC, the FLIRC USB Universal Remote Control Receiver is the best way to do it.
A DIY option
Maybe you need an actual IR diode for a different sort of project, like a controller for an RC car. Or you could just be one of those folks who love to do-it-yourself. We have you covered, too. The Geekworm IR Control Kit for Raspberry Pi includes a control board you connect to the GPIO pin header and a companion remote. The board has an IR receiver, IR transmitter, and two buttons that can be programmed through the GPIO on your Raspberry Pi.
It works as-is with LIRC if you want to use it as a media center remote, and you can also use it to receive commands via IR then pass IR commands to another device or send IR commands when the buttons are pressed manually or virtually through software. If you would rather tinker or need an IR receiver for a different project, this is what you want.
Our pick
FLIRC USB Universal Remote Control Receiver
$23 at Amazon
Works with everything
The FLIRC USB Universal Remote Control Receiver was designed to make it easy to use a full-featured remote with your media center PC, no matter what operating system you’re using. It works great with the Raspberry PI and everything is literally plug-and-play. It doesn’t get any easier.
A must have
Harmony 650 Universal Remote
$39 at Amazon
Still the best
The Harmony 650 Universal Remote isn’t the companies latest product but it’s still one of its best. And it works perfectly with the FLIR USB Remote Control Receiver.
DIY pick
Geekworm IR Control Kit for Raspberry Pi
$10 at Amazon
It does everything
Like most Raspberry Pi control boards, the Geekworm IR Control board can do a lot of different things. You can use it to control your media center, or get fancy and use a Raspberry Pi as the brain in youe next Battlebot. This was built for the D-I-Yer in you.
Which Android phones are compatible with the Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro?
Best answer: Any Android phone running Android OS 4.4 (KitKat) or later, with 1.5GB of RAM is compatible with the Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro.
Amazon: Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro ($145)
Many modern Android phones can connect to Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro
If you have any of the big-name phones, like any of Google’s Pixels, every Samsung Galaxy S phone since the S3, LG’s latest, and so on, it’ll work with the Gear Fit2 Pro. All you need is a Bluetooth connection and the Gear app, which you can download from the Google Play Store (or the Galaxy Apps store on your Samsung device).
With that being said, features and models may vary by region and carrier.
If your phone doesn’t support the Gear Fit2 Pro because of RAM or OS requirements, you simply won’t be able to download the Gear app.
If, however, you have a newer phone, but it runs on Android Go, you won’t be able to use the Gear Fit2 Pro, as these phones often have less than 1GB of RAM.
Other options
At this point, you should almost definitely be running an Android OS later than KitKat, but if you aren’t or your phone has less than 1.5GB of RAM, then you may want to consider another tracker.
I recommend the Xiaomi Mi Band 3, which is inexpensive, waterproof to 50m, features a heart rate monitor, and costs less than $40. Plus, the app is relatively simple and should be able to run on just about any Android phone at this point.
Our pick
Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro
$145 at Amazon
Fitness tracking with smartwatch features.
The Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro is an excellent tool to help you toward all of your fitness and weight loss goals. It’s compatible with most modern phones and offers a great feature set that goes above and beyond a simple fitness tracker.
For older phones
Xiaomi Mi Band 3
$40 on Amazon
Run it on any phone.
If you have a phone that runs an OS released earlier than KitKat, or an Android phone with little RAM, the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is a good alternative. It’s inexpensive, gets the job done, and its app is simple.
Add a refurbished original Amazon Echo to your home for just $60 today
An oldie but a goodie.
If you don’t need the latest and greatest, and just want a great deal, you won’t want to miss this deal. Amazon has dropped the price on a certified refurbished Echo down to just $59.99 for today only, which is $20 cheaper than it’s been selling for.
Amazon has already released a newer version of this smart speaker, but if you’re just looking for a great value this is the way to go. It gives you access to all of Alexa’s great features, like the ability to answer questions, control smart home accessories, and more.
Amazon says the certified refurbished Echo has been tested and will look and work like new. You can pick one up in your choice of black or white, and at this price, you won’t want to miss out.
See at Amazon
Google Titan vs. Yubikey 5: What’s different and which should you use?
We’re a virtual company made up of tech experts from across the globe. We take online security seriously because it’s how we make a living. We know these products because we use these products.
Titan Security Key Bundle
Made by Google
$50 at Google
Pros
- Bluetooth capable
- Adapts for USB A and USB C
- Google Titan secure element
- Advanced phishing protection
Cons
- Made in China
- Expensive
- NFC not enabled
Google’s Titan Security Key Bundle has the power of Google behind it to keep your Google account safe from phishing attacks as well as offer outstanding 2Fa through the FIDO standard. The downside is that they’re made in China and not available everywhere.
Yubico Security Key
U2F and FIDO2
$20 at Amazon
Pros
- U2F and FIDO2 support
- Made in USA
- Inexpensive
Cons
- No wireless support
- USB A only
The second generation Yubico key is cheap and works great — as long as you have a USB type-A port to plug it into. That means it’s probably not going to work with your phone or your tablet.
It’s great to see more companies offering 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) hardware keys, and the release of the FIDO2 standard is great news for us all — it will lead to the end of the password eventually. Yubico has been the pioneer in this sector and many of us use Yubico keys every day. They’re perfect for every laptop or desktop PC, and older models with NFC work great for Android phones.
Google Titan is the new kid on the block but it’s got a set of features that make it a great choice, especially for mobile. the bundle is more expensive, but you get a basic key like the Yubico and a wireless key that can use Bluetooth to authenticate. That makes it the only key you should ever use with an iPhone or iPad.
What you need to know
There are three differences here to consider (outside of the price). Connectivity, trust, and the FIDO2 standard.
| Wireless support | Yes | No |
| Origin | China | USA |
| FIDO2 support | No | Yes |
FIDO2 is a new standard that offers the same secure 2FA capabilities we’re used to seeing with the original FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) standard. You can read more about FIDO and FIDO2 here, but according to Yubico — a core contributor to FIDO2 — here’s the jist of it:
FIDO2 offers expanded authentication options including strong single factor (passwordless), strong two factor, and multi-factor authentication. With these new capabilities, the YubiKey can entirely replace weak static username/password credentials with strong hardware-backed public/private-key credentials. These credentials cannot be reused, replayed, or shared across services, and are not subject to phishing and MiTM attacks or server breaches.
FIDO2 is the future and will one day, hopefully, make a username and password obsolete. There are many companies working with the FIDO Alliance to push FIDO2 adoption, and it’s a thing you should want. But it;s not yet a thing you need.
