October was a smartphone smorgasbord. Here are all the new releases you missed

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

October is usually the spookiest month, but it wasn’t the decorative cobwebs or our co-workers’ pre-coffee faces that terrified us this year — it was the scary amount of mobile handsets released by manufacturers around the world. Almost every major smartphone company dedicated themselves to an October release, leading to a jaw-dropping number of new phones in a short period of time. No one will blame you if you missed a couple, so if you’re worried a phone slipped under your radar, or if you’re looking for a recap, we’ve put together this list of all the phones (in no particular order) released and revealed in “Techtober.”

iPhone XR

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The iPhone XR was announced at Apple’s September iPhone event, but it’s one of the biggest phones to release in October. The iPhone XR plays second fiddle to the iPhone XS and XS Max, but it’s the iPhone most people should buy thanks to its $750 price tag. It’s equipped with the same incredibly powerful A12 Bionic processor as the other two phones, a battery that can last as long as its big brothers, and wireless charging support. But where the iPhone XR stands out is its collection of vibrant color options we can’t stop admiring.

The XR is only equipped with a single-lens camera on the back, but it’s not a downgrade. While some users may yearn for the 2x optical zoom telephoto lens on the XS and XS Max, the camera still performs extremely well. In fact, in our Portrait Mode test, the iPhone XR came out on top over the iPhone XS. But the spotlight feature again is the iPhone XR’s price, — you’re getting a lot for less.

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iPhone XR review

Honor 8X

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

It’s not just flagship phones that saw the light of day in Techtober — Huawei sub-brand Honor also made sure to get an early offering in with the budget Honor 8X. Honor’s latest budget phone comes with a sleek glass body and a bezel-less design that’s reminiscent of the newest iPhones. A small notch at the top of the screen houses the front-facing camera, and the dual-lens cameras on the back produces solid photos — though the results are not always consistent.

It’s powered by the Kirin 710 processor, which provides more than enough grunt for most day-to-day tasks. Mobile gaming shouldn’t be too much of a problem thanks to the incorporation of the GPU Turbo mode that supercharges gaming performance. That’s joined by face unlock, and a large 3,750mAh battery. The inclusion of a MicroUSB port is a disappointment these days, but forgivable given the phone’s other successes.

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Honor 8X hands-on review

LG V40 ThinQ

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

LG wasn’t taking no for an answer this year, and the October release of the LG V40 ThinQ marked its fourth flagship release of the year. LG pulled out all the stops for this phone, as the V40 ThinQ rocks an incredible five camera lenses spread across the front and back of the phone. There are three lenses on the back, with the primary lens being joined by a wide-angle and  telephoto lenses. It’s undoubtedly the most versatile phone camera LG has ever offered, and it was a joy to play with. However, consistency between the lenses was missing, and there was a clear difference in low-light performance depending on which lens was currently in use. Still, it was a solid improvement over the LG G7 ThinQ.

The phone is smooth and sleek, with a beautiful glass design that feels great in the hand. There’s a huge 6.4-inch OLED display running a super-sharp 3,120 x 1,440 pixel resolution. You’ll also find a notch at the top of the display — a trend we saw many manufacturers play with throughout October. This year’s powerful “flagchip” — the Snapdragon 845 — powers the phone, along with 6GB of RAM, and a 3,300mAh battery that lasted a day — but likely no more. It’s a solid phone, but one we hesitate to recommend at its initial $900 asking price.

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LG V40 ThinQ review

Nokia 7.1

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

October also introduced us to the impressive midrange Nokia 7.1. It’s a great-looking phone that incorporates a lot of top-level flagship trends, including an edge-to-edge design and a notched screen. The sizable chin at the bottom looks a bit dorky, but it’s still an impressive look for a phone that costs $350. The 5.84-inch LCD display runs a 2,280 x 1,080 pixel resolution with HDR10 support, and it’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636 processor. Performance is relatively snappy, and there’s plenty of storage with a MicroSD expansion slot.

You’ll find two camera lenses around the back of the phone, and a single selfie lens at the front. Photos are solid, and it comes with support for Nokia’s “Bothie” mode — where a picture is taken with both cameras at once. There’s even a portrait mode available. The battery is decently sized, coming in at 3,060mAh. Nokia also claims the USB-C fast charging will see the phone recover 50 percent battery in just 30 minutes — but we’ve yet to test it. All in all, the Nokia 7.1 is an extremely solid midrange phone with a lot of features you wouldn’t expect to see on a $350 phone. It’s worth a look if you’re phone shopping on a budget.

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Nokia 7.1 hands-on review

Sony Xperia XZ3

Simon Hill/Digital Trends

Sony isn’t one to be left behind — it also released a flagship phone in October, revitalizing the XZ range with the new Xperia XZ3. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll find some similar-looking specs here — the Snapdragon 845 is back again, alongside 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage — and it sports a similarly high level of performance compared to other flagship Android phones released this year. The design is nice too, with slimmed-down bezels that help this large phone feel smaller. However, that sleek design also makes it slippery — and the fingerprint sensor is poorly placed.

The huge 6-inch OLED display is definitely a high point of the phone, and it runs a crisp 2,880 x 1,440 resolution with HDR10 support and some wonderful customization tools. It’s easily on par with the other top phones of the year in terms of the display. Unfortunately, that polish doesn’t extend to other parts of the phone, and the single-lens camera on the back of the phone was a letdown, with poor performance in lower lights and a sluggish camera app. You’ll find Android 9.0 Pie on here, which is nice, but with a price of $900, you might find it hard to justify buying it over the competition.

