How well does Adobe Premiere work on a Chromebook?

Best answer: You cannot install and run Adobe Premiere Pro on a Chromebook, but you can download video editing apps from the Play Store. PowerDirector by CyberLink is a great option for Chromebooks.

Play Store: CyberLink PowerDirector (Free!)

No Premiere Pro

Unfortunately, Adobe hasn’t quite got round to developing Premiere Pro for Chrome OS and I doubt we’ll see it arrive anytime soon as Chromebooks are viewed as less powerful and more portable PCs. That said, if you own a Chromebook and desperately need to edit some videos on the device, there are options out there on the Play Store.

I’ve highlighted CyberLink’s PowerDirector as the best choice for Chromebook video editing thanks to the familiar UI you’d find on the PC version, as well as support for video up to 4K — yes, you can edit video in 4K on a Chromebook. And because it’s developed for Android, you’ll find it to be very touch-friendly too.

Most of the features are available for free, including various effects and functions. The only downside to PowerDirector (and the Chromebook) is the lack of power and hardware acceleration. When exporting a 1080p or 4K video, you’ll want to leave your Chromebook plugged in and go do something else for a day or two.

Our pick

CyberLink PowerDirector

Free at Play Store

The best video editor available on Android and Chrome OS

When you need to do some video editing on your Android tablet or Chromebook, CyberLink’s PowerDirector is a solid choice that offers a similar experience to that you’d find on PC.

LG V40 ThinQ review: Five cameras aimed straight at Samsung

LG basically made its own version of a Galaxy S9+, and that may just be enough.

From the start, LG’s V series has been about content creation and offering more ways to capture the world around you. But over the years, the G and V series have to converged to the point where they’re nearly identical. Not unlike Samsung’s Galaxy S and Note lines (go figure), the G and V series are basically the same aside from slightly different sizes and some key feature advancements that a staggered release cycle affords.

In a world where the LG G7 hasn’t garnered the mind share of Samsung’s Galaxy S9+, that leaves the V40 in a tough spot considering how much it shares with LG’s attempt from earlier in the year. The “hook,” if you will, is a five-camera setup that’s backed up by neat camera software. But the V40 has more to offer, as the rest of the phone is filled with appealing specs and features lifted directly from Samsung’s playbook.

Here’s how it all comes together in the LG V40.

Five camera fun

LG V40 ThinQ

$900+ at Amazon

A great all-around high-end phone, with a price tag to match.

LG managed to make a top-notch phone by following Samsung’s lead. The V40 is a beautiful and solid phone that’s filled with must-have and nice-to-have features, with top-end specs and a large high-quality display. The software is quick and relatively simple, choosing to lean toward Google’s ecosystem more than ever. The triple camera combination is a treat to shoot with and provides both unique and good-looking photos. The only potential shortcoming is underwhelming battery life that isn’t as good as you’d expect for the V40’s size.

Pros:

• Big, beautiful screen
• Triple camera is a treat
• Solid and beautiful hardware
• Headphone jack and good DAC
• Wireless charging
• Simpler software than before

Cons:

• A phone this big should have more battery
• Secondary cameras missing OIS
• No higher storage option available
• Aurora Black model is slippery

About this review

I’ve been using a U.S. unlocked LG V40 for 6 days, initially in San Francisco, CA and then in Seattle, WA. The phone’s software updated 2 days into the review period to build OPM1.171019.026 with the September 1, 2018 security patch. It was provided to Android Central for review by LG.

Solid

LG V40 Hardware, display and features

The V40 generally follows the industry trend of being a rounded metal-frame phone with smoothly sculpted glass and a typical layout of buttons and ports. The 6.4-inch display is notably larger than the G7, and is ever-so-slightly larger than the Galaxy S9+ — less than 1mm taller, and 2mm wider. It has a notch, of course, but LG made a subtle change to make the bottom bezel the same thickness as the top — and despite the notch up there it has a very nice sense of symmetry when you look at the screen.

This is a really nice OLED screen you’ll enjoy looking at, but it isn’t quite as good as Samsung’s.

That display is an OLED panel, which marks a move away from the G7’s LCD and hasn’t exactly been a point of strength for LG phones. You may recall the furor over the Pixel 2 XL’s LG-made panel being so bad, but thankfully the V40’s panel looks nothing like that. Actually, it looks really good. It’s crisp and colorful, with only mild color shifting at tight viewing angles. And it now has a proper auto-high-brightness mode that can enable by default in sunlight and doesn’t need to be triggered manually. The max brightness is good enough to easily see the screen in bright sunlight, and it also gets really dim at night. I won’t say it’s as wonderful as Samsung’s latest screens — which are just amazing — but it’s darn close, and good enough that I haven’t found any reason to complain about its characteristics.

The phone is solid, but the matte glass finish is what really takes it over the top — don’t get the Aurora Black color.

Because it’s relatively light, the V40 doesn’t seem quite as solid or substantial. At 169 grams it’s 10% lighter than the Galaxy S9+ and 16% lighter than the Note 9 — it’s also over 1mm thinner. But most people will find the reduction in quality heft a fine trade-off for being able to use the phone in one hand more comfortably. The V40 is still awkwardly tall and a little slippery when it comes to adjusting your hand to reach the top third of the display, but the lower weight helps with usability regardless.