Google does things differently, as they are prone to doing. Instead of using the FIDO2 standard to prevent MiTM (Man in The Middle) attacks and password phishing, the Titan firmware allows the URL of the requesting page to be sent along with the request. This makes sure that you’re really logging into the page you think you’re logging into. Right now this only works for Google sites and services, but it’s foolproof.
The Google Smartlock app on iPhone X.
Bluetooth support is important but can be a security risk as Yubico is quick to point out. Bluetooth could be compromised by a MiTM attack that could get the session token, but the attacker would need to be right beside you. On the other hand, Bluetooth support is a must if you want to use a security key with iOS. For a key that’s to be used for mobile, it’s definitely needed.
A final bit of contention is the origin of manufacture. China is a lovely country filled with awesome people. But when it comes to security and security-related products, seeing China as the place of manufacture isn’t ideal, as the government and certain companies have been caught implanting “spyware” into products. That’s not tinfoil hat talk, either, it’s a real thing. Seeing Google’s Titan Keys manufactured in China bothers some people. In this case, though, there’s a difference.
Google writes the firmware and flashes it to the secure element and chip for each and every key themselves in the USA. These pre-programmed chips are sent to the manufacturer to be used for both models. These chips can only be written to once, and without the right firmware, they are inoperable. In other words, nobody is messing with the firmware on the Titan keys.
I love the simplicity and price of the Yubico key and have several of my own. I use them every day at my desktop, a MacBook Pro, and a Chromebook or two. But since the world is moving towards mobile, I’d have to recommend Google’s Titan keys right now. They don’t support FIDO2, but until it sees greater adoption that’s not a big enough drawback to make me lose the wireless option.
Titan Security Key Bundle
Made by Google
$50 at Google
Designed for mobile by the company that knows mobile
While FIDO2 support is absent, the Google Titan Security Key Bundle does one thing flawlessly — works with your phone or tablet. In a perfect world we wouldn’t need to care about security, but in this world we do. The Titan key makes it easier for everyone with a smartphone.
Yubico Security Key
U2F and FIDO2
$20 at Amazon
Yubico’s new generation of security keys are ready for the future with FIDO2 support, but the USB Type-A connection here means it’s not going to work with most phones.
Yubico does make USB Type-C keys with FIDO2 support, but they aren’t yet widely available. You can see all the options at Yubico’s website.
LG kondigt V40 ThinQ met 5 camera’s aan
LG heeft zoals gepland vannacht haar V40 ThinQ smartphone aangekondigd. Het nieuwe vlaggenschip beschikt in totaal over 5 camera’s en een immens 6,4 inch OLED-scherm. En toch is er voor Nederland reden voor pessimisme.
Want om met het slechte nieuws te beginnen; de V40 ThinQ komt voorlopig niet in Nederland uit. Op de inbox geen enkel bericht van de Nederlandse afdeling van LG die trots alle nieuwe functies van het toestel opsomt. LG Nederland heeft een beetje een haat/liefdeverhouding met de V-serie. De V20 kwam hier nooit uit en ook de meer uitgebreide V30+ en V35 deed ons land niet aan. Dat wil trouwens niet zeggen dat de LG V40 ThinQ hier nooit uitkomt, mogelijk volgt een release ergens in 2019.
De LG V40 ThinQ geïntroduceerd
We hebben dan wel wat om naar uit te kijken. De V40 krijgt een FullVision OLED-scherm van een imposante 6,4 inch groot mee met een resolutie van 3120 x 1440 pixels. Net als bij de G7 ThinQ zit er bovenin het scherm een notch maar zijn de schermranden wel dunner geworden. De ruimte van de schermnotch wordt overigens nuttig gebruikt; er bevinden zich namelijk twee selfiecamera’s in. Een 8 en 5 megapixel camera met respectievelijk f/1.9 en f/2.2 lens. Echt groothoek is de lens met een maximale hoek van 90 graden overigens niet te noemen. Achterop treffen we nog eens drie camera’s aan; een 16 megapixel met f/1.9 groothoeklens van 107°, een 12 megapixel f/1.5 standaardlens en een 12 megapixel f/2.4 telezoomlens. De drie verschillende lenzen maken het mogelijk om voor iedere situatie de beste foto te schieten.
Ontvang een e-mail wanneer de V40 ThinQ verkrijgbaar is
Foto-functies
Zo kan met de groothoeklens een groot deel van de achtergrond mee op de foto terwijl je met de telezoomlens beelden tot 2x dichterbij kunt halen. Gecombineerd met de groothoeklens kun je zelfs tot 3,2x optisch inzoomen. Zonder kwaliteitsverlies dus. Om meer licht te vangen heeft LG de pixelgrootte vergroot van 1 micrometer naar 1,4. Ook op lensgebied zijn er stappen gezet want de maximale opening bedraagt nu f/1.5. Hierdoor worden beelden in het donker nog beter zichtbaar zonder flitser en heb je minder kans op bewogen foto’s omdat er met kortere sluitertijden gewerkt kan worden.
Prijs LG V40 ThinQ
Om van de V40 ThinQ een echte multimediatelefoon te maken heeft LG hem verder voorzien van een 32-bits Quad DAC voor HiFi-geluid, Boombox Speaker en DTS:X 3D surround sound. Het pOLED-scherm is ook onder handen genomen en geeft kleuren nauwkeuriger weer. De behuizing is IP68 water- en stofbestendig en zelfs licht robuust en valbestendig dankzij het MIL-STD 810G certificaat. Het toekomstige kleurenpalet bestaat uit New Aurora Black, New Platinum Gray, New Moroccan Blue en Carmine Red. Een prijs in euros zijn wij nog niet tegen gekomen maar je leest het hier als eerste zodra die bekend is.
LG Watch W7 hands on: analog hands on a smart watch?
When smartwatches first hit the mainstream, they were meant to be digital portals – unassuming, bland – like a tiny smartphone on your wrist. It wasn’t long until they adopted buttons like regular watches, then more traditional watch styling and later yet, rotating bezels. Smartwatches, as they were originally conceived, failed to take over. The “dumb watch” is a resilient, persistent thing, and over time, smartwatches have edged closer and closer to the traditional end of the timepiece spectrum.
Enter the LG Watch W7, a smartwatch that takes the extreme step of adding physical hands just like a regular analog watch.
To get the complexities of a mechanical timepiece right, LG partnered with Soprod SA of Switzerland to achieve high precision quartz movement via a gearbox stuffed inside. While the LG Watch W7 is LG’s first hybrid watch, it’s also LG’s first wearable to run the reimagined Wear OS from Google. As weird as it is, I kind of like it. Of course I don’t expect everyone to feel the same way.