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Sony Xperia XZ3 review

Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

October is Google’s traditional stomping ground, and 2018 was no different. Just when we were thinking we’d had enough phones this month, along came Google with two new devices. Despite two different designs, almost everything else is similar between the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, minus screen size and battery. The Snapdragon 845 is joined by super-smooth, almost-stock Android software. Both phones keep to Pixel tradition too, eschewing multiple camera lenses for just a single lens on the back that provides absolutely incredible shots in a variety of different lighting and scenarios. Google did, however, sprinkle in a little more with an extra-wide-angle lens on the front, joining the primary selfie snapper.

A big part of the Pixel 3 range’s success in photography and performance lies in Google’s embrace of A.I. optimization. Artificial intelligence now handles a huge swath of operations on the Pixel 3, from identifying the perfect shot to answering suspected spam calls with Call Screen. Battery capacity is on the lower side for both phones, and you’ll likely be looking to juice up later in the day regardless of which one you pick. However, it’s probably our biggest gripe with these phones (outside of the Pixel 3 XL’s notch), and these two phones are among of the best Android phones you’ll find this year.

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Pixel 3 review | Pixel 3 XL review

Razer Phone 2

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The rise of “gaming” phones has been something to behold. This series of phones with top specs are optimized toward mobile gaming, and usually come with gamer-friendly designs — i.e., RGB lights and sharp angles . The original Razer Phone all but kicked the trend off last year. So we were excited to see the upgraded Razer Phone 2 arrive with its angular design and newly added RGB-lit logo.

It packs the usual tech upgrades and high numbers you’d hope for in a gaming phone — the Snapdragon 845 and 8GB of RAM — and it provided spectacular gaming performance in every game we threw at it. The incredible 120Hz Ultramotion display has to be seen to be believed, and the extra smoothness really cements the top-level gaming performance. Like the previous year’s Razer Phone, the speakers were stupendously loud and clear, while the 4,000mAh battery offers more than enough juice for long gaming sessions. But it’s not all good. Despite improvements, the Razer Phone 2’s camera is still mediocre, and there’s no Android 9.0 Pie yet. It’s also seen a slight price increase to $800. But Razer has its fans, and the Razer Phone 2 could still do well.

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Razer Phone 2 review

Samsung Galaxy A9

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The Galaxy A9 is Samsung’s first stab at reinvigorating its midrange entrants in a Huawei-dominated market — and it’s an interesting prospect for sure. The most obvious addition is the sheer amount of camera lenses. Like the LG V40 ThinQ, there’s five in total — but the A9 squeezes four of them onto the back. It’s a world’s first for this amount of lenses on a phone, and it seems utterly bonkers. It leads to an exceptionally versatile camera though, and one well worth playing around with. The design has slim bezels and smooth curves — but it’s the range of colors that really catches the eye.

You’ll find Samsung’s own user interface here, laid over Android 8.0 Oreo. Performance is solid thanks to the Snapdragon 660 processor, and while it won’t be showcasing flagship speed, it’ll be fast enough for most people. The large 3,800mAh should also easily last a day — and there’s fast USB-C charging. The real sticking point is the price. At 550 British pounds, the A9 costs over $700 U.S. — which isn’t really mid-range pricing to us.

Read more

Samsung Galaxy A9 2018 hands-on review

Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X, and Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS

As is now fairly usual behavior, Huawei saw what everyone else was doing this month and dialed things up to 11. October saw not one, not two, but four new phones from Huawei — all of them entries in the Mate 20 range. Huawei’s new, exceptionally powerful and A.I.-boosted Kirin 980 processoe powers each of these four phones, and there are also three camera lenses on the back of each — consisting of a primary lens, a wide-angle lens, and a telephoto zoom lens. Each also runs the latest EMUI 9.0 software, running over Android 9.0 Pie. But while they all share that in common, there are small differences that make each phone special.

The Mate 20 comes with a huge 6.53-inch LCD display, complete with a small “dewdrop” notch that’s easily one of the best notch implementations we’ve seen yet. The camera suite consists of a primary 12-megapixel lens, a 16-megapixel wide-angle lens, and an 8-megapixel telephoto zoom lens. The Mate 20 Pro is clearly the super-premium model though, with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display complete with in-display fingerprint scanner, and a triple-camera system that consists of a stupendous 40-megapixel primary lens, a 20-megapixel wide-angle lens, and an 8-megapixel zoom lens. The Pro does come with a more usual screen notch though, thanks to its advanced face-unlocking tech.

The Mate 20 X is the bizarre middle child. It’s equipped with the same specs as the other phones, but it packs a titanic 7.2-inch screen. Huawei has touted it as being a phone for Nintendo Switch-level mobile gaming. Finally, the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS continues Huawei’s partnership with Porsche, squeezing the Mate 20 Pro’s specs into a luxurious glass-and-leather frame. There’s far more to talk about on each of these phones than we can feasibly cover here — but suffice to say that Huawei may have released a few of the best flagship phones of the year, all in the same month.

Read more

Huawei Mate 20 hands-on review | Huawei Mate 20 Pro hands-on review | Huawei Mate 20 X hands-on review | Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS hands-on review

Palm (2018)

Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends

One of October’s weirdest releases was Palm’s attempt at making a non-phone. That is, a replacement phone that reduces your normal phone usage by … being a normal phone. In essence, the Palm is designed to be an alternative device to your main phone that you can pick up and use whenever you want to be less tied to your phone. Notifications are sent to the Palm from your usual phone through Verizon’s NumberShare feature, and it’ll get all the same notifications on Android 8.1 Oreo. The twist is that the Palm’s screen doesn’t light up when notifications arrive — which Palm believes will cut down on people being obsessed with their phone. It’s certainly an odd product angle, and one that our own senior writer Andy Boxall was quick to comment on. At $350, it’s a tough sell — especially when iPhone interactivity is limited, and many Do Not Disturb modes on smartphones fulfill the same niche.

