Samsung CHG90 Ultrawide gaming monitor review

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Samsung CHG90 Ultrawide Monitor

No one buys a 49-inch curved ultrawide monitor because they need one. No. This is about extravagance. This is about luxury. This is about hubris.

If you have a craving for the excessive — or perhaps just a spark of curiosity in your mind about what it might be like to game on the world’s widest ultrawide gaming monitor — the 49-inch Samsung CHG90 must be seen to believed.

You may need a bigger desk

Curved, ultrawide monitors could have been just a fad, but instead they just keep getting larger and more exciting. The CHG90 feels like the pinnacle of that development, stretching out to an ungodly 49-inches wide. It looks like something that belongs on the bridge of the starship Enterprise.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

We had it set up for weeks in the office, yet every day someone new stopped to gawk as they walked by. Who can blame them? It took up nearly the entire width of a desk. The base is large as well, dominating the surface and leaving little room for a keyboard, mouse, or laptop.

What’s the benefit of its size? You can open multiple browser windows, or applications, full screen side-by-side. The experience of using the CHG90 isn’t unlike a dual 27-inch monitor setup — just without the divider in between.

But the CHG90 isn’t merely for productivity, though it’s great at that. This thing is a tried-and-true gaming monitor. As we learned, a screen this large offers big advantages in games. When sitting at the center of the monitor’s curve, your field of vision is closer to that of the natural human eye. It’s not virtual reality, but it’s the next best thing. It looks beautiful and can give you a competitive edge, as you can see an enemy sneaking up beside you in Fortnite or gain a broader view from your sniper’s nest in Battlefield V.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

The 1800R curve matches what you find in monitors like the BenQ EX3501R. It provides just the right viewing angles when you sit right in the center of the monitor, and looks downright futuristic from behind.

The base, stand, and case are all made of plastic, but it’s durable enough hold up the 26 pounds of pixels from falling forward. And while you won’t need to do much swiveling and tilting given this monitor’s size, but Samsung still provides an adequate amount of height, swivel, and tilt adjustment. A comfortable viewing angle is easy to find.

Lacking in USB-C

The ports, pointed down beneath the display, are a bit hard to reach, though they keep your desk looking clean. Connections include USB-A, DisplayPort, mini-DisplayPort, and HDMI. USB-C unfortunately isn’t available. Newer monitors like the Dell UltraSharp 4K 32 provide a simpler single-cable that can power a laptop while also extending the laptop’s screen to the monitor.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

Meanwhile, the menu system is a bit confusing. The three physical buttons provide quick access to some gaming profiles where you can have features like FreeSync, response time, and black levels automatically adjusted. A joystick on the right gives you access to sharpness, contrast, brightness, and volume. It’s not as expansive of options as what you’d find on something like the BenQ EX3501R, but it has the basics covered.

While we prefer intuitive menus, Samsung at least provided quick access to brightness by pressing up or down, and volume by pressing left or right. Don’t forget which is which, though – they aren’t clearly labeled.

Pre-calibration image quality

The CHG90 could have been a gimmick. Fortunately, it has a panel worthy of taking over the entirety of your desk, and we saw that in our imaging tests.

Whether it’s contrast ratio, color accuracy, or color gamut, the CHG90 leads the pack. For gaming-focused monitors, it’s common to see narrow color gamuts or color accuracy in favor or big, splashy features companies can easily market. Instead, Samsung delivers the goods in image quality. Everything it shows looks sensation.

It’s not the brightest monitor in the world, however, peaking at 286 nits. That’s an area where monitors like the BenQ EX3501R or HP Z38c fare a bit better.

After calibrating the screen, we didn’t see a major change in image quality.

There’s a long list of tech that can be packed into a monitor. 4K? HDR? 144Hz refresh rate? G-Sync? Those are all important features that can affect how games feel and play. The CHG90 offers three out of the five: A 144Hz refresh rate, support for HDR, and a one millisecond response time.

It all works to make games look incredible. Battlefield 1, which supports HDR, was a particular highlight, offering an awesome sense of depth and contrast that made the game look similar to a 3D image. While HDR on Windows 10 is still an ugly affair, certain games benefit hugely from it.