It’s a relatively bulky watch, as most of LG’s offerings have been, with a large circular bezel (that unfortunately does not rotate) and a stainless steel body. I like chunky watches personally, but it won’t suit everyone, especially if you have thinner wrists. The band is a nice rubberized strap that can be switched out for any regular 22mm band but it’s not too light at 79.5 grams. For reference, the LG G Watch R weighed in at 62 grams, as did the Gear S3 Frontier. The Watch W7’s dimensions are 44.5 x 45.4 x 12.9mm.
The top button shifts the on-screen text up and makes the analog hands lay flat to get out of your way while reading.
There are three buttons on the right-hand side, each of which has a unique function. The top button is primarily used to “level” the analog watch hands at 9 and 3, so you can more easily read the writing on the watch face (which shifts upwards slightly when the button is held). It’s also used for starting and stopping the timer and other peripheral functions like on a normal watch. Launch the compass and the hands will point you in the direction of north. It’s pretty neat stuff.
The center button is pressed once to access your app drawer, and long pressed to launch Google Assistant. This center button is also a rotating crown, so you can twist it to navigate menus and then press it once to return to the main watch face. The bottom button launches handy “Master tools” including a barometer, compass, stopwatch, timer and more. Long pressing the watch face brings up alternate watch face options.
There’s no heart-rate sensor here, so if that’s important to you, you had better look elsewhere. There’s also no GPS, LTE or NFC. Without NFC that means no Google Pay, either. LG is clearly trying to reimagine what a “smartwatch” can be, so don’t expect all the bells and whistles found on a regular smartwatch. This list of omissions will be enough to put this on the no-buy list for many, but LG is at least trying to change the game that no one but Apple is winning right now.
This is not a smartwatch in the traditional sense, with no heart-rate sensor, no LTE, no GPS, and no NFC for contactless payments.
The display is a 1.2-inch LCD (360×360 resolution, 300ppi) and it looks good. The Watch W7 is powered by the slightly older Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform and 768MB LPDDR3 RAM with 4GB of internal storage, so a powerhouse it is not.
A 240mAh battery keeps the lights on, but despite sounding painfully small, the diminutive cell is capable of powering the phone for 100 days if you disable the smart features and just use it as a traditional analog watch. Even with the smart features enabled you can still get two days’ usage out of it. If the battery does die while in smart mode, the Watch W7 can continue working in analog mode for another two or three days. Charging is handled via pogo pins on the back.
The fact that you can switch between a fully fledged smartwatch and a dumb analog watch is kind of cool, and provides a lot more flexibility if you know battery life is going to be critical over the days ahead. The presence of analog watch hands in the middle of a digital display is a little odd at first, but LG has done a good job of getting them out of the way when you don’t need them and making them very useful when you do. Again, this isn’t likely to be a solution that appeals to everyone, but, like the notch, many will be able to look right past it.
The LG Watch W7 supports Bluetooth 4.2 LE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0 and has an IP68 dust and water resistant rating.
We’ve already covered the new Wear OS experience in detail, so I’ll spare you an extensive walkthrough of the software experience. But the OS is essentially made up of four parts: swipe down to access quick settings toggles and the settings menu, swipe left to access your fitness stats, swipe up to access notifications, and swipe right to see your Google feed and reminders. Combined this with the added features accessible via the physical buttons and Wear OS on the LG Watch W7 feels surprisingly robust.
The worst part about the LG Watch W7 is its price. At $449.99, this is not a cheap smartwatch.
The worst part about the LG Watch W7 is its price. At $449.99 at Best Buy, this is not a cheap smartwatch. But traditional watches have never been particularly cheap, and the LG Watch W7 is more of a traditional watch than any other Wear OS watch before it. Whether it will convince analog watch fans to switch to a smartwatch or remind smartwatch owners why traditional watches are so good I can’t yet say. But I do know that price is going to be a sticking point for many.
Stay tuned for our full LG Watch W7 review to find out if spending more time with the Watch W7 reveals more endearing qualities or just makes us wonder why.
The LG Watch W7 goes on sale on October 14 with pre-orders starting on October 7.
What do you think of LG putting analog hands on a digital watch?
‘Sid Meier’s Civilization VI’ Expands to the iPhone
Popular turn-based game Civilization VI, which has previously been available for the iPad, is today expanding to the iPhone. Aspyr Media, the company that ported the game to iOS, is making the iPad version universal, so customers who have already purchased Civilization VI for iPad can play on iPhone at no additional cost.
Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy game that tasks players with building an empire and advancing civilization from the Stone Age to the Information age. Exploring the surroundings, researching new technology, and conquering enemies are core gameplay elements.
To celebrate the launch of Civilization VI, the full game can be unlocked for $23.99, a 60 percent discount off of the regular price of $59.99. Players can also play through the first 60 turns to give the game a try before purchasing.
Civilization VI in particular offers cities that span multiple tiles, active research options through exploring and discovering new cultures, dynamic diplomacy options, and options to use multiple units per tile. There’s a local multiplayer mode for cooperating and competing with friends, and for new players, there’s a full tutorial system.
The game requires iOS 11 or later on an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, iPhone X, or iPhone XS or XS Max. On iPad, it works with the iPad Air 2, the 2017 and later iPad, and any iPad Pro model.
Civilization can be downloaded from the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]
Tag: Aspyr
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Honor 8X review: Almost the perfect marriage of style and substance
Honor has released a number of smartphones in 2018 — perhaps too many depending on who you ask — but they all aim to offer exceptional value and build quality that punches well above their price tag. The Honor 8X fits into the portfolio as a supersized phablet model priced at €249.
Somewhat confusingly, the Honor 8X doesn’t share too much in common with 2016’s Honor 8. There’s an all-new bezel-less design and a completely different set of internal components. While the sum of the changes produces some notable upgrades, the new handset sees a number of downgrades too. We’re here to find out if the 8X can successfully build on Honor’s legacy in the affordable handset market.
Honor 8X review notes: During this review, the Honor 8X was running beta software version JSN-L21 8.2.0.120, with EMUI 8.2.0 running on top of Android 8.1 Oreo.
The Honor 8X used in this review was provided to Android Authority by Honor.
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Honor 8X review: Design
The Honor 8X looks like the quintessential Honor smartphone, featuring a glossy textured glass back finish with its dazzling light reflecting properties, metal trim, notched display, and eye-catching looks all around. The 91 percent screen to body ratio and minimal chin is undeniably impressive, giving the handset even more screen to work with that Huawei’s flagship P20 Pro. It’s a great piece of tech to marvel at that rivals the look and feel of premium flagship handsets which cost significantly more.