The slippery finish is actually exclusive to this Aurora Black V40 that I’ve been using, because LG has an altogether different finish for its other colors. Moroccan Blue, which is the only non-black option in the U.S., and other international options have a softer matte finish to the glass that is amazing to hold. The frosted glass finish is easier to grip, collects fewer fingerprints and offers a neat color-shifting look that makes the black version even more boring by comparison. It’s a shame LG didn’t apply this “soft” finish to all of the colors — a big missed opportunity to differentiate entirely from Samsung’s glossy backs. The black one looks and feels fine, and has a subtle color-shift effect to a more blue-green in the right lighting, but as soon as your see Moroccan Blue you’ll want it — and sadly, it’s exclusive to Verizon for some unknown period.

LG took Samsung’s lead and simply offers every spec and feature the competition has.

Elsewhere, LG’s done a darn good job of filling the V40 with the features people are clamoring for. It’s water resistant, of course. The 64GB of storage is typical, but the SD card slot is a nice bonus for many people. There’s also a headphone jack, which is appreciated, and LG continues to get plaudits for including a nice DAC to help it out. LG’s so-called “BoomBox” speaker system is an attempt to skip dual speakers in favor of using the whole phone as a resonator for the single speaker at the bottom, and for the most part it works well. When you set the phone down on a table it really helps amplify the sound, and it sounds pretty good — but when you crank up the volume a bit when watching or listening to something as you hold the phone, it feels … odd. The whole phone vibrates, which isn’t pleasing, and you can still run into the age-old problem of blocking the single bottom speaker with your pinky finger.

Triple treat

LG V40 Cameras

We’ll eventually reach the point of diminishing returns with the number of cameras on smartphones — but right now, having three distinct sensors and lenses on the back of a phone seems totally normal. LG’s marketing talks about a “penta” (five) camera setup on the V40, but of course, only three are on the back with the other two on the front. The set of three breaks down like this: a 12MP main sensor with a standard-view lens, a 16MP sensor with a wide-angle lens, and another 12MP sensor (different from the primary) with a 2X telephoto lens.

The main camera took a step up, and the two supporting lenses just add to the experience.

The wide-angle sensor and lens are the same as the LG G7, which is fine, but the main sensor and lens have thankfully been upgraded. The main sensor has 1.4-micron pixels, much larger than the G7’s 1-micron, and the lens is now a little brighter at f/1.5. There are also purported upgrades to the photo processing, including smarter HDR that chooses how many frames to process based on what’s in the scene and specific changes to improve low-light photo quality overall.

I’m so glad LG made the sensor and lens upgrade to get more light in. It really shows in the final product, whether you’re shooting in low light or not. Shooting in auto mode it seems pretty clear when the multi-frame HDR mode kicks in and really bumps up the colors, but even without it the V40 takes pleasing and natural-looking photos. My only complaint is in the fine details, where LG’s processing lands in a weird middle ground between Samsung and Google. It isn’t super-smooth like Samsung, nor is it natural like Google — when you zoom in you’ll see blotchy chroma noise on occasion, and oftentimes sharp edges come out soft. It looks just fine on a phone or even a computer screen, but zooming in reveals displeasing defects in some photos.

Photo quality is good, but the prevailing feeling is that the V40’s camera is fun to shoot with.

LG’s wide-angle camera continues to be a unique treat. I love taking these wide-angle shots, and they just offer a nice change of pace to mix up the kinds of photos I share with people. Not all scenes call for it, but going back to a phone without a wide-angle camera feels like a limitation. The telephoto camera isn’t such a great success. A sensor with 1-micron pixels behind an f/2.6 lens without OIS is a recipe for poor photos in anything but perfect lighting, as so many other manufacturers have found. It’s useful for zooming with less resolution in daylight, and facilitates a proper portrait mode with faux bokeh, but it isn’t nearly as good as the Galaxy S9+’s better sensor and OIS.

The combination of three sensors and really good camera software make the V40 a downright fun phone to shoot with, and also has the quality to back it up. LG’s software makes switching between the three cameras seamless and even offers options to preview all three views at once or capture photos sequentially each one. There’s a robust manual mode if you want it, but the automatic mode absolutely gets the job done with no fuss. LG may not be winning the camera battle with absolute quality and accuracy when you nitpick the details, but the whole experience is right up there with the competition.

The dual front-facing cameras don’t change the game much from the LG G7. The main camera is the same 8MP sensor with fixed focus, an f/1.9 lens and 80-degree field-of-view. It’s paired with a 5MP sensor with fixed focus and an f/2.2 lens, but a slightly wider 90-degree lens. This gives you some flexibility for a tighter selfie with the main camera or a larger group shot with the secondary, but we’re talking about 80- vs. 90-degrees here, which is small. The main camera captures much more detail in your face, but either one will be good enough for social media and messaging. The wide-angle shooter is near-necessary for group shots, but I still wish at least the main sensor had auto focus, as that’s a premium feature I expect on a high-end phone like this.