Resolution is the monitor’s only weakness. It offers 3,840 x 1,080 which, when spread out across this 49-inch monster, is the same pixel density you’d find on a 27-inch 1080p screen. Individual pixels are noticeable if you look closely, and that can detract from the monitor’s overall beauty. You’ll notice it most in games with high-contrast graphics, or games that don’t have great anti-aliasing options baked in.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

It should also be noted that G-Sync isn’t available on this monitor. It’s a feature made to prevent screen-tearing on Nvidia graphics cards, but it often adds hundreds of dollars to the price tag of a gaming monitor. Because many gamers are willing to pay the extra price, we wish Samsung would provide a G-Sync option. As of now, only AMD cards will benefit from the FreeSync support this monitor includes, and AMD video cards are much less popular among PC gamers.

Post-calibration

Samsung has shipped a solid screen right out of the box, which should please those looking for precise color accuracy. After calibrating the screen, we didn’t see a major change in image quality. Contrast increased ever so slightly, as did color accuracy, but the changes were relatively minor

Samsung CHG90 Ultrawide Monitor Compared To

BenQ EX3200R Gaming Monitor

Samsung CFG70

HP Dreamcolor Z32x

Philips 276E6ADSS LCD monitor

Acer S277HK

Acer XB280HK

Acer B286HK

AOC mySmart A2472PW4T

Dell P2314T

HP 2311gt

Samsung SyncMaster BX2450

Gateway XHD3000

HP w2207

Gateway FPD1930

Samsung Syncmaster 173T

That’s in contrast to displays like the LG Ultrafine 5K or the Dell Ultrasharp UP3218K, where we saw sharp increases in color accuracy after calibration.

Our Take

A thousand bucks is a lot to spend on a monitor but given the other monitors that sell for around the same price, such as the HP Z38c or the LG 38UC99-W, Samsung’s 49-incher feels like a good deal. It’s among the most impressive monitors we’ve ever used.

Is there a better alternative?

Not yet. Samsung’s 49-inch monitor is as large as they come, and with how well they did it, it may be king of the hill for quite some time. There are some great 38-inch monitors out there, though the extra eleven inches puts this in an entirely different category.

Dell recently introduced a similar 49-inch monitor with a better 1440p resolution, though it’s $600 more expensive and isn’t a gaming monitor. It’s also not currently available.

How long will it last?

This 49-inch monitor is fit to sit on your desk for many years. It’s built well and is ahead of its time in terms of size. The monitor comes with a parts and labor warranty that lasts for three years, which is standard for expensive monitors.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you’re ready to spend a grand on a monitor, why not go big?

The best lite apps for Android and iOS

For people with limited storage and memory on their smartphones, apps can be a difficult thing to navigate. Many of the most popular apps in the U.S. — Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat — are large downloads and extremely demanding to run. A phone that has 16GB of storage and 1GB or 2GB of RAM will quickly run out of space for new apps (or photos, music etc.) and running those heavy apps will often result in crashes, overheating, and slowdowns.

What’s more, those kinds of apps eat a ton of data, which is not ideal if you’re on a budget, or use your phone as your primary access point to the internet (as is the case for 20 percent of Americans, according to this Pew report). Thankfully, there is an alternative. The majority of the most-used apps on the market offer “lite” versions that reduce the drain on your phone and monthly data allotment. If a lite variant isn’t available, platforms often have Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) which provide basic functionality through a mobile browser. PWAs don’t require a download and are much less processing-intensive. Often, companies cover their bases by making their web app into a lite app, offering identical service on both.

We’ve rounded up a comprehensive list of the best lite apps and PWAs available for major apps on the market today.

Google Maps Go

Maps Go is the light version of Google’s navigation app. Google Maps is the go-to app for navigating across a variety of travel methods, from walking to driving to using public transit, so using a lightweight version can make a big impact on performance and data usage. Unfortunately, this app is only available for Android users, but it is possible to reach a PWA version on iOS through following the link below in the Chrome browser.

Try now for:

Android iOS

Facebook Lite

Facebook is the largest social media platform for mobile users in the U.S. It’s also a hefty and demanding app that requests a lot of data permissions from users (for example, device location) — so it makes sense to get rid of it in favor of a lightweight version. There’s Facebook Lite for Android, but when it comes to iOS, the app is still in testing. For now, those with iPhone devices can just visit the mobile version of the website in their browser of choice.