However, the Honor 8X is a true behemoth. While there’s plenty of screen real estate, reaching across the panel is a stretch with one hand. Combined with the glass back and sharper edges than some other large handsets, the phone can be awkward to handle at times. The thin 7.8mm profile helps, but there’s no getting around that the Honor 8X feels like a very big phone. The rear fingerprint scanner placement is perfect on a handset of this size, but the volume rocket is perhaps a little high up the phone to reach comfortably.
The bottom line is that the Honor 8X’s combination of metal and gradient glass looks and feels great. The trade-off, as always with glass, is that the phone is somewhat slippery and that doesn’t help given the handset’s awkwardly bulky size.
The Honor 8X’s design is simply stunning
Honor 8X display
The Honor 8X sports a 6.5-inch LTPS LCD display with a 2340 x 1080 resolution, producing a density of 397 pixels per inch. Even given the large display size, the Full HD+ resolution appears plenty sharp enough. The panel’s colors also pop with the appropriate fervor, resulting in bright and vivid images.
Given the size of the display, you’ll want to switch into a smaller text or small view mode to really make the most of it. Honor’s default makes everything, from text to images and icons, appear far too large and it’s an odd choice for such a big phone. I’ve experienced similar problems with other Honor and Huawei phones, so this could just be a personal preference. Fortunately, it’s simple enough to change to the small option in the display settings menu.
If there’s one technical fault with the display it’s with blue reproduction, which outputs a much higher color error delta than green or red. This leads to a somewhat oversaturated looking panel when using the default “Vivid” setting, but it’s only really noticeable when comparing like for like on another smartphone. Peak brightness clocks in at 470 nits, which is about average for a cost-effective handset. The phone will be fine in shady outdoor viewing, but visibility will struggling with reflections in direct bright sunlight.
Honor 8X hardware
While the display and design aesthetics appear premium, the hardware specifications for the Honor 8X hover somewhere between mid- and low-end. On the processing side, there’s a distinctly mid-range Kirin 710 SoC, which offers powerful Cortex-A73 CPU cores but a lower end Mali-G51 GPU. It’s certainly not as exciting as the Pocophone F1’s Snapdragon 845 package. The handset also includes a reasonable 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of internal storage, depending on the region of purchase.
The handset’s microUSB connector with USB 2.0 data speeds feels rather more dated. It’s an even more mind-boggling decision given that the much older Honor 8 supported USB Type-C two years ago. This probably won’t play well in global markets that are moving on from the old connector. Fast charging capabilities are included, but we’re capped at 5V/2A rather than the 5V/4A SuperCharge option that ships with more expensive Huawei phones.
There’s just a single bottom-facing speaker on the Honor 8X. The top mounted speaker is only used for calls. The speaker sounds fairly decent and pumps out plenty of volume, but the mono presentation is a notable drawback.
On the plus side, the phone sticks with the tried and tested 3.5mm audio jack, so your existing headphones will work just fine. There’s also a dual SIM slot, microSD card port, along with NFC and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity. The rear fingerprint scanner is highly responsive and face recognition is also very speedy, although not quite as fast as the higher-end P20 Pro.
Honor 8X performance
The Honor 8X is a snappy little device when it comes to zipping in and out of applications. The inclusion of big power Cortex-A73 cores inside the Kirin 710 help elevates the phone above the feel of other low-cost handsets, offering consistently snappy performance across apps. Multitasking doesn’t pose any problems either, I never noticed the phone miss a step the whole time.
However, the phone isn’t quite up to scratch with 3D gaming performance. The Mali-G51 MP4 GPU isn’t a high-performance gaming class component and this is definitely the phone’s weakest area in the performance category. Honor does attempt to address this with its GPU Turbo technology, but it’s difficult to tell how much of an impact this has. Overall, you can still enjoy demanding games like PUBG or Fortnite — just turn down the graphics settings a notch and be prepared for a 30fps rather than 60fps performance target.
The Kirin 970 flies through apps, handling everything you can throw at it
Honor 8X software
The Honor 8X runs Android 8.1 Oreo skinned with EMUI 8.2 on top. There isn’t much in the way of additional software installed out of the box, save for a selection of Honor tools like the Game Suite, Mirror, Compass, and Themes apps. Google’s apps make up the bulk of the pre-installed software.
The colorful icons and white UI elements can’t help but invoke Apple’s iOS, as does the lack of an app drawer by default. Fortunately, EMUI offers options for the app drawer, notch toggle, View Mode sizes, and text sizes under the display settings to tweak the appearance more to your tastes.
EMUI catches a lot of flak for deviating from a stock-like skin, but the software is perfectly functional and avoids any major bloat. A quick swipe down on the home screen takes you to recommended apps and allow you to search through your contacts and messages. Google Assistant functionality is located on the left on the home screen or via a long press of the home button. Apart from the deep maze of settings that’s about all there is to EMUI’s home screen.
EMUI 8.2 includes a few extra tweaks. If the traditional navigation keys aren’t your thing, Honor provides the option to switch over to the single-key navigation. It’s not unlike Google’s “pill” in Android 9.0 Pie, where you swipe the bar to perform back, home, and recent task actions.
HiTouch can be used to identify products on a page using Amazon Assistant. Just touch something on your display with two fingers at once to active it. The software’s motion controls are also rather handy, enabling features like raising the phone to your ear to automatically answer calls or flip the phone upside down to mute. App Lock and Filesafe also provide ways to keep bits of information secure behind your fingerprint.
Honor 8X battery
With a 3,750mAh battery, the Honor 8X has no problem surviving a full day with even the most demanding user. A second day of full use will be on the cards for most, although taking lots of pictures and gaming will knock a couple or so hours off the total on time. Lighter users could well extend usage well into a third day, as was the case when I only used the phone for some web browsing and music streaming.
If for some reason you find yourself short of juice, the Honor 8X packs in two power saving modes. The regular power saving mode limits background activity, reduces visual effects, and turns off email syncing to save on power. The more extreme ultra power saving mode limits the phone to just a selection of apps to greatly extend battery life up to several days.
The Honor 8X is the first phone I’ve owned to reach a third day of use since my Nokia 3310
Honor 8X camera
There’s a familiar looking dual camera setup on the back of the Honor 8X. The primary sensor offers 20-megapixels of resolution with a f/1.8 aperture and Phase Detection Auto Focus. Video recording is capped at 1080p 60fps, so there’s no 4K recording option here.