Going simpler

LG V40 Software, performance and battery life

I stopped using the LG V30 before its Oreo update and didn’t spend much time with the LG G7, so this is my first time really getting in deep with the company’s latest software offering. The V40 is launching on Android 8.1, which in itself isn’t disappointing except for the fact that LG made a grandiose announcement that its “Global Software Upgrade Center” would be improving its update cadence and stability. Where’s Android 9 Pie at?

Even though we’re looking at Oreo, LG has made a concerted effort to streamline and simplify its software. In my time speaking with LG representatives, they specifically called out the reduced amount of bloatware and duplicate apps on the V40. LG no longer ships its own calendar or calculator apps, for example, and defaults to Google’s instead. This is one of the main benefits of LG’s software over Samsung’s — it’s at least somewhat self-aware of the fact that very few people want its apps, so it’s cutting back on the offerings. There are still a few that can’t be disabled, but there’s far less app cruft to deal with than in the past.

Feature creep has been reduced, as has bloatware and duplicate apps. LG is going simpler.

The feature creep has also been reduced, with fewer unnecessary whizz-bang things popping up and distracting you. I still had to spend the typical couple of hours going through settings and turning off things that I don’t want, but it can all be turned off, which I really appreciate. There are still baffling omissions like not having a fingerprint swipe gesture for the notification shade and having an app drawer that doesn’t auto-sort alphabetically, but on the whole, I’m finding LG’s software to be quite pleasant.

If you’re a fan of Google’s services you’ll be fine with LG’s integration of the Google Assistant, Google Feed and Google Lens as well, which replaces any sort of LG-specific “AI” you’d expect. The Feed is found as part of the default launcher, the side-mounted Assistant button auto-launches the service and Google Lens is baked right into the camera app. You can just as easily ignore it all, but I find it much less intrusive than Samsung’s Bixby push, and the hardware button placement is low enough that it isn’t accidentally pressed every single day.

Performance and stability are both great — now, how about that Pie update?

Performance and stability have also been excellent, which I’d completely expect for this class of phone with these internals. The only sluggishness I’ve seen has been with opening the camera after a handful of hours of not using it, which is disappointing. I want that camera to always be available, and sometimes it takes a few beats to get going with a double-press of the power button. The rest of the experience has been a treat, no matter what I’ve thrown at the phone.

So how long does the performance last? Unlike the Galaxy Note 9, the V40 doesn’t have an impressively sized battery, at just 3300mAh, considering the overall footprint of the phone. That’s considerably less than the Note’s 4000 and even Galaxy S9+’s 3500mAh. As you can see in the above screenshots, battery life can obviously vary based on how hard you hit the phone. I don’t do anything to “save” battery on my phones — I use auto brightness, let all of my apps sync and use the phone whenever (and however) I need it. On a heavy day I was able to kill the V40 in under 14 hours with over 4 hours of screen-on time, tons of Bluetooth audio, lots of time on LTE and about 30 minutes of driving with navigation Android Auto. On easier days, I went to bed with over 30% battery remaining despite my typical usage and over 3 hours of screen-on time.

The V40 will handle a full day of use no problem — the question is how much reserve you’ll have left at the end of the day.

These numbers are very much in line with my Galaxy S9+ battery life history: the V40 will handle a full day of typical use with plenty to spare and no battery-saving tricks; but if you hit it hard, you may be looking at a late-evening top-up or very little left in the tank at the end of the day.

When it comes to recharging, the V40 is really quick. That smaller capacity paired with Quick Charge 3.0 leads to fast top-ups over USB-C, which you may need if you hit the phone hard. It also has wireless charging, and worked perfectly with my Samsung wireless chargers.

I know most people won’t need more battery capacity than the V40 offers, and I certainly appreciate the lighter overall weight of the phone. But LG could’ve really stuck it to the competition by getting this capacity up above 3500mAh just to give a bit more longevity confidence to potential buyers.

Conclusion

LG V40 Review

As I used the LG V40 for the past week, I wonder why interest in LG’s latest phones isn’t higher. A few years ago, LG was doing pretty quirky stuff with its phones that was polarizing (and sometimes objectively bad). Now, it’s making darn good phones that match the competition spec-for-spec and feature-for-feature, and have a couple neat differentiators — and the V40 is a perfect example. It’s not weird or compromised, it’s just a top-end flagship with everything we expect in that class. It effectively lands between the Galaxy S9+ and Note 9, but offers just a little bit of LG flair to stand out. That’s a fine recipe.

Purely phone versus phone, I actually like the V40 more than the Galaxy S9+ — but you have to look at the price differential.

The hardware is very similar to the Galaxy S9+. The display, too, is approaching Samsung’s greatness. It has effectively the same hardware features in terms of battery, wireless charging, SD card slot, speakers, a headphone jack and IP68 resistance. The main camera isn’t quite on Samsung’s level, but the addition of a wide-angle shooter and neat camera software may make up for it in some people’s eyes. I actually feel like LG’s software is comparable to Samsung’s as well — it has a little less polish, but much less bloatware and fewer odd quirks. And yeah, it focuses on Google Assistant instead of Bixby.