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Palm (2018) hands-on review

Asus ROG Phone

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Razer isn’t the only company to pump out a gaming phone this October. Republic of Gamers — the gaming arm of tech giant Asus — finally released its highly anticipated gaming phone, the Asus ROG Phone. Like most other gaming phones, the Asus ROG Phone comes with some spectacular hardware — in particular, our old friend the Snapdragon 845. However, Asus has reportedly overclocked the 845’s clock speed to 2.96Ghz, exceeding the usual 2.8GHz speed. Squeezing the phone’s sides will activate X Mode, which shuffles active processes over to the fastest cores, boosting gaming performance. It comes with a glass-and-metal build, and a design that’s clearly meant to appeal to gamers. There’s also a massive 4,000mAh battery that will power those gaming marathons. We’re still working on our Asus ROG Phone review, but we’ll have our impressions up soon.

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Asus ROG Phone

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3

Xiaomi isn’t a newcomer to the mobile scene by any means, but the Chinese company is redoubling its efforts in global marketplaces, and the announcement of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is likely to be pivotal for its success there. We’re used to high-powered flagships, but Xiaomi is pushing the Mi Mix 3 as something else entirely. The familiar Snapdragon 845 makes an appearance, but it’s joined by a ludicrous 10GB of RAM — a first for a smartphone. It’s also going to be capable of accessing 5G networks when it launches, making this a very futuristic phone.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. The Mi Mix 3 also comes with an exceptionally bezel-free appearance too, and Xiaomi boasts about a 93.4-percent screen-to-body ratio, which it achieved with a pop-up camera design similar to the Oppo Find X. Unlike the mechanical Find X, the Mi Mix 3’s camera is physically pushed up, and has been relentlessly designed to feel comfortable. There’s a dual-lens camera on the back, complete with “bokeh” background blur effects. While we’re not sure if this phone will reach the U.S., it may release in global markets eventually. It costs around $475 in China.

Read more

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 news

RED Hydrogen One

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

If you’re looking for a phone like no other, then the RED Hydrogen One could well be one of the most unique phones we’ve ever reviewed — but it has severe drawbacks. It’s certainly a different-looking phone, even when compared to some of the more unique-looking gaming phones we’ve reviewed this year. The RED Hydrogen One resembles RED’s camera gear, with Kevlar panels, grippy protrusions, and chunky bezels that house front-facing speakers. The really important bit is the screen though. It supports (according to RED) “better-than-3D” content, thanks to the 4-view display. It’s a truly impressive-looking spectacle when you see your first 3D image on the screen — but its novelty wears off fairly quickly, and it’s fairly close to just being a gimmick.

Weirdly, you’ll find last year’s Snapdragon 835 here, and the phone oddly stutters a little. The 4,500mAh battery is excellent though, and it can easily last two days on normal usage. The camera supports taking images in the display’s “4-View” mode, but it’s otherwise average. “Average” is certainly not a word to want to hear when you look at the price. The RED Hydrogen One starts from $1,295, with the price rising to $1,595 for the model with a titanium build. That’s a lot of cash.

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RED Hydrogen One review

OnePlus 6T

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

OnePlus releases a new phone twice a year — but if you think that means it’s slacking off, then the OnePlus 6T is proof is isn’t. As befits OnePlus’ reputation, the OnePlus 6T is packed with all the top hardware you expect from the “flagship killer.” The Snapdragon 845 makes yet another appearance, along with at least 6GB of RAM and a 3,700mAh battery. The dual-lens camera from the OnePlus 6 returns, but the software has been tweaked to provide better performance.

You’ll find most of the OnePlus 6T’s advances on the exterior though, and the design is one of the most striking. The OnePlus 6’s chunky notch has been replaced by a dewdrop-style notch, similar to the one seen on the Huawei Mate 20. But what’s missing is just as notable as what has been added — the fingerprint scanner that used to sit below the camera on the back has disappeared completely. Instead, OnePlus has added an in-display fingerprint scanner, so you’ll now be able to unlock your phone by pressing your finger to the fingerprint icon on your screen. Also, this is the first OnePlus phone available from a carrier in the U.S. (T-Mobile), and it also finally supports Verizon’s network.

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OnePlus 6T review

ZTE Blade Max View and ZTE Blade Max 2s

Did you think the OnePlus 6T would be the last phone announced in October 2018? ZTE hasn’t had much action this year, so it sneaked a couple in before October closed. The ZTE Blade Max View and Max 2s are two budget phones in the sub-$200 bracket that aim to provide great value for money. Both come equipped with a 6-inch LCD display that runs a more-than-respectable 2,160 x 1,080 resolution. There’s an undisclosed Qualcomm Snapdragon chip powering each, but you’ll find slightly more RAM on the more powerful Max View, as well as a dual-lens camera setup.

Read more

ZTE Blade Max View and Blade Max 2s news

Editors’ Recommendations

• OnePlus 6T: Absolutely everything you need to know
• Best smartphones of 2018
• OnePlus 6T review
• LG V40 ThinQ vs. V35 ThinQ vs. V30: Which of LG’s big phones is best for you?
• LG V40 ThinQ vs. LG G7 ThinQ: Which LG flagship is right for you?