The 20-megapixel camera offers up plenty of detail in well-lit shots and never once was trouble with finding the correct exposure. However, the Honor 8X’s processing can oversaturate colors some of the time, or at least that’s how it looks on the phone’s vivid display. Images mostly pop with vibrant colors which will look great on social media, but there’s a denoise speckling effect covering most of the pictures which takes the sheen off once you zoom in.
Honor’s big selling point with all of its recent phones are their AI camera capabilities. The Honor 8X recognizes 22 different scenarios in which it can apply custom exposure and color corrections. However, most of the results I saw simply involved boosting the color saturation even further, resulting in some almost cartoonish images. I ended up ignoring the mode.
Honor 8X food AI OFF
Honor 8X food AI ON
Honor 8X sunset AI OFF
Honor 8X sunset AI ON
As is often the case, low light performance is a weak spot for the Honor 8X. Noise creeps in quickly even in well-exposed images, resulting in smudged shadowy areas rather than crisp blacks. The whole situation is worsened by the lack of image stabilization, making even quick snaps likely to come out blurry let alone ones taken at night. The camera’s Night Mode patches over this issue, providing that you can stand still for anywhere between 4 and 20 seconds to capture the required exposures.
The secondary camera is used entirely for depth calculation, enabling re-adjustable aperture and bokeh after taking the picture. This second sensor has just a 2-megapixel resolution. The bokeh post processing looks fairly decent, but close examination often reveals missed areas of the image where the edge detection algorithm hasn’t quite separated the back and foreground correctly. This might be due to the limited resolution of the secondary depth sensor, and either way the technology is a bit hit and miss.
Honor 8X camera low light
Honor 8X camera Night Mode
Honor 8X camera aperture mode far
Honor 8X camera aperture close
The front-facing camera is a 16-megapixel affair with a f/2.0 aperture. Exposure can be more of a problem here, as backgrounds often appear overblown even without a direct light source. Detail is reasonable enough in good lighting, but the camera quickly deteriorates into a noisy blur if you lose sunlight. If I hadn’t read the spec sheet, I wouldn’t have believed these were 16MP shots.
While the rest of the phone punches above its price tag, the inconsistent camera experience, unfortunately, brings the Honor 8X back down to earth with a thud.
Honor 8X specs
| Display | 6.5 inches 2,340 x 1,080 19.5:9 notched display 91% screen-to-body ratio |
| Processor | HiSilicon Kirin 710 Octa-Core (4 x Cortex-A73 2.2 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A53 1.7 GHz) |
| GPU | Mali-G51 MP4 |
| RAM | 4GB or 6GB |
| Storage | 64GB or 128GB |
| Battery | 3,750mAh |
| Cameras | Rear dual cameras: 20MP (f/1.8 aperture) + 2 MP Single front camera: |
| Software | Android 8.1 Oreo Skinned with EMUI 8.2 |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4 and 5GHz) Bluetooth 5 GPS GLONASS |
| Network | 900MHz, 1800MHz, 800MHz, 2GHz Bands 38, 39, 40, 41 (2555-2575 MHZ, 2575-2635 MHZ, 2635-2655 MHZ) Band 1, Band 3, 1.9 GHz, I, VIII |
| Ports | microUSB 3.5mm headphone jack |
| SIM | Dual nano SIM |
| Dimensions | 160.4 x 76.6 x 7.8mm |
| Weight | 175g |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Red, Purple |
Honor 8X gallery
Honor 8X review: Should you buy it?
The Honor 8X is a tale of some quite remarkable accomplishments marred by a few unfortunate issues. At first, I thought the handset’s giant size would be the dividing factor, but the phone’s thin profile helps to minimize this issue enough that I eventually became accustomed to it.
The design is undeniably premium and unique enough that the phone is sure to stand out in a crowd. Performance, battery life, and storage options also feel a cut above your typical mid-tier smartphone. Honor has most of the major boxes checked off with the 8X.
However, the camera performance and dated hardware choices, like the microUSB port and single bottom-firing speaker, detract from an otherwise superb experience. It’s never possible to have it all at this price point, and whether the Honor 8X is for you will boil down to whether or not these issues impact how you use your handsets. Photography enthusiasts might want to give this AI camera a miss.
LG V40 ThinQ review: Undeveloped innovation
LG’s V-series has always been about doing it all. Last year’s LG V30 boasted one of the most feature-packed cameras of all time in a mobile device, and the Quad DAC audio solution was a treat for music lovers. This year, LG is taking things a step further.
While most manufacturers have adopted dual cameras to allow for things like portrait mode and telephoto lens options, LG’s has added five cameras total to the V40, allowing for ultra-wide, telephoto, and front-facing portrait options, in addition to the standard set of lenses.
With this and a couple new software improvements, the V40 is a compelling phone on paper. But does its value add up to more than the sum of its parts? This is our LG V40 review.
LG V40 review notes: I’ve been using the LG V40 ThinQ on Project Fi’s network in the U.S. for six days. Our LG V40 ThinQ is running Android 8.1 Oreo and LG Software version V405QA10d on the September 1, 2018 security patch. We’ll refrain from adding review scores until we can put the device through our full suite of tests.
The LG V40 review unit was provided to Android Authority by LG.
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LG V40 review: Design
If you enjoyed the look of the LG V30, you’ll feel right at home with the V40. It has the familiar rounded design V-series users have come to know, but bumps things up a notch with the huge 6.4-inch display. This phone is big — there’s no getting around that fact, but it’s a good option for someone that wants a big phone that isn’t a Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
The V40 has a notch, though it is quite a bit smaller than many other phone notches, despite sporting two different cameras within it. This allows for things like wide-angle selfies and portrait mode using the front shooter, something I’m glad LG is continuing. The phone also intelligently hides the notch when you’re on the home screen, and you can customize that area with different colors and designs, or hide it completely.
The LG V40 has five cameras in total: three on the back and two on the front.
The back of the phone looks extremely similar to the V30, with a Gorilla Glass 5 panel, a fingerprint reader, and a camera module. This year, the camera module adds an additional sensor, summing to three in total. The phone has a standard 12MP sensor with a 78-degree field of view, an ultra-wide sensor with a 107-degree field of view, and a 2x zoom lens with a 47-degree field of view.
I was worried this would look a bit ridiculous, but it actually looks fairly decent — the functionality is more important to me anyway.
The right side of the phone houses the power button and SIM card tray, while the left side stores the volume rockers and Google Assistant button. I’m extremely happy LG decided to put the Google Assistant button in the V40. I personally think Google Assistant is the only viable assistant on Android, and Samsung’s dedicated Bixby button could have been just as useful had it allowed remapping.