Putting aside LG’s clear disadvantage of momentum and branding, the V40 is every bit as nice a phone as the Galaxy S9+. But that’s really the issue for LG: it’s making a phone that, on the whole, is comparable to Samsung’s, rather than objectively better. In that case, what’s the real draw for someone to try out an LG phone rather than stick with the Samsung brand they already know and trust?

4
out of 5

Well, it really comes down to a handful of choices on marginal differences — primarily, in the camera and software experience. You have to want the wide-angle lens on the back and fun camera software. You could also desire a phone that has a flat display rather than a curved one. Or you just don’t enjoy Samsung’s software. The soft matte finish on the back glass (except for the black model) is a small point of differentiation as well, but not a game-changer. Aside from those small areas, the V40 simply mirrors the Galaxy S9+ — and most people will be looking to Samsung by default. Particularly when the Galaxy S9+ is $100-150 less at retail.

Making a decision in a vacuum purely phone versus phone, I actually like the V40 more than the Galaxy S9+. I land on LG’s side with the cameras and software, and find the other small differences to be inconsequential. But give me a $150 discount, and it’s near-impossible to turn down the Galaxy S9+ in that scenario. Up against the Note 9, LG matches Samsung on price but loses out in battery and doesn’t offer a stylus — a different scenario, for sure. Perhaps LG can truly compete in a month when the inevitable price cuts arrive.

See at Amazon

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

LG V40 challenges Galaxy S9+ with 6.4-inch display, five cameras

New OLED display, penta-camera combination and high-end specs make a great package.

We already had a darn good idea of everything the LG V40 ThinQ was going to offer, thanks to leaks and LG’s own pre-announcements, but it’s all official now. (And yes, this is a “ThinQ” phone officially, but I’m just going to mention that here once and move on.)

LG V40 ThinQ review: Five cameras aimed straight at Samsung

LG did all it could to make a modern high-end flagship phone.

LG’s story with the V40 is essentially that it’s a big, powerful flagship-level phone with a new camera setup and all of the hardware features you want. The cameras are indeed the differentiator. As some companies have done, there are three rear cameras: a 12MP main camera, 16MP wide-angle camera and 12MP 2X zoom telephoto camera. The standard camera is a notable upgrade from the LG G7, with 1.4-micron pixels and an f/1.5 lens. The wide-angle is the same as the G7, which is great because of the unique field of view but somewhat disappointing because it doesn’t have OIS and the sensor quality is just average. The telephoto camera enables portrait mode shots and lossless zooming at 2X, which is basically table stakes for phones nowadays.

The LG V40 offers a typical high-end spec sheet. It has a Snapdragon 845 processor, supported by 6GB of RAM across the world with no restriction to any sort of “plus” variant. There’s 64GB of storage as well, again worldwide. The battery takes a bump up from the G7, now 3300mAh, underneath a larger 6.4-inch display. Yup, it has a notch, but it’s also a different display from the G7 — this one’s OLED, with a 3120×1440 resolution (and super-tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio). The brightness doesn’t quite match the G7 in raw nits, but it can max out its brightness automatically as ambient conditions require, rather than being triggered for a short time manually.

LG V40 specifications

The V40’s hardware is effectively a scaled-up G7 … except for that amazing matte glass finish.

The design of the V40 is effectively a G7 scaled up to fit the larger screen. Even still, this isn’t a huge or particularly unwieldy phone compared to the Galaxy S9+ and Note 9 — dimensions land within 1-2mm. It’s tall, for sure, but importantly it’s narrow, thin and light. The metal frame has a high-gloss finish on its rounded exterior that flows directly into the glass curves on the front and back. LG has also deployed a fantastic new matte finish on the V40’s rear glass, which reduces fingerprints and adds grip. It’s a frosted-style finish that’s gorgeous — but disappointingly, it isn’t available on the Aurora Black color, which is one of two options in the U.S. You’ll also have the choice of Moroccan Blue, which I will instantly recommend to anyone over black purely based on the feel.

LG basically made its own Galaxy S9+ — and that’s probably a fine strategy.

The rest of the hardware rounds out just like the G7 — but that’s a good thing. It has the same button and port layout, BoomBox speaker, headphone jack with 32-bit Quad DAC, IP68 resistance and wireless charging. The phone’s launching on Android 8.1 as well, which is unfortunate with many manufacturers getting Pie out the door — and LG isn’t giving a timeline for the Android 9 update. But for what it’s worth, LG’s making a concerted effort to limit the amount of bloatware and duplicate apps on the V40, which I can always applaud. LG’s integration with Google services continues to run deep, with the Google Feed on the stock launcher, Google Assistant button, Google Lens in the camera, and Google Calendar taking over as the sole calendar app on the phone.

Rather than the month (or more) we’ve waited for so many other LG flagships, the V40 is available for pre-order right away and will release fully on October 18 — an excellent improvement. In the U.S. it will be available from all major carriers, but we don’t yet know unlocked availability. Pricing will give many of you sticker shock: the LG V40 starts at $900, varying between carriers, with Verizon coming in the highest at $980. Pre-orders will receive a DJI Osmo Mobile 2 gimbal and a SanDisk 256GB microSD card, a $260 combined value, which could ease the blow for potential buyers.