Try now for:

Android iOS

Spotify Lite

Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming app with over 180 million monthly active users, is still beta testing a 15MB lite version of its approximately 100MB primary Android app. It’s possible to enroll in that beta, but unfortunately, the test is limited at the moment when it comes to regions and compatible devices. Also, reviews so far note that many key features like offline playback are missing, leaving much to be desired. Android users who really want in and are willing to take a risk could try downloading an unofficial (and thus potentially unstable) copy of the app. Below is a link to the official beta Spotify Lite app. As for people on iOS, there is no lite app or PWA available at the moment.

Try now for:

Android

Facebook Messenger Lite

Facebook’s chat tool, Messenger, is massive in its own right with more than 1.3 billion monthly active users. Facebook Messenger Lite strips down the messaging app to the bare essentials, bringing the app size down to 5MB. However, following a common theme, it’s only available for Android. The good news is the lightweight app is in testing. The bad news is, that’s only outside of the U.S. for now. Plus, there doesn’t seem to be a PWA option yet. Looks like those using iPhones will just have to wait a bit longer.

Try now for:

Android

YouTube Go

YouTube Go, the miniature version of Google’s massive social video platform, launched in 2016 and is available in more than 130 countries, though not in any Western markets. The simplified platform offers minimal but effective features. When selecting a video, YouTube Go asks if you would like to download a low-quality version instead, allowing for a bit more control over data usage. Plus, you can send videos to your friends via Bluetooth. If you’re in one of the markets where it does exist and you own an Android phone, you can grab it below. Otherwise, you’re out of luck for now.

Try now for:

Android

Google Go

Google Go is a lighter and faster version of the Chrome browser that promises data savings of up to 40 percent. Weighing in at only 5MB, it also barely takes up any space on your device. For now, this handy tool is only available in emerging markets for Android users — primarily countries in Asia and Africa. Those who are looking for an alternative available in the U.S., have to look no further than the next entry in the list.

Try now for:

Android

Opera Mini

Can’t get your hands on Google Go? Try the Opera browser’s lite offshoot, Opera Mini. This lightweight browser’s main focus is conserving data for the budget-conscious, plus it offers a built-in ad blocker. Other features include a download button for videos — not YouTube videos, unfortunately, but a variety of others — and data tracking in the settings menu.

Try now for:

Android iOS

Gmail Go

Gmail Go launched in February 2018 in emerging markets including India and Indonesia. It takes up only 25MB of storage space, much less than the standard Gmail’s app 47MB. As for features, it offers most of the standard capabilities you’d expect from Gmail, including multiple account support, attachments, and push notifications, while reducing mobile data use. While it syncs fewer days of emails, and things like scrolling are a little choppier in Gmail Go than the full version, it’s a worthwhile trade-off for many users. It’s only available on Android for now.

Try now for:

Android

Skype Lite

Microsoft built the minimal Skype Lite platform specifically for the Indian market, but it’s available in North America as well. The unreleased (read: potentially unstable) Android app offers all the essential Skype features — you can message, make audio and video calls, and use it as a VOIP service. Plus, Skype Lite offers an additional intelligent text filter to help reduce SMS clutter, and a data saver mode for making calls over a cellular network.

Try now for:

Android

Twitter Lite (PWA)

You might end up using Twitter Lite without recognizing it — the PWA is Twitter’s standard mobile web platform, available at mobile.twitter.com. You can also access it by downloading the Twitter Lite app on Android in over 45 markets with heavy mobile usage (including Ghana, Turkey, Ukraine and many more).  The app is designed to load quickly on 2G and 3G networks, offers a data saver mode to download only images and videos you want to see, and only takes up 3MB of space.

Try now for:

Android Mobile

Google Photos (PWA)

Google updated its Photos site in June 2018 to operate as a web app, allowing both Android and iOS users to use a quick-loading version of the service simply by heading to photos.google.com. What’s more, you can add it your home screen on Android by traveling to the app in Chrome, going to the top right menu button and tapping on “Add to Home screen.” The PWA doesn’t have push notifications yet, but you can upload photos, view shared photos, create albums, and do most things you would in the full app.