The V40 ThinQ has a dedicated power button, so the fingerprint reader is now just a fingerprint reader. Unfortunately, it also seems like a very poor fingerprint reader. Most fingerprint readers are extremely fast by now, but the V40’s seems quite slow. A lot of the time the phone just won’t recognize me trying to unlock my device with it either, and I found that fairly annoying during my time with the phone.
The LG V40 includes a headphone jack and the same Boombox speaker from the LG G7.
The LG V40 also includes the same “resonance chamber” Boombox speaker from the LG G7, a USB Type-C port, and a headphone jack on its bottom. LG seems to keep adding more and more features to its flagships instead of removing them, and I’m very happy about that. Samsung is just about the only other major manufacturer to retain the headphone jack, so you don’t have a lot of options if you’re serious about audio.
LG prides itself on keeping its phones extremely lightweight, and the V40 continues this trend. I like denser, heftier phones — they give me the sense I’m actually getting value for my money — but I can appreciate the engineering that went into making the phone so light. Sure, this is extremely subjective, but this is a review, after all. I like my phones heavy.
LG’s marketing described the V40 as “silky.” I’m not sure where that came from. The phone feels the same as the V30, which means the aluminum sides still feel a little bit cheap. I would have preferred a sturdier metal at the cost of weight.
Overall though, I still really like the feel of the V40 ThinQ. The size makes it a true competitor with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and the bezels are surprisingly small compared to a lot of other devices.
LG V40 review: Display
The LG V40 sports a display resolution of 3120 x 1440, set to 2340 x 1080 by default. The screen looks okay, but it definitely isn’t as crisp and punchy as something like the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. The V40 packs 538 PPI, which strangely doesn’t feel that sharp to me. As a display manufacturer who makes incredible TVs and other panels I hoped LG would use its best of the best, but that still doesn’t seem to be the case.
More: Check out the full list of LG V40 specs
Gone is the LCD screen from the LG G7, replaced with an OLED panel instead — this time without light bleed issues. This panel produces nice, even lighting, and I didn’t notice any blue shift at different angles. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t get very bright. The V40 doesn’t carry over the 1,000-nit LCD panel from the G7, and while it’s nice to use an OLED again, I’m missing the brightness LG offered in the G7. It’s a bit hard to see the V40 outside, and that’s a big bummer.
The LG V40 switches to OLED and thankfully has no light bleed issues, although I do wish it was brighter outdoors.
Colors are extremely punchy on this thing, almost a bit too punchy for my liking. Skin tones and reds seem a bit over-saturated, and you’ll probably either love them or hate them. I just came from the Xiaomi Mi 8, which has a fairly cool color temperature in its display — that is anything but the case here. LG likely made this move to make content consumption a bit more enjoyable, but whether it actually will depends on you.
The LG V40 is also HDR10 compatible, meaning you can watch content with more colors than standard displays. If you need clarification on what exactly HDR10 is, our friends at DGiT have a great rundown here.
LG V40 review: Performance
Like most other flagship devices in 2018, performance on the V40 was generally solid. I saw few hiccups here and there fairly randomly, but they were just small stutters. Apps launched very quickly and multitasking was a breeze. You shouldn’t have any trouble keeping up with your everyday tasks on the V40.
If you’re interested in benchmarks, we’ve got them. We ran the V40 ThinQ through Geekbench 4, AnTuTu, and 3DMark benchmark tests. You can see the results below.
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LG V40 review: Hardware
The LG V40 is a true 2018 flagship. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, it can compete head to head with many of the other leaders on the market.
64GB is the only storage option available in the U.S. (a 128GB version will be available in South Korea). This is purely subjective, but I was hoping for more. Many other U.S.-bound flagships have launched with 128, 256, and even 512GB storage options in 2018, so it’s a bit of a bummer to see the V40 lagging behind. The V40 does include optional microSD card expansion, meaning you can at least load it up with one of those 400GB SanDisk cards, which went on sale for $100 the other day.
Many might argue 64GB is plenty for most people and I’d agree, but you would hope LG would at least pass on the savings to the consumer for using a storage option this low.
Unfortunately, the 3,300mAh battery in the LG V40 produces pretty unspectacular battery life.
The battery in the LG V40 is 3,300mAh, which is admittedly a bit small for a screen this large. This also translates fairly directly into screen-on time. Over the six days I’ve been using the phone I have gotten between four and five hours of screen-on time, leaning towards four on average. This isn’t exactly ideal, especially when LG markets this as the phone that can do everything. I would have loved to see a 4,000mAh battery to properly compete with Samsung’s Note 9, but unfortunately we won’t see that this year.
LG’s famous 32-bit DAC is back this year, bringing high-fidelity audio which sounds better than just about any other smartphone right now. LG is committed to filling the high-quality audio niche, at least until it becomes clear consumers don’t care about 3.5mm anymore. For now, it’s fairly clear consumers see the removal of the jack as a bad move, and LG is one of the few companies still listening.
If you’d rather play music directly from your phone, LG also included its Boombox speakers from the LG G7 in this device. The phone definitely gets loud, but I didn’t feel quite as loud as the G7. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a G7 on hand to actually test this definitively, but we’ll be running audio benchmarks in our testing suite down the line.
LG’s famous 32-bit DAC delivers high-fidelity audio that’s better than just about any other smartphone.
One feature that I would like to highlight in particular is the quality of the vibration motor in this device. LG devices have had pretty great haptics the last couple of iterations, but I don’t think they get enough attention. While the haptics are not quite as good as they are in the LG G7, this is still miles better than most other Android phones on the market.
The phone is also IP68 water resistant and includes wireless charging, so you won’t be missing out on any bells or whistles by buying this device.
LG V40 review: Camera
Like with every device in the V-series, the cameras on the LG V40 are undoubtedly the star of the show.
This year, LG decided to go all out, including three cameras on the rear of the device. Some manufacturers include a wide-angle or a telephoto zoom in addition to the primary sensor, but LG decided to do both. The LG V40 ThinQ has a standard 12MP lens with an f/1.5 aperture and 78-degree field of view, a 16MP wide-angle lens with an f/1.9 aperture and 107-degree field of view, and a 12MP 2x telephoto lens with an f/2.4 aperture and 45-degree field of view.
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These cameras have some special tricks, and the software lets you do things like see all camera angles before taking the shot so you can use the best camera for the situation. There’s even a mode that lets you take a photo with all three cameras simultaneously. If you’re not sure which angle you like best this is a good option, but I found myself choosing to shoot a single photo instead.
If you take an image with all three, the V40 ThinQ turns the frames into a short movie, pretending like it is slowly panning into a scene. It’s a nice idea, but in reality it’s more like tapping your way around Google Street View.