See at AT&T
See at Verizon
See at T-Mobile
See at Sprint

Regardless of any pre-order incentives, that pricing competes directly with the Galaxy Note 9, and gets undercut by the Galaxy S9+ by $100-150. That may make it a tough sell for a V40 that is closer-matched to the less expensive (and extremely popular) Galaxy S9+. Given LG’s history of quickly dropping prices after launch, though, the V40 could be extremely enticing at the $800 mark in a month or so.

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

LG V40 ThinQ vs. Samsung Galaxy S9+: Which should you buy?

We’re a virtual company made up of tech experts from across the globe. We live and breathe Android phones, and do extensive research to find all of the best choices.

LG V40 ThinQ

All-arounder

$900+ at LG

Pros

• Fun and interesting triple camera setup
• High-quality headphone DAC
• SD card slot and wireless charging
• Simpler software with Google integrations

Cons

• Phone this large should have a bigger battery
• No high storage option
• Secondary cameras struggle in low light
• Arguably too expensive

LG has made a great all-around capable flagship phone, hitting all of the big points with no real downsides. The V40 has all of the latest specs and features, plus an intriguing five-camera array and huge OLED screen. The only potential worrying point is the proportionately small 3300mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy S9+

The standard

$815 at Amazon

Pros

• Amazing display
• Great pair of cameras
• SD card slot and wireless charging
• Stereo speakers
• Available with 128 or 256GB storage

Cons

• Software can be cumbersome
• Slower wired charging

The Galaxy S9+ is the flagship phone all Androids are measured by. It consistently outsells the competition for a reason: it has everything people want, with few caveats. Build quality, performance, specs and features are all here, plus a fantastic camera and well-known brand to wrap it all together.

The two South Korean phone makers have arrived at very similar conclusions with their latest flagships. The V40 and Galaxy S9+ are nearly identical in so many areas, choosing between them comes down to just a handful of points — and most of all, personal preferences.

Which phone is right for you?

In the hardware, specs and core features of the smartphone experience, you get basically the same package from either the V40 or Galaxy S9+. They’re near-identical in physical dimensions, and sport the same metal-and-glass construction. Both have good speakers, water resistance, a convenient fingerprint sensor, headphone jack, SD card slot, wireless charging and a huge display.

Operating system	Android 8.1 Oreo	Android 8.0 OreoSamsung Experience 9.0
Display	6.4-inch OLED, 3120×1440 (19.5:9)	6.2-inch AMOLED, 2960×1440 (18.5:9)
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
RAM	6GB	6GB
Storage	64GB	64/128/256GB
Expandable	MicroSD	MicroSD
Rear camera 1	12MP, OIS, f/1.5, 78-degree lens, PDAF	12MP, OIS, f/1.5 or f/2.4
Rear camera 2	16MP, f/1.9, 107-degree lens	12MP, OIS, f/2.4
Rear camera 3	12MP, f/2.4, 45-degree lens, 2X zoom	n/a
Front camera 1	8MP, f/1.9, 80-degree lensFixed focus	8MP, f/1.7Auto focus
Front camera 2	5MP, f/2.2, 90-degree lensFixed focus	n/a
Audio	BoomBox speaker3.5mm headphone jack32-bit Quad DAC	Stereo speakers3.5mm headphone jack
Battery	3300mAhNon-removable	3500mAhNon-removable
Charging	Quick Charge 3.0Fast wireless charging	Quick Charge 2.0Fast wireless charging
Water resistance	IP68	IP68
Security	Fingerprint sensor	Fingerprint sensorIris scanning
Dimensions	158.8 x 75.7 x 7.6 mm169 g	158.1 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm189 g

Even the areas where these phones differ are merely small differences in implementation or personal preference, which means choosing between these phones comes down to the finer points.

They go toe-to-toe in every respect — the differentiation comes in the minute details.

Both phones have great, high-resolution OLED screens — Samsung’s is simply a little better. Both have solid, but unspectacular battery life, though the Galaxy S9+ battery is 10% larger. You can argue Samsung’s main camera is better, but LG offers more variety with its wide-angle camera and dual front-facing shooters. The V40 can charge faster thanks to Quick Charge 3.0 tech, but the jump over the GS9+’s Quick Charge 2.0 isn’t necessarily perceptible. The V40 has a higher quality DAC for headphone listening, but you may not even notice or know what a DAC is in the first place.

These phones have the hardware and specs to be an Android phone you’ll love to use every day.

Really, both of these phones have the hardware and specs to be an Android phone you’ll love to use every day. There are a few differences to take note of in the software department, though. If you haven’t use an LG phone in a few years, it’s worth resetting your expectations with the V40. LG has cleaned up and simplified its experience to the point where it’s generally less cluttered and cumbersome than Samsung’s take on Android — and that is, of course, a good thing. The V40 still has its quirks, but you can turn off its most-annoying features and don’t have to grapple with tons of duplicate apps and bloat. The Galaxy S9+ is infinitely customizable, but the number of features and options can be daunting if you’re just looking for something simple.

Finally, you have to look at the price. With the Galaxy S9+ being several months old, it’s regularly available around $750-800. The new V40 starts at $900, and U.S. carriers have it for as high as $980. Depending on where you go it’ll be about a $150 premium to pick up the V40 — that may be a tough sell for you considering just how similar these phones are.