If we want to slow down climate change, we should change how we mine Bitcoin

Bitcoin celebrates its 10th birthday today, which is a major milestone for a technology that some skeptical pundits predicted would never make it out of single digits. However, while there is plenty to love about the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, people have also raised concerns about what the heavy hardware requirements of Bitcoin mining mean for our planet. Bitcoin mining requires massive amounts of electricity, which means enormous amounts of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere as a result. In 2017 alone, the use of Bitcoin resulted in an estimated 69 million metric tons of CO2 emission.

But what does this mean in terms of climate change? Nothing good, unfortunately. According to a new study coming out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, provided that Bitcoin continues its trajectory it could produce enough emissions to raise global temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius as soon as 2033. This holds true if Bitcoin is adopted at even the lowest rate at which other technologies have been incorporated.

For their study, the researchers examined the power efficiency of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), the computers currently in use for Bitcoin mining. They then factored in the locations where Bitcoin is likely computed and the corresponding CO2 emissions, based on the electricity production fuels in those countries. Needless to say, this is bad news — since increased climate change oft 2 degrees Celsius could push the planet’s temperature increase past the 1.5 Celsius threshold that could lead to catastrophic, irreversible changes on Earth.

“We are not aiming to predict the future of Bitcoin, but rather we hope that this research highlights the importance of considering the potential environmental impacts of emerging technologies in terms of CO2 emissions and climate change,” Katie Taladay, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “It is essential that emerging technologies like Bitcoin are developed and adopted with energy efficiency in mind.”

Randi Rollins, another researcher involved in the study, said that, while Bitcoin is an “innovative and interesting” technology, something will need to change with the way that coins are currently mined. “Bitcoin highlights a broader issue: Emerging technologies and industries need to take their potential footprint into consideration, and make smart decisions for development, being aware of the consequences of emission production,” Rollins said. “Green, sustainable energy would allow Bitcoin to continue, as is, without the repercussions we outline in our paper.”

Fortunately, it seems that there are a growing number of efforts to make Bitcoin mining more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Will this be enough to help slow the kind of climate change this study predicts? Provided these researchers are correct, we certainly hope so.

A paper describing this work was recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• Is California going to launch its own satellite to monitor climate change?

Sprint’s 1Gbps LTE Advanced network is now up and running in more than 225 cities

It looks like Sprint is seriously stepping up its network speed. The company announced that its LTE Advanced network is now available around the country, including more than 225 cities. What that means is that in those cities, phones capable of connecting to LTE advanced networks will be able to get download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second.

Gigabit internet speeds are becoming increasingly common, but they are still super fast compared to other wireless network speeds. On a network with 1Gbps download speeds, you will be able to download an HD movie in a matter of seconds.

It’s important to note that it’s unlikely you will be able to hit full 1Gbps speeds, even when you’re connected to an LTE Advanced network and using a compatible phone. The more people that are connected to a particular cell tower, the lower your speeds will be — not to mention the fact that obstacles and distance can play a role, too. Still, the fact remains that you will likely achieve much faster speeds on these new networks than you otherwise would have and even a few hundred megabits per second is a super fast speed.

In February, Sprint announced that it was hoping to build out the first nationwide 5G network by early next year, and rolling out LTE Advanced is a huge part of making that happen. On top of rolling out LTE Advanced, Sprint is also bringing 5G capabilities to nine cities by the end of the year — including the likes of Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Customers won’t be able to access these 5G capabilities until next year, but it’s still quite a step forward.

Sprint is also building one of the first phones with 5G built right into it. It’s not currently clear who the company is working with on the project but the phone is expected to launch alongside Sprint’s 5G network next year. Meanwhile, progress continues to be made in the Sprint and T-Mobile merger, and the two companies have said that merging will allow them to build their next-generation networks faster.

Of course, Sprint isn’t the only network building out 5G. Verizon recently launched 5G home internet service and while the devices used for that will ultimately be replaced to meet industry standards, the fact remains that 5G is starting to become a reality.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Do we even need 5G at all?
• Lyft’s first app-based scooter service rolls into Denver
• How autonomous ridesharing will reshape our cars, cities, and lives
• With cameras that know dogs from Dodges, Honda is making intersections safer
• Boxy shuttles, not cars, will be people’s first taste of autonomous vehicles

See the National Forests like never before in this awe-inspiring drone video

What’s the difference between a National Park and a National Forest? Drones. The National Park Service banned drones several years ago after tourists proved time and time again that they couldn’t be trusted with them. But no such ban exists in the National Forests — at least, not yet — which gives filmmakers a way to capture the immensity of these locations with stunning results.

This isn’t just about having some pretty pictures to look at; the Forest Service manages nearly 200 million acres of public lands, but getting the public to actually pay attention and care isn’t always easy. To bring renewed attention to how these lands are used, the Forest Service knew it would need more than a pamphlet — much more. Its new campaign, called Your Forests Your Future, looks to build an audience across new types of media, including a podcast, video series, and eventually a VR experience. The Bridger-Teton video above is the first in a planned 155-episode series exploring every National Forest — that’s no small undertaking.

To accomplish it, the Forest Service turned to veteran outdoor filmmakers Will and Jim Pattiz, brothers who have been working tirelessly on their own video project documenting the National Parks (sans drones, but still with gorgeous results). The Pattiz brothers were accustomed to working long hours for weeks at a time in the wilderness, so they were a natural fit for the Your Forests Your Future campaign.