The V40 has another special feature which we were able to check out a bit early, called Cine Shot. This effectively allows the user to create cinemagraphs — photos with moving elements. This feature is really quite cool, and you can see it in action over at our dedicated post here. You can also use this feature with any of the three lenses on the back of the phone, giving you full control of your creativity.
While the wide-angle camera has great clarity and color reproduction, the 2x optical zoom sensor was quite a let-down. Using optical zoom vs digital should theoretically keep the photo nice and sharp, but it seemed much noisier and muddier than the other cameras and just felt like digital zoom. I would have liked to see a clean optical zoom, otherwise there are ways to make digital zoom cleaner through software.
There are two front-facing cameras in total: one standard lens with an 8MP sensor, f/1.9 aperture, and 80-degree field of view, and one wide lens with a 5MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, and 90-degree field of view. This allows for wide selfie shots as well as portrait mode. From the shots I’ve taken so far, they look quite good. Many manufacturers are still new to portrait modes, but LG seems to have done a good job here. You can also change the level of bokeh after you take the shot, a feature that is becoming quite popular in most flagship smartphones.
While the wide-angle camera has great clarity and color reproduction, the 2x optical zoom sensor was a let-down.
Google Lens is also built right into the camera app and will show you information about objects you point the camera at. This is a nice feature, and something I’ve been wanting to see in camera apps for a while now. All you need to do it put the phone into Google lens mode and you’re ready to go.
LG has also built its famous manual camera mode as well as an AI mode and some other cool features into the V40. There’s a ton of options available in the camera app and I don’t want to make this review completely camera-based, so we’ll move on.
Overall, the images coming out of the V40 are just okay. They seem to be a bit oversaturated and don’t have quite as much dynamic range as I would hope. Add that to the terrible low light performance, and I’m left wondering why LG would put so much attention on the cameras’ capabilities when the results aren’t up to par.
Our full camera review is coming a bit later, but you can see some of the samples shots I’ve taken over the last few days in the gallery above. These have been reduced in file size to save load speeds, but you can see the full resolution images in our Google Drive folder here.
LG V40 review: Software
LG’s software is a very, very mixed bag.
The V40 ThinQ runs on Android 8.1 Oreo, and I’m pretty disappointed that we’re not seeing Android 9 Pie at launch. Google is putting in significant effort to make Android updates easier via Project Treble, and even phones as old as the Essential Phone already have Pie. Frankly, manufacturers need to do better bringing with the latest features and security improvements Google has made publicly available — I’m tired of excuses.
LG’s UI has always been very polarizing. On the one hand, it has used one design for quite some time, which isn’t always a bad thing. However, it feels like LG keeps adding UI elements without actually removing anything, and the result feels very cluttered. The home screen is fairly simple, but as soon as you swipe down you’re bombarded with contradicting UI elements.
This overlay is made to give you a top-down view of everything you’re doing, but I found it way too busy, with different stylistic elements making it feel cluttered. Your eyes aren’t immediately drawn to any one element of the UI, and you can’t even swipe anything away.
The settings menu is by far the worst offender. It’s organized in four different tabs, and it’s hard to find much of anything you might actually need. LG needs a major overhaul of this settings menu, as plenty of other manufacturers have gone for slimmed down, more functional approaches.
There is also no app drawer by default, but you can turn it on if you dig down deep enough in the settings menu.
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On the plus side, the V40 ThinQ adds Google Discover (formerly Google Feed), which you can access by swiping to the left of your home screen. I’m a huge fan of this, as it provides me with the news I care about before I care about it. If you miss Google Now, this is effectively a new version with fewer cards and more news.
You’ll either love the V40’s software experience or you’ll hate it. I really enjoy the simple bubble theme, since it matches Google’s Material Design 2.0 quite well. However, aspects like the settings menu leave a bad taste in my mouth. While I try to leave phones in their default states during the review process, I would probably throw a third-party launcher like Nova on this device if I was using it long term.
LG V40 specs
| Display | 6.4-inch OLED FullVision display 538ppi 3,120 x 1,440 resolution Corning Gorilla Glass 5 19.5:9 aspect ratio HDR10-capable |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 2.8GHz, octa-core |
| GPU | Adreno 630 |
| RAM | 6GB LPDDRx4 |
| Storage | 64 or 128GB UFS 2.1 MicroSD expansion up to 2TB |
| Cameras | Rear Main camera: 12MP sensor, ƒ/1.5 aperture, 78° field-of-view, 1.4µm pixel size, OIS, Dual PD autofocus Super wide: 16MP sensor, ƒ/1.9 aperture, Crystal Clear Lens, 1µm pixel size, 107° field-of-view Telephoto zoom: 12MP sensor, ƒ/2.4 aperture, 1µm pixel size, 45° field of view Front |
| Audio | Boombox Speaker DTS:X 3D Surround Sound 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC 3.5mm headphone jack Audio Tuned by Meridian Super Far Field Voice Recognition |
| Battery | 3,300mAh Non-removable Fast wireless charging Quick Charge 4.0-compatible (ships with QC 3.0 charger) Qi wireless charging USB Type-C port |
| IP rating | IP68 MIL-STD 810G certification |
| Network | LTE-A 4 Band CA |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac Bluetooth 5.0 BLE NFC FM Radio |
| Software | Android 8.1 Oreo |
| Dimensions and weight | 75.8 x 7.7 x 158.7mm 169g |
| Colors | New Aurora Black, New Platinum Gray, New Moroccan Blue, Carmine Red |
LG V40 gallery
LG V40 price and availability
The LG V40 ThinQ will be available on Thursday, October 18.
In the U.S., you can pick up the V40 from US Cellular for $900, T-Mobile for $920, Sprint for $960, Verizon for $980, and AT&T has not yet confirmed a price. There should be bundles and carrier deals being made available in the coming weeks as well, so stay tuned for those.
More details: LG V40 ThinQ: Where to buy, when, and for how much
LG V40 review: Final thoughts
The LG V40 ThinQ is a solid phone on paper. It’s a device that can do pretty much anything, but unfortunately, it doesn’t do many things better than the competition.
While I commend LG for keeping a unique design, retaining the headphone jack and adding the Google Assistant button, I don’t see any of these things (besides maybe the quad DAC) as reasons you might buy this device over another, cheaper phone. The V40 is nearly $1,000, and at that price, you need to offer the best of the best in every category. Unfortunately, the LG V40 doesn’t do that.
For a phone that is almost entirely designed around the camera system, this is a pretty major disappointment. While having access to the wide angle and telephoto lenses are useful, there are many devices that can look nearly as good with a digital zoom. Add that to the fact that the images coming out of the camera are just so-so, and you’re left with a phone that feels like it can do everything — it just can’t do anything better than other phones.