LG V40 ThinQ

All-arounder

$900+ at LG

A great all-around phone with very few shortcomings, and a fun camera combination.

LG made an amazing flagship phone, and did so by simply following Samsung’s lead. The V40 is effectively a Galaxy S9+, with a few tweaks to make the camera experience a bit more rewarding and the software a bit less annoying. It goes toe-to-toe with the GS9+, and in a few ways bests Samsung’s latest.

Samsung Galaxy S9+

The standard

$815 at Amazon

The benchmark Android phone that does it all, and looks great doing it.

It’s hard to argue with Samsung’s formula. The hardware is beautiful, well-built, and filled with top-end specs and features. The GS9+ has an industry-leading display, fantastic camera and every feature a phone buyer wants. The software just requires some massaging to work the way you need it to.

The LG Watch W7 is a $449 Wear OS smartwatch with physical watch hands

More than just another Wear OS smartwatch.

Alongside the announcement of the new LG V40, LG took the wraps off of its latest smartwatch, the LG Watch W7. This is the first new wearable from the company since the Watch Sport and Watch Style launched in partnership with Google back at the start of 2017. LG is hoping to ride the momentum of launching at the same time as Google’s rollout of a new Wear OS interface, but the company is doing something altogether unique: this is a “hybrid” smartwatch with physical hour and minute hands, like a standard mechanical watch.

At its base, this is a standard Wear OS smartwatch. It has a 1.2-inch circular LCD at 360×360 resolution, Bluetooth 4.2, IP68 resistance, and all of the typical sensors. It’s also worth noting that it’s running the last-generation Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor (LG can’t do a whole lot about that, the new chip just isn’t ready), and has the usual 768MB of RAM and 4GB of storage.

But beyond that, things get a little odd — there’s a small cutout in the center of the display that supports an hour and minute hand to sweep the dial to display the time. The hands run on a quartz movement, like a standard watch, meaning it can keep time independent of the “smart” parts. With regular use the Watch W7 has the usual two-day battery life of other Wear OS watches, but after the “smart” watch dies you continue to get a basic ambient watch face with the moving hands for another two days. You can also switch over to a standalone “just watch mode” and let it only use the physical hands with no display — and get this, it can last for 100 days on a full charge.

This is an old-school solution to a smartwatch-created problem.

So how do you use a smartwatch that has its display obscured by the watch hands? LG has a few tricks. First, this is still a touch screen device — LG was able to separate the “touch” layer from the “display” layer, and place the touch components up against the glass while putting the display underneath the hands. Really neat. In that respect, you can just use the Watch W7 as you would any other smartwatch.

When you’re trying to read something on the screen that’s blocked by the hands, just press a side-mounted button and it will bring the hands together at one position, or separate them (at 12 and 6, or 3 and 9) to get out of the way as best as possible. We don’t yet know how well that’ll work in practice, but LG is at least thinking about the complications of having a display underneath physical hands. Given the relatively low information density of Wear OS screens, this shouldn’t be a huge problem.

For all of that hybrid watch goodness, you’ll pay a bit more than you would expect for a standard Wear OS smartwatch. The LG Watch W7 is $449, sending a signal that it’s focused on quality rather than mainstream appeal. And despite its unique watch hands, it’s available almost immediately — you can get one from Best Buy on October 14.

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

Here’s where you can pre-order the LG V40, and how much it’ll cost

Here’s how much you can expect to pay for LG’s latest.

LG’s going for the extreme high end of the market with the V40, and unlike the G7 earlier this year it has the support of all major U.S. carriers to do it. The V40 starts at $900, which puts it at the absolute top of the range for most people, so carrier financing plans are going to be key to get this phone out the door.

Here’s what you can expect to pay from each carrier and retailer out there, along with all of the current deals and incentives on offer to try and lighten the blow of that price tag.

AT&T

AT&T is promoting its “Next” plan, which gets the monthly cost for the V40 down to $31.67 per month … though that’s spread over 30 months rather than the typical 24-month payment plan. The total price for the phone is $950 all-in.

See at AT&T

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is the cheapest of the big four carriers, coming in at $920. That breaks down to $38.34 per month over the course of 24 months on a regular payment plan, though many of you have T-Mobile’s Jump! program that will get you an upgrade far sooner.

See at T-Mobile

Sprint

Sprint has the V40 listed for $960, or an even $40 per month over 24 months. The carrier’s likely to push its leasing deal, though, which will save you a bit over the course of 12 or 18 months, but you’ll be obligated to upgrade your phone at the end of that period.

See at Sprint

Verizon

Verizon has the highest price tag on the V40, coming in at a smooth $980. That breaks down to $40.84 per month on a 24-month financing plan, which we suppose lightens the burden a bit.

See at Verizon

US Cellular

US Cellular, as it usually does, comes in with the absolute cheapest offer for the V40: just $900, setting the benchmark for the phone’s price. We don’t yet know what the unlocked pricing will be, but US Cellular gives us a good indication of what to expect.

See at US Cellular

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

LG V40 specs: 6.4-inch OLED display, 3300mAh battery, five cameras

Everything that’s inside.