What was new to them, however, was the ability to use a drone. “The great part about working with the Forest Service is that we can use drones, and it really allows us to make these films so much better and more representative,” Jim Pattiz told Digital Trends. “We used the [DJI] Inspire 2 for the aerials, which is an amazing tool (when it works!).”

The Inspire 2 wasn’t the only camera in the brothers’ arsenal, however. Time-lapse sequences were captured with the Sony A7R II, while most of the realtime video was shot on a Blackmagic Design URSA Mini.

So one video down, 154 to go. It sounds daunting, but the Pattiz brothers are still building steam. When we spoke with them for this article, they were already on location for the third video in the series — armed with the new DJI Mavic 2.

Editors’ Recommendations

• DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom review
• DJI Mavic 2 Zoom review
• The best drones of 2018
• 7 drone crashes that will make you fly your bird more carefully
• The best drones under $500

Mac Mini vs. iMac

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, there are a lot of different Macs to choose from at Apple. We previously stacked the new MacBook Air against the MacBook Pro, but now it is time to turn attention to Apple’s desktop counterparts.

In this guide, we now put up the specs on the newest refreshed Mac mini against the iMac. We would have never compared these two in the past, but thanks to the price jump on the new Mac mini, there’s now some overlap in configurations. Weighing in features like design, and performance, we’ll help you decide which is right for your set up at work or home.

Design

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Both the iMac and Mac mini are made of aluminum and are designed as desktops, but the form factor could not be more different between the two. At 2.9 pounds and 1.4 inches in thickness, the Mac mini is similar to a super compact cable box. That makes it very ideal for sitting under a monitor or at the side of a desk, out of the way in places with limited space. Great as that is, its sleek Space Gray aluminum design doesn’t account for monitors or keyboards, all of which need to be purchased separately.

The iMac contrasts to the Mac mini since is an all in one computing solution. The base iMac model ends up coming at 17.7 inches tall, and 20.8 inches in width, but a 27-inch model is also available. It also packs a 21.5-inch display with 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, whereas the Retina 4K model packs a display with 4,096 x 2,304 resolution. A separate 27-inch model also packs a Retina 5K display for 5,120 x 2,880 resolution. Apple even includes both a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 in the box, keeping you from separate purchases.

Some professionals might prefer the iMac for its display and all-in-one design, but the Mac mini remains a bit more enticing since it can be plugged into an existing setup.

Performance

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

While we haven’t tested it yet, Apple revamped the Mac mini with new internals to make it a better buy. The base $800 Mac mini model ships with an 8th-gen Intel Core i3 quad-core processor clocked at 3.6 GHz. It also comes with 8GB of RAM and a 128 GB PCIe-based SSD onboard. Apple also includes the new T2 security chip, for better protection against data theft.

For more processing power, a Mac mini model with a six-core 8th-gen Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 3.0GHz is also available for $1,100. This is where the Mac mini crosses into iMac territory. In all models, up to 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB RAM can also be added, and there are options for configurations for 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB SSDs. There is still no dedicated graphics, though, and all Mac mini models ship with Intel UHD Graphics 630. That means gaming is out of the picture on the Mac Mini, but super fast SSDs should make boot up times quick and MacOS very responsive.

iMac models, however, are still stuck on the 7th-gen Intel processors and a much slower 1TB SATA drive as stock options. A base $1,100 iMac comes with dual-core 2.3GHz dual‑core Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 2.3GHz. There are also options for quad‑core Intel Core i5 processors clocked at 3.0GHz, but these are only on the Retina models and will bump the pricing up to $1,300.

Keep in mind, those Retina iMac models include dedicated graphics — Radeon Pro 555 with 2GB video memory—whereas the base model iMacs come with integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640. Either way, the older SATA drives on these iMacs are slow and might make MacOS feel sluggish, especially if you’re not wanting to spend $200 for a model with an SSD “Fusion” drive.

Starting at $800 and equipped with newer and faster eighth-generation quad-core processors, vs the dual-core seventh $1,000 iMac, the Mac Mini presents more processing power. There’s also the bonus of each iMac coming with SSDs, instead of slower SATA drives. Sure, there is still no dedicated graphics on board the Mac Mini, and a monitor will need to be purchased separately, but the jump in the processor is well worth it for heavy multitasking.

Connectivity

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Apple has always embraced USB-C, and the ports on board both the Mac Mini and the iMac make that no different. Onboard the Mac Mini are four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The iMac keeps a similar range of ports, including four USB 3.0 ports, Two Thunderbolt 3 USB ports, Ethernet port, and an SDXC card slot.

It is hard to choose since all these ports are modern, but the win might just have to go to the iMac for its ports. Creatives are known for using Macs, and the lack of the SDXC card slot means that many might have to turn to a dongle to transfer photos and other content. It is a slight inconvenience that might be a deciding factor for some.

Buy the Mac mini, unless you’re going big

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

At the end of the day, the $800 Mac mini is worth more than a $1,100 iMac. For those looking for a Mac with serious multitasking and processing power, the eighth generation Intel Core i3 quad-core processor clocked at 3.6 GHz and SSDs presents more power for the punch than the dual-core chips and SATA drives on board the iMacs.

The higher-end iMacs are well worth the money, but the base models won’t be worth buying again until they’ve been updated with some faster components.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The 2018 Mac mini: Here’s everything we know
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10 years of Bitcoin: How a geeky cryptocurrency changed the world

Happy birthday, Bitcoin! From its birth 10 years ago, Bitcoin has grown from fledgling cryptocurrency proof-of-concept into a real world cash alternative that’s taken seriously by everyone from economists to technologists to national governments.