If you want 95% of the features offered in the V40 for less money, I’d steer you towards the LG G7.
If this phone was $700, it might be worth a look. Sure, there are cheaper options out there, but most of them won’t have all the bells and whistles LG has managed to jam into this thing. Unfortunately, with so many other wonderful options on the market for less than $1,000, the V40 ThinQ is incredibly hard to recommend.
If you want 95 percent of the features offered in the V40 for less money, I might steer you towards the LG G7. While that phone still retails for around $750 new, it has dropped to below $650 multiple times. I personally think that the G7 has better build quality and sound, and all you’re really missing is the OLED screen and wide telephoto camera, though the G7’s LCD display can get extremely bright, up to 1,000 nits.
In short, the V40 ThinQ is a true multi-tool, but very few of its components are quite as sharp as the competitors. When you’re playing with the big dogs, second best just doesn’t cut it.
What are your thoughts on our LG V40 review? Are you planning on buying, passing, or are you still undecided?
Next: Huawei P20 Pro review: The Galaxy S9 killer
Surface Laptop 2 vs. MacBook Pro
Microsoft has a new laptop, and if you’re in the market for a laptop today, you’re most likely going to be comparing it to the MacBook Pro. Both laptops were recently refreshed with Intel’s latest 8th-Generation processors, come with plenty of configuration options, and are targeted to users who need performance.
This year, to match Apple’s space grey finish, the Surface Laptop 2 is also available in black. To help you choose, we’ll take compare the important the features offered by each laptop.
Design
Microsoft
Neither Microsoft nor Apple made noticeable changes to the design of their laptops this year. Both share similar attributes, like a premium unibody aluminum build and compact form factors, though Microsoft and Apple put their unique spins on the designs. Microsoft chose an aluminum shell and a keyboard deck covered in Alcantara fabric, which adds warmth and texture to an otherwise cold metal design. Another major difference is that while the 13-inch MacBook Pro is only available in space grey or silver, Microsoft offers more color choices, including black, burgundy, platinum, and cobalt blue.
The Surface Laptop 2 measures 12.13 x 8.79 x 0.57-inches, making it slightly slimmer than the MacBook Pro in height. The 13-inch MacBook Pro measures 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.59 inches. This means that Apple’s notebook will occupy a slightly more compact footprint on your desk or in your bag, but the differences here are only marginal.
Both laptops stay true to their clamshell form factors — you won’t be able to spin the screen around and use either device as a tablet. There are options for touch, however. The Surface Laptop 2 comes with a touchscreen that supports inking and pen input, while Apple took a more reserved approach with a Touch Bar positioned just above the keyboard to quickly access shortcuts. Both devices offer biometric security. Microsoft built in a Windows Hello infrared camera into the display for facial recognition, while Apple sticks with a fingerprint Touch ID sensor next to the Touch Bar.
Both Microsoft and Apple claim that the keyboards on this year’s models are quieter. Apple’s butterfly key switches make for shallow key travel, while Microsoft relies on a traditional keyboard. It will take some time to adjust to the MacBook Pro’s keyboard, though the main concern is finger fatigue. Both models offer a precise touchpad that supports gestures.
Performance
Even though the Surface Laptop 2 and the MacBook Pro ship with Intel’s quad-core 8th-Generation processors, there are differences. Microsoft opted for a U-series processor with a slower clock speed than the MacBook Pro. The Surface Laptop 2 starts with a 1.6Ghz Core i5 processor, while Apple’s MacBook Pro starts with a faster 2.3GHz quad-core processor on the models with Touch Bar.
Both companies offer plenty of configuration options for processor upgrades, storage, and memory. The MacBook Pro tops out with a 2.7GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 2TB of solid-state storage and 16GB of RAM. The Surface Laptop 2’s highest configuration includes a 1.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of solid-state storage. Neither model comes with an option for discrete graphics — the MacBook Pro tops out with a better Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 on the highest configuration, while Microsoft uses the Intel UHD Graphics 620. It should be noted that the $1,300 non-Touch Bar version of the MacBook Pro is still stuck on the 7th-gen processor.
The Surface Laptop 2 uses Microsoft’s 13.5-inch PixelSense display, which supports touch and a resolution of 2,2256 x 1,506, while the MacBook Pro comes with a 13.3-inch non-touch IPS panel with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. The 3:2 aspect ratio on the Surface Laptop 2 may be more suited for productivity tasks, which requires less scrolling. Apple went with a wider display on the MacBook Pro with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Microsoft and Apple both quote contrast ratios within the 1,500:1 range, so you’ll get deep blacks. Apple claims that its Retina display also supports a wide color gamut, while the Surface Laptop 2 supports touch and pen input.
While Apple completely embraced the future of ports by going all-in on with Thunderbolt 3 over USB-C, Microsoft is sticking to the present with a single USB-A 3.0 port and a mini-DisplayPort. Another upside with the Surface Laptop 2 is it uses a magnetic charging cable, which can quickly unlatch in the event you trip over the cord.
Portability
The Surface Laptop 2’s lighter weight may make it a winner for frequent travelers or students who need to tote their laptops between classrooms. The MacBook Pro’s weight of 3.02 pounds make it almost a quarter-pound heavier than the Surface Laptop 2.
Apple advertises 10 hours of battery life for the MacBook Pro, while Microsoft claims that the Surface Laptop 2 will last for 14.5 hours during video playback. The Surface Laptop 2 relies on a 47 watt-hour battery, while Apple’s MacBook Pro comes with a heftier 58 watt-hour battery. The bigger battery on Apple’s notebook is likely used to accommodate the stronger processor.
Windows or Mac? It’s in the ecosystem
While comparing specifications may be fun, the numbers game doesn’t paint an accurate picture of which laptop is more deserving of your money. You should buy a laptop that will tie into your workflow. If you’re locked into Apple’s ecosystem, going with a MacBook Pro may be a no-brainer, especially when features like Continuity exist.
While the Surface Laptop 2 starts at just $1,000, the notebook tops out at $2,700 for the highest configuration. Apple’s Touch Bar model starts at a higher $1,800 price point, but you get a stronger processor. You can pick up the non-Touch Bar version for $1,300, though you get a 7th-gen processor rather than the quad-core CPU in the Surface Laptop 2.
The Surface Laptop 2’s color options make it a good choice for students and users who prefer a touchscreen, but the MacBook Pro’s faster performance, refined design, and better display may still win out with creatives, so as long as they don’t need pen support. It’s a toss-up, though we’ll have to give the slight nod to the MacBook Pro.
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