Try now for:

Mobile

Files Go

Files Go is a storage manager from Google, and it’s particularly useful for those with minimal smartphone storage. It provides recommendations for files to erase, makes it easy to delete collections of data in a single tap, and provides other tools for managing and viewing storage space. It also offers offline file sharing via Bluetooth that’s similar to Apple’s AirDrop functionality. It’s available globally on Android.

Try now for:

Android

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best Android apps (October 2018)
• Here are the 20 best travel apps for vacations and trips
• The best photo-editing apps for Android and iOS
• The best yoga apps for iPhone and Android
• The best augmented-reality apps for Android and iOS

How to turn off Safe Mode in Tumblr

Although it’s not as mainstream as Facebook or Twitter, the social network Tumblr is popular — particularly among younger generations — as a place to share and explore artwork, music, and ideas. It’s also a place to find some more … salacious material. The seedy underbelly of Tumblr is home to various blogs and pieces of art that could be called “adult,” and while Tumblr has gained a lot of notoriety for its adult content, new users won’t necessarily find it right off the bat. If you’ve recently created a Tumblr account, your account will, by default, have “Safe Search” turned on, keeping innocent eyes away from naughty blogs.

Further reading

How to get followers on Tumblr

Best free blogging websites

If you’re an adult who wants the pure, uncut Tumblr experience — or maybe you just have an uncontrollable lust for Bowsette fan art — you can take the training wheels off and ride into a world of forbidden delights. Here’s how to turn off Safe Search in Tumblr.

Disabling Safe Search in your browser

If you typically view Tumblr in your desktop browser, pull up the site and log in as you normally would.

Step 1: Once logged in, click the icon that resembles a person in the upper-right corner of your dashboard.

Step 2: From the drop-down menu, click Settings.

Step 3: Look for the field marked Filtering, with a button next to it labeled Safe Search. Click this button to disable Safe Search.

Disabling Safe Search on your mobile device

If you prefer to browse Tumblr using your mobile device, the process for disabling Safe Search is just as simple.

Step 1: Launch the Tumblr app as you would normally.

Step 2: Select the humanoid icon in the bottom-right corner.

Step 3: Tap the gear icon in the upper-right corner to access the Accounts menu.

Step 4: Select General Settings at the top of the resulting menu.

Step 5: Scroll down to Filtering, and tap it.

Step 6: You should now see a field labeled Safe Mode. If the button beside it is blue, that means Safe Mode is currently enabled. Tap the button to disable the feature.

That’s it! You should now be free to explore the strange, sometimes titillating world of NSFW Tumblr. Beware, however! Wandering through the dark, cavernous netherworld of NSFW Tumblr, you may see things that you can never erase from your mind. Proceed at your own risk.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How to get followers on Tumblr
• How to clear cookies
• New to Snapchat? Follow our guide and go from newbie to pro
• How to delete a Netflix profile from your account
• How to change your Twitter username and display name

Samsung Galaxy Book 2 vs. Surface Pro 6

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

If you’re looking for a premium Windows 2-in-1, both the Surface Pro 6 and the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 might be appealing for you.

Each of these devices shares a similar form factor and design, but be it LTE connectivity or difference in pricing there are disadvantages and advantages to both. In this comparison, we’re stacking the two against each other to help you choose the one that is best for your money.

Design

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Surface Pro 6 and the Galaxy Book 2 both share a few design elements, most notably the kickstand, weight, and dimensions. Both feel premium to hold, but Surface Pro 6 is made of magnesium, whereas the Galaxy Book 2 is made of aluminum. The difference in materials makes for subtle differences in how it looks too. The magnesium on the Surface Pro 6 means for more dull and rough edges, whereas the aluminum on the Galaxy Book 2 makes for shiny edges that make the device pop. The kickstand is also the same between the two, sturdy enough to make typing comfortable.

As for the displays, it is hard to beat Samsung’s Super AMOLED panel. The Surface Pro 6 comes in with a 12.3-inch display with 2,736 x 1,824 resolution and 267 pixels per inch. On the Galaxy Book 2, the display is smaller at 12 inches, but with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,440 or 216 pixels per inch. Samsung might be packing fewer pixels per inch, but the Super AMOLED panel makes for vibrant and bright images. We won’t know for sure until we properly test the display, but these are two very high-quality panels.