In the process, it’s helped spark the launch of 2,000 more cryptocurrencies, achieved a record high of nearly $20,000 per coin, and much, much more. Here are some of the highs and lows of the world’s most famous cryptocurrency since its creation in 2008.

2008: In the beginning…

Bitcoin didn’t technically begin trading until January 2009, so why are we celebrating its birthday today? Simple: Because this marks the day that a mysterious person named Satoshi Nakamoto (think The Usual Suspects’ Keyser Söze with more of an interest in cryptocurrency) posted a paper titled, “Bitcoin – A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System” on an online cryptography mailing list.

Until this point, there had been discussion of similar ideas (including by the NSA, who published a 1996 paper titled “How to Make a Mint: the Cryptography of Anonymous Electronic Cash.”) However, no-one had implemented the idea successfully. Satoshi Nakamoto helped change all that.

2009: The Genesis block

Hal Finney (left), was the first recipient of bitcoin. He was given 10 Bitcoins by Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. Coinbase

Bitcoin began in earnest in January when the Bitcoin network was officially created. No Bitcoin exchanges existed initially, meaning that there was no way of accurately gauging the value of an individual Bitcoin. However, early adopters were able to start mining for the coins, and their ownership was recorded and verified on the blockchain.

The recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction was programmer Hal Finney, who received 10 Bitcoins from Satoshi Nakamoto. With a finite supply of 21 million Bitcoins, the currency was off to the races!

2010: Pizzas for Bitcoin

In 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz became the first person to buy physical goods with Bitcoin after purchasing two pizzas for 10,000 BTC. Laszlo Hanyecz

In February, the world’s first Bitcoin currency exchange — the now defunct BitcoinMarkets.com — was established. It included automated and escrow trading, assorted payment options, trader ratings, and a private messaging system. It helped establish the growing Bitcoin community.

That same year, Bitcoin entered the real world, too, as early adopter Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in Florida. Meanwhile, in November, Slush’s Pool became the first Bitcoin mining pool. It allowed groups of Bitcoin miners to team up to mine coins, and then split the reward according to each person’s contribution.

Oh yes, and the total value of all available Bitcoin passed $1 million!

2011: A viable currency

A video reacting to bitcoin’s dramatic crash in 2011 where it briefly dropped all the way down to one cent before rebounding to about $10.

This year was all about milestones — and competition. In February, the price for a single Bitcoin drew even with that of a single U.S. dollar. A few months later, the value of a single Bitcoin equalled that of European currency, the euro. These landmark events caused a surge of interest in the new cryptocurrency.

Rival coins started to appear, too, such as Namecoin and Litecoin. Not everything was good for the world of cryptocurrencies, though. Days after hitting a peak of $31.91 in value, Bitcoin crashed down to just $10. It underscored just how much volatility existed in the Bitcoin market during its earliest days.

2012: Bad publicity for Bitcoin

In May, an FBI document was leaked, in which the Feds voice their concerns that Bitcoin could be used as a payment method for illegal transactions involving weapons and drugs. Combined with the rise of the Silk Road, the first modern darknet marketplace, it added up to a bunch of negative publicity for Bitcoin.

Things weren’t helped by various hacks of Bitcoin exchanges and other sites which use the technology. Cloud services provider Linode fell prey to a massive hack in which 46,703 BTC were stolen. At the time, these carried a value of around $228,000. Today, that would be upwards of $286.7 million.

It wasn’t the first time that similar Bitcoin thefts took place, although this was among the biggest.

2013: Climbing back up

In February, Bitcoin’s value passed $30 per coin again for the first time in two years. After that, it keeps right on climbing. By March, the total value of Bitcoin in circulation exceeded $1 billion. By November, the value of a single Bitcoin was $503, representing a major new record.

It quickly doubled to $1,000 before dropping back down. Bitcoin didn’t rise back to four figures until 2017.

2014: The strange death of Mt.Gox

Mark Karpeles, former CEO of Mt. Gox

The biggest news of the year happened right up front — as the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt.Gox, went offline. By 2014 Mt.Gox was handling around 70 percent of all the world’s Bitcoin transactions. Suddenly, the 850,000 Bitcoins on the exchange vanished without trace, with someone getting away with a haul of Bitcoin valued at $450 million dollars at the time.

Today, that treasure trove of illicit coins would have a value of more than $4 billion. Prior to closing up shop, customers had been growing increasingly upset with the long delays withdrawing cash from their accounts on Mt.Gox. Some people even reported waiting months to remove their money. As it turned out, they were the fortunate ones!

2016: Bitcoin goes mainstream

Anthony WallaceAFP/Getty Images

After a fairly uneventful 2015 (so quiet, in fact, that we skipped it entirely in this article), 2016 marked the further mainstreaming of Bitcoin around the world. In March, Japan officially recognized virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, as being a recognized currency just like cash money.

Elsewhere, Steam added to the number of platforms embracing Bitcoin as a payment method by allowing customers to use it to pay for video games and online media. The number of dedicated ATMs allowing users to trade the cryptocurrency doubled to 771 around the world. Finally, Ledger — the first academic journal dedicated to cryptocurrencies — published its first edition.

As busy a year as that sounded, in retrospect this was the calm before the (insanely profitable) storm.

2017: Bitcoin’s value goes ballistic

In mid-December of 2017, Bitcoin’s price peaked to nearly $20,00 USD. Coinmarket Cap

In 2017, Bitcoin’s value went through the roof. Over the year, the value of a single Bitcoin rose from approximately $1,000 on New Year’s Day to nearly $20,000 by December. In short, this was a monster annum for Bitcoin — and everyone who had faith in it.