The LG V40 doesn’t make a whole lot of changes from the G7 from earlier in the year, but where it does change it’s for the better. You get a larger display, larger battery, a couple spec changes and new camera hardware to look forward to it LG’s new V-series flagship.

Here’s everything you’ll find inside the LG V40.

Operating system	Android 8.1 Oreo
Display	6.4-inch OLED, 3120×1440 (19.5:9)HDR10
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
RAM	6GB
Storage	64GB
Expandable	MicroSD
Rear camera 1	12MP, 1.4-micron, OIS, f/1.5, 78-degree lens, PDAF
Rear camera 2	16MP, 1-micron, f/1.9, 107-degree lens
Rear camera 3	12MP, 1-micron, f/2.4, 45-degree lens, 2X zoom
Front camera 1	8MP, f/1.9, 80-degree lens
Front camera 2	5MP, f/2.2, 90-degree lens
Connectivity	802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, USB-C
Audio	BoomBox speaker3.5mm headphone jack32-bit Quad DAC
Battery	3300mAhNon-removable
Charging	Quick Charge 3.0, Fast wireless charging
Water resistance	IP68
Security	One-touch fingerprint sensor
Dimensions	158.8 x 75.7 x 7.6 mm169 g
Colors	Aurora Black, Moroccan Blue (U.S.)

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Speak at European Data Protection Conference in Brussels Later This Month

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the keynote speaker at the 2018 International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, the European Data Protection Supervisor announced today.

Cook will give the keynote speech at “Debating Ethics: Dignity and Respect in Data Driven Life,” a public session of the conference set to take place on Wednesday, October 24.

“We are delighted that Tim has agreed to speak at the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. Tim has been a strong voice in the debate around privacy, as the leader of a company which has taken a clear privacy position, we look forward to hearing his perspective. He joins an already superb line up of keynote speakers and panellists who want to be part of a discussion about technology serving humankind.”

The session Cook is headlining is meant to start a global discussion on “right and wrong in the development and use of digital technology.”

As TechCrunch points out, Cook’s attendance at the conference comes as U.S. lawmakers are considering online data protection rules similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Europe implemented earlier this year.

Apple is a major advocate for privacy and the tech company that is the most invested in protecting consumer data. Cook and other Apple executives speak often on the importance of consumer data privacy.

In a June interview, for example, Cook said that privacy “from an American point of view” is one of the “key civil liberties” defining what it means to be American. He also often points out that Apple’s customers are not its product.

“We could make a ton of money if we monetized our customers,” Cook said in March. “If our customers were our product. We’ve elected not to do that. We’re not going to traffic in your personal life.”

Just yesterday, Cook spoke passionately about privacy and the need for government privacy protections in a VICE News Tonight interview.

I see privacy as one of the most important issues of the 21st century. We’re at a stage now where more information is available about you online and on your phone than is in your house. Chances are, your phone knows what you’ve been browsing, knows your friends, knows your relationships, has all of your photos.

I mean, just think about this and the magnitude of information. We take that seriously. I’m not a pro regulation kind of person, I believe in a free market deeply when the free market doesn’t produce a result that’s great for society, you have to ask yourself what do we need to do? And I think some level of government is important to come out of it at this time.

Cook went on to explain that there’s a need to work with Congress to make sure that tech companies are doing their jobs of helping regulators come up to speed on what’s possible in terms of the data being collected and how it’s being used.

Apple just recently sent longtime employee and Vice President of Software Technology Bud Tribble to a Senate Commerce Committee to offer support for federal privacy regulations, where he explained Apple’s approach to privacy and the company’s effort to minimize the amount of data collected.

To Apple, privacy means much more than having the right not to share your personal information. Privacy is about putting the user in control when it comes that information. That means that users can decide whether to share personal information and with whom. It means that they understand how that information will be used. Ultimately, privacy is about living in a world where you can trust that your decisions about how your personal information is shared and used are being respected. We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right, which should be supported by both social norms and the law.

Cook is likely to share many of the same sentiments again at the data protection conference he’s attending later this month.

Other “Debating Ethics” panel attendees will include World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, philosopher Anita Allen, former chief justice of India Jagdish Singh, HKUST AI research director Pascale Fung, and computer philosophy writer Jaron Lanier.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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Review: Ten One Design’s Stella Helps You Plug in Your MacBook in the Dark

Ten One Design is known for some useful Mac and iOS products, like the Blockhead that changes the orientation of your MacBook power adapter and the Mountie+ that transforms the iPad into a second screen for a Mac, but it’s newest product, the Stella MacBook Power Cord, is perhaps the company’s most interesting accessory to date.

Stella features a built-in LED that activates whenever it senses a faint electrical field next to an electrical receptacle like a power outlet, resulting in a bright light that comes on whenever you go to plug it in.

The idea behind the Stella is to provide a bit of light when attempting to plug your cord in while it’s dark, which, admittedly, is not a situation that most people are likely to encounter on a regular basis.

Stella snaps onto a MacBook’s power adapter where the extension cable would normally go, essentially replacing the standard Apple extension cable (or short prong portion). The part of the Stella that connects to the power adapter is white and it looks rather similar to the regular extension cable, so there are no surprises there.