Just like the display, the keyboards also make a difference between the models. The keyboard on the Surface Pro 6 is great, with no cramps to deal with when typing. However, it is not included in the $900 pricing. With the Galaxy Book 2, both the keyboard and pen are included in the $1000 price, ensuring that you’ll get the most out of Windows 10 without any extra purchases. We found the typing experience on the Galaxy Book 2 keyboard feels equal to the Surface Pro 6, providing solid room for travel when speed typing.

Performance

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The big catch between the Surface Pro 6 and the Galaxy Book 2 is the processors, configurations, and connectivity. The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 starts at $1,000 and sports 4GB RAM, a 128GB SSD, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 processor. On the other hand, the Surface Pro 6 comes with options for a quad-core 8th-gen Intel Core i5 processor an Intel Core i7 processor with 8GB or 16GB RAM, or 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. The base-level $900 Surface Pro 6 comes with the Core i5-8250U processor, which we found was good enough for running more intense software.

For the Surface Pro 6, you’re getting a much more powerful processor, for tasks like photo and video editing, The Galaxy Book 2’s Qualcomm processor, on the other hand, has less horsepower. Though we haven’t yet fully benchmarked the device, we’d be surprised to find it as powerful as the Core i5. Not to mention that the Galaxy Book 2 ships with Windows 10 Home in S mode, so you’ll initially be limited to just apps in the Windows Store. Switching to regular Windows 10 is free, but with a lot of the Qualcomm drivers being proprietary, there might be performance issues.

However, what the Galaxy Book 2 might lack in performance, it leaps ahead in terms of connectivity. The Snapdragon 850 provides the device with LTE, which means it’s always being connected to the internet. On top of that, it also has two USB-C ports, which the Surface Pro 6 lacks.

Portability

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 comes in at 0.30 inches thick and 1.75 pounds in weight. That is roughly the same as the Surface Pro 6 which comes in at 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches and 1.70 pounds. The weight is pretty common on these devices, as is the thickness. Neither is as light as an iPad Pro, but both are still comfortable to hold as a tablet and easy to throw in a bag and travel with.

We’re also going to warn about battery life here, as the differences are significant. In our testing with the Surface Pro 6, we got to about 9.5 hours of web browsing and 14 hours of watching videos. Samsung talks up a big 20-hour battery life for the Galaxy Book 2, but we haven’t tested that as yet. In our initial hands-on time with the device, we were given a unit with a 67 percent charge, and it held up for a full hour and a half of web browsing. The Qualcomm processor on board is similar to what is found in phones, so it should provide better standby time and longer battery when on the road.

Go for power and buy the Surface Pro 6

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

There’s still more to know about the Galaxy Book 2. We haven’t yet tested important metrics such as the battery life, processor performance, and display quality. But for now, it’s not hard to see where the device pulls ahead of the Surface Pro 6. The built-in LTE connection and bundled-in accessories make it a more versatile device right when you pull it out of the box.

However, the Surface Pro 6 offers up more powerful specs for not too much more money. For those looking for a proper laptop replacement, it is the more capable PC.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Surface Pro 6 vs. Surface Go
• Surface Pro 6 vs. Surface Pro 5
• Surface Go vs. Surface Pro
• Surface Pro 6 vs. iPad Pro
• Google Pixel Slate vs. Microsoft Surface Pro 6

How to take great photos with the iPhone XS, Apple’s finest camera phone yet

Andy Boxall/DigitalTrends

Your iPhone takes great pictures, almost regardless of the one you have in your pocket right now. If you’re fortunate enough to have the new iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, then both represent the pinnacle of Apple’s camera technology, and you’re assured of excellent performance.

We’ve been using the iPhone XS Max since it launched, and we adore the photos it takes. However, as with all smartphones, it’s important to know how to get the best from them before heading out to take pictures.

Here’s our hands-on guide to getting the best from your iPhone XS camera.

Camera specs

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Worried the iPhone XS Max may take better photos than the iPhone XS, or vice versa? Don’t be, because they both have exactly the same camera on the back. What applies to one, applies to the other.

What do you get? A dual-lens 12-megapixel camera made up of a main wide-angle lens with an f/1.8 aperture, and a second telephoto lens with an f/2.4 aperture. The sensor is larger than the one used for the iPhone X, measuring 1.4nm. This provides a 2x optical zoom, and has dual optical image stabilization, a Smart HDR feature, and a portrait mode. It will also record video at up to 4K resolution and 60fps, in stereo. The front camera has 7 megapixels and an f/2.2 aperture, 1080p video recording at up to 60fps, and it also offers a portrait mode, although here it’s purely software driven.