In other happenings, the Bitcoin symbol was officially encoded as a character in Unicode version 10.0, while Bitcoin split into two derivative currencies — the BTC Bitcoin chain and the BCH Bitcoin Cash chain. This event was called the Bitcoin Cash hard fork. Make no mistake: 2017 was the year in which everyone, including major financial institutions, went cryptocurrency mad.

2018: What goes up must come down

After a monster year like 2017, where was there for Bitcoin to go but down? Between January 26 and February 6, the price of the currency halved, eventually falling to $6,000 per coin. While enormous strides have been made in the past decade, it’s a reminder that cryptocurrencies remain volatile. By now, the model has been proven and we’re no longer living in a Bitcoin Wild West as we were a few years back. But there’s still risk attached.

Where will things go over the next 10 years? We’re excited to find out!

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iOS 12 is Now Installed on 63% of Active Devices From the Last Four Years

A month and a half after release, Apple’s iOS 12 operating system is installed on 63 percent of active devices released over the course of the last four years, according to updated iOS 12 installation statistics shared on the App Store support page for developers.

Following the release of iOS 12, Apple has been sharing details on installation rates in a new way, providing information on both newer and older devices.

While 63 percent of devices released in the last four years are running iOS 12, 60 percent of all iOS devices out in the wild have the update installed.

Among all iOS devices, 29 percent continue to run iOS 11 while 11 percent run an earlier version of iOS. As for devices released within the last four years, 30 percent continue to run iOS 11 while 7 percent have an earlier version of iOS installed.

iOS 12 installation has grown 10 percentage points over the course of the last two and a half weeks, as the update was installed on 53 percent of devices released within the last four years back on October 10.

Between October 10 and October 29, the date Apple last collected installation numbers, the new iPhone XR was released, which likely explains the 10 percent jump in active devices using the new operating system. The iPhone XR, like the XS and XS Max, came pre-installed with iOS 12.

We’ll probably see another significant jump in installation numbers the next time Apple provides an update as the new iOS 12.1 update is likely spurring people who haven’t yet upgraded to iOS 12 to download the update.

iOS 12.1 introduces 70 new emoji characters, which are always a big draw, and it introduces support for Group FaceTime, allowing iOS users to video chat with up to 32 people at once.

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AppleCare+ for Mac With Accidental Damage Coverage Expands to Canada, Mexico, and Europe

AppleCare+ for Mac with accidental damage coverage is now available in Canada, Mexico, and many countries across Europe and the Middle East, including Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

AppleCare+ for Mac was previously limited to the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan, but its availability expanded to the aforementioned countries following the conclusion of Apple’s special event in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

AppleCare+ provides up to three years of hardware coverage and tech support for an eligible Mac, effective on the purchase date of the plan. This includes up to two incidents of accidental damage, each subject to a service fee that varies based on damage to the screen, external enclosure, or other components.

In the UK, for example, the per-incident fees are £79 for screen or external enclosure damage, and £229 for other damage.

The accidental damage fees are in addition to the cost of the AppleCare+ for Mac plan itself, which varies. The plan is available for the MacBook, MacBook Air, 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac Pro, and Mac mini.

AppleCare+ for Mac benefits are in addition to any legal rights provided by consumer law in the aforementioned countries.

AppleCare+ can be purchased alongside a new Mac on Apple’s website, at Apple retail stores where available, and at select Apple Authorized Resellers or Apple Authorized Service Providers. It can also be added within 60 days of a Mac’s purchase date, pending an inspection or diagnostic test.

In these countries, AppleCare+ for Mac replaces the basic AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac, which didn’t include accidental damage coverage. Apple continues to offer the AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac in certain countries, such as Spain, Finland, Norway, Poland, Taiwan, Singapore, and Brazil.

Tag: AppleCare
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Asus’ new monitor is 49 inches of high-speed gaming goodness

Asus has a new gaming monitor to sell you and it could be the largest monitor you will ever need. At 49 inches diagonally, this “double Full HD” display (3,840 x 1,080) supports FreeSync 2 and can refresh at up to 144Hz for smooth, high-speed gaming. It even supports rudimentary HDR, so blacks will be blacker, whites whiter, and everything in between that bit more punchy.

Ultrawide monitors are a relatively new breed of screen that offers a single-display solution to the classic duel monitor design that both gamers and workers have employed for years. Ditching the bezels in between does have an advantage in offering a seamless image and their often less-than-4K resolutions can be a little easier on graphics hardware, too. Now that gamer-centric features are making their way into the panel designs, they’re becoming a more viable solution for high-end gamers.

The Asus ROG Swift XG49VQ is that idea taken to the extreme. With 49 inches of screen real estate, you will have almost your entire peripheral vision covered by this enormous curved display. Its resolution might not be quite 4K, but it’s not far off and it’s much more manageable for graphics cards than the likes of Dell’s new “quad HD” 5,120 x 1,440 resolution display.

While that might mean that it isn’t quite as detailed, don’t count the XG49VQ out. It comes back strong with its 144Hz high refresh rate. It also meets the DisplayHDR 400 certification from VESA, which isn’t exactly high-end HDR, but it’s better than no HDR at all. Other features include support for FreeSync 2, so those with AMD cards can smooth out framerates without using VSync and ShadowBoost, which should make it easier to see gaming opponents in darkened environments.

Asus is touting this monitor as a great solution for gaming streamers who can use its picture in picture mode to play a game in the center, while displaying chat and other streaming functions on the left or right of that window.