The cord of the Stella is made from a nice, flexible braided material that looks great and is a less unwieldy than the Apple branded extension cable. The cable itself is 1.8m long, like the Apple extension cable.

I don’t use an extension cable with my MacBook Pro power adapter because the USB-C cable is generally long enough for most places where I need to plug in, so I do wish that there was an option for a set of light up prongs sans extra cable.

Ten One Design accounted for extra cord, though, with a handy bi-directional slide out clip that can hold the additional wound up cable in place. There’s so much cable that it doesn’t work well on the 29W/30W MacBook adapter, but winds up nicely on the larger 87W MacBook Pro adapter. Because the cord is flexible, it stays wound up neatly.

The Stella website says the cord was designed with the 85/87W chargers in mind, wrapping around them eight times. It also works with the 61W chargers, but you’ll need to wrap it around an additional time or two.

The plug part of the Stella is grooved and shaped in a way that’s simple to grip, and it comes in either blue or aqua. The plug is smaller than the plug of the Apple extension cable, and it is two pronged instead of three pronged. It also takes up less space than a MacBook power adapter without an extension cable, so it’s a good way to save outlet real estate if you have a lot of things plugged in.

The Stella’s LED is located right above the two prongs, and in my testing, it reliably lit up every time it was next to a power outlet, providing sufficient light to find the outlet’s holes even in the darkest room.

It starts lighting up when it’s about a foot away from the outlet, which seems to be an ideal distance. Ten One Designs says this distance can vary, though, depending on the strength of the outlet and based on factors like the material covering the outlet.

Stella also lights up near other devices that are plugged in, so you’ll see it light up if it’s located near your MacBook, your toaster, your TV, or anything else. It needs to be in close proximity, though, so I never found the LED to be irritating.

I didn’t run into any issues with Stella failing to light up, but Ten One Design says that if you hold it sideways against a receptacle it will always light up, which can be useful in situations where an outlet has low signal.

Once plugged in, the light on the Stella goes out within a few seconds, so it’s not going to keep shining in a dark room.

Stella is compatible with all MacBook chargers, 10W and 12W iPad chargers, and PC laptop chargers, though there are different editions for PCs and Macs.

Bottom Line

Ten One Design’s Stella is neat, but it’s something of a novelty. At $34.95, it’s rather expensive when you can just use the flashlight on your phone or a light switch.

Stella is undeniably useful when you might want to plug in your MacBook cable with the lights out, but I can’t imagine that such a situation is a regular occurrence for most people.

Apple’s USB-C MacBooks don’t ship with an extension cable anymore, with Apple instead selling them for $19. Stella is priced at $34.95, which means it’s a $15.95 premium over what you can get from Apple.

Whether that’s worth it for the braided cable and the built-in light will depend on your needs. If you work in the dark a lot or travel often, the Stella is potentially worth the upgrade, but if you’re not moving your power adapter on a regular basis, it’s probably not worth the extra cost.

Ten One Design has said that it plans to license Stella technology to other manufacturers, so it’s possible we may see more useful applications in the future with the light up functionality perhaps added to power adapters of other types, such as those meant for iPhones or iPads.

How to Buy

The Stella MacBook Power Cord can be purchased from the Ten One Design website for $34.95.

Note: Ten One Design provided MacRumors with a Stella MacBook Power Cord for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

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Wi-Fi Alliance Simplifies Wi-Fi Naming Scheme With Upcoming ‘Wi-Fi 6’ Release

The Wi-Fi Alliance, dedicated to developing new wireless networking standards, is planning to make Wi-Fi naming simpler with the upcoming launch of the newest Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ax.

802.11ax will be known as “Wi-Fi 6,” making it easier for Wi-Fi users to understand the difference between 802.11ax, 802.11ac, and 802.11n.

With the launch of Wi-Fi 6, 802.11ac will be known as “Wi-Fi 5,” while 802.11n will be known as “Wi-Fi 4.”

“For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi users have had to sort through technical naming conventions to determine if their devices support the latest Wi-Fi,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance is excited to introduce Wi-Fi 6, and present a new naming scheme to help industry and Wi-Fi users easily understand the Wi-Fi generation supported by their device or connection.”

Wi-Fi 6 will introduce higher data rates, increased capacity, better performance in dense environments like concerts and sporting events, and improved power efficiency so Wi-Fi won’t eat up as much battery on future devices.

In 802.11ax tests, speeds of up to 4.8Gbit/s over the 5GHz band have been reached. In demonstrations at CES, speeds maxed out at 11Gbit/s.

The new capabilities being introduced are outlined below, as specified by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

• Uplink and downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) increases efficiency and lowers latency for high demand environments
• 1024 quadrature amplitude modulation mode (1024-QAM) enables peak gigabit speeds for emerging, bandwidth-intensive use cases
• Improved medium access control (MAC) control signaling increases throughput and capacity while reducing latency
• Increased symbol durations make outdoor network operations more robust

Wi-Fi 6 is expected to provide performance improvements to smart home setups with multiple Internet of Things devices, as well as businesses and those running large-scale deployments. The Wi-Fi 6 standard is expected to be finalized next year.

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