There is plenty we don’t know about this monitor yet, such as its price, planned launch date, or what panel type it uses. Expect more details in the lead up the holiday season, though, as Asus wouldn’t announce this display now if it wasn’t planning to launch it before then.

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From the road to your wrist, see how Android has evolved over the past 10 years

Ronan Glon/Digital Trends

Android started out as a mobile operating system, but over the 10 years since it came to market, it has become so much more. Forks of Android now act as Google’s operating system across a wide variety of different form factors, from automobiles to smartwatches. Because it’s open source — freely available for redistribution and modification — the use cases are incredibly diverse. Here, we look at the various industries Android has permeated since it launched in the HTC G1 in 2008 — and one that might be vying to take over from the beloved OS in the future.

Wear OS (formerly Android Wear)

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Google debuted its wearables platform called Android Wear in 2014. Since then, the platform has shipped on smartwatches from a wide range of brands in both tech and fashion — everything from Asus to Michael Kors — but it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing. The past several years were shaky for the now-branded Wear OS, as the future of smartwatches, in general, seemed far less promising than originally expected. There were delays in the development of the platform, and many tech partners starting to lose interest in a market that seemed to have very little dynamism. At the same time, though, it’s become clear that fashion companies are more than glad to take up the mantle abandoned by smartphone manufacturers, introducing devices that are more about battery life and aesthetic than boundary-pushing features. Regardless of whether mobile manufacturers continue to tap into the market, it’s here to stay.

Android TV

Going from minuscule screens to the home theater, Google also launched Android TV in 2014, offering the tech company’s take on smart TV software. The OS primarily runs on some set-top boxes and as integrated software on smart TVs from brands including Sony and Sharp. As it grows in popularity, it’s also showing up in things like pico projectors and mobile robot projectors. Along with the standard interface showing media from installed apps, it benefits from being tightly intertwined with all other Google services and features — for instance, it supports Google Assistant, offers access to the Google Play Store, and provides Cast support, with no need for a Chromecast dongle.

Android Things

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

These days, more and more objects are gaining the ability to communicate, both with one another and with us humans. In the home, we know this space age-sounding phenomenon simply as the “smart home.” Google joined in on the fun in 2015, when it announced Android Things, its own embedded operating system for low-power and memory constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Google also introduced a protocol for communication between these devices. So far, brands including JBL, Lenovo, and LG are all making smart displays that run on the platform,  featuring tools like Google Assistant and Google Cast. Meanwhile, LG and iHome are also producing Android Things smart speakers.

Android Auto/Android Automotive

Ronan Glon/Digital Trends

Becoming the dominant operating system in cars has long been an ambition for Google, and Android Auto, launched in 2014, represents the tech giant’s first step toward that goal. You can use the app for a more car-friendly user interface, or use a supported in-car display to access music, GPS, and more. Google’s next step, though, is Android Automotive — a more full-bodied version of Android running on the car itself. This new implementation has some major momentum right now, with massive carmaking alliance Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi signing a deal to run Android Automotive infotainment systems in millions of cars beginning in 2021, along with Volvo. This sort of deal is major not only for Google but for the car industry — automakers have long been reticent to give up on making their own systems and retaining their own data.

Daydream

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Daydream is Google’s virtual reality platform, and it originally debuted in 2016 as a platform powered by Android phones in Android Nougat. You would slap a “Daydream-ready” phone inside a headset, and the experience would be completely powered by the phone. Earlier this year, Google and Lenovo released the Mirage Solo, one of the first standalone Daydream headsets that do not require the use of a phone. There hasn’t been a lot of momentum in the virtual reality space, as it’s still a nascent industry. Additionally, though Oculus doesn’t call it Daydream, its Oculus Go headset runs on a custom version of Android.

Chrome OS

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Chromebooks don’t run on Android, they run Google’s Chrome OS. But Google brought the Google Play Store and familiar Android features to the platform to make it more versatile. The latest Google Pixel Slate is a testament to the future Google wants, where you can get work done with a desktop operating system like Chrome OS, with the benefits of swapping to a tablet mode to use a more tablet-friendly user interface thanks to Android, with plenty of app support.

And more…

While the use cases above are large, official branches of Google’s operating system, Android appears on a whole bunch of other types of devices —  which makes sense, considering the OS runs on around 24,000 distinct devices. Amazon’s Fire HD tablets, for example, run a forked version of Android that does not have access to the Google Play Store. One of the more interesting examples is in-flight entertainment systems, like Panasonic’s Ex3, which British Airways employs in its Boeing 747 aircrafts. EX3 is an HD display that focuses on providing a massive content library to entertain travelers, and benefits greatly from using a well-established, mature OS over a buggy creation made from scratch. Another noteworthy example is the Rico Theta V 360 camera, which uses software based on Android, making it open to support a wide variety of third-party apps. It was recently a finalist in the 2018 International Design Excellence Awards. No doubt many more unique Android gadgets will crop up in the future — that’s the benefit of an open source platform.

Google Fuchsia

Fuchsia OS isn’t strictly Android-related, but it could potentially be its successor. We’ve been hearing about Google’s all-purpose operating system for around two years now, but a commercial release still isn’t expected for quite a while, and its exact purpose isn’t known for certain yet either. We do know, however, that Fuchsia is being designed to run across all sorts of different form factors, including laptops and embedded devices. Reports have further suggested that it will take over from every OS shipping on Google’s consumer hardware. Google responded to those recent rumors, though, by stating that there is no concrete plan at the moment for replacing Android in the immediate future. Still, the definition of mobile has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, so it makes sense Google would create a more flexible OS. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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