Getting started

You know where the camera icon is on the iPhone’s homepage, but do you know the various ways to quickly access the camera from the lock screen? There are two. The first is to simply slide your finger from the right to the left of the lock screen, and the camera viewfinder automatically appears. Alternatively, one of the two shortcut buttons Apple places on the lock screen — it’s the one on the right — opens the camera app straight away. We like this method, as it has a pleasing amount of haptic feedback when you press the button.

There are two ways to actually take a photo, too. The shutter release button is obvious, but you can also use the volume up key on the side of the device to snap a photo.

The camera app

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The iPhone’s standard camera app is one of the easiest to use, and one that doesn’t get bogged down with many features you will never use. All the modes are spread across the screen under the viewfinder window, and you swipe left or right to select them. Flip to the front camera using the button in the bottom right of the screen, which is opposite a shortcut to the Gallery. Along the top, there are two options you should pay attention to: Filters and Live Photo. Tap Live Photo to shoot a short, animated GIF-style picture, or tap the Filter button — the far right button — to show real-time filters.

Smart HDR

This is one of the new technologies introduced by Apple for the iPhone XS range. It makes use of software, a new image signal processor (ISP), the A12 Bionic chip and its Neural engine, along with the various camera sensors inside the phone. Like all the best tech, it’s “silent,” in that you don’t really need to do anything to see the benefits.

Initially, you should make sure Smart HDR is active. Go to Settings, Camera, and then look for the toggle next to the Smart HDR option. Make sure it’s active. While you’re there, if you switch Keep Normal Photo on, then both a regular and a Smart HDR image will be saved to your camera roll. It’ll take up more storage space, but you’ll be able to see the differences between the two shots. Remember, the Smart HDR version may not always be the best.

Andy Boxall/DigitalTrends

What is Smart HDR? It’s an evolution of the iPhone’s old HDR mode, but here it combines nine photos taken in succession at different exposures, then using hardware and software wizardry, it analyses them, takes the best parts of each, and then puts them all together to create a single image. HDR brings out more detail, avoids nasty shadows, and balances highlights. The clever part is, even though it shoots multiple images, you will never notice any lag or time delay taking your photo.

It’s worth noting that when Smart HDR is active, Apple tends to use it to some degree in every photo the phone takes. If you save a normal photo too, you will see the difference it makes more clearly. If you don’t, the HDR badge above the photo in the Gallery may not show unless the HDR effect is at maximum. We suggest leaving it on and letting the camera do its stuff. The difference it makes is considerable.

Depth of field, or adjust that blur

Portrait mode has been improved on the iPhone XS and XS Max, bringing an adjustable depth of field that was never available before on the iPhone. While we have seen the feature on other devices that can generate a bokeh effect, it’s the first time Apple has given us control over the final photo, and the good news is that it’s also available in both the front and the back camera.

Andy Boxall/DigitalTrends

It’s very easy to use. Open the camera and select Portrait mode from the options running beneath the viewfinder. Next, point the camera at a person, or an object, and tap on it in the viewfinder to focus. This step isn’t always necessary, but it does help ensure you get the photo you’re after. We’ve found the image you see at this stage, isn’t always exactly representative of the final product, which is a software problem that may be fixed in later versions. Just make sure you take the photo and check it in the gallery regardless of how it first looks on screen.

Take your picture, and view it in the Gallery app. Tap Edit in the top right of the screen, and look for a sliding scale along the bottom labeled Depth. Swipe left or right on this scale to change the aperture, which increases or decreases the amount of background blur. You can scale between f/1.4 and f/16. The iPhone denotes the aperture it took the photo at with a small dot above the relevant point on the scale.

Andy Boxall/DigitalTrends

It’s the same process when you take a photo with the selfie camera. Additionally, when editing, you can also select one of Apple’s Portrait Lighting modes. There are five available, and they can produce great effects, depending on your subject and how well the phone has picked out the edges. As with all editing, you may decide the original is best but it’s fun to play around.

Live Photo effects

Introduced in iOS 11, these fun effects are a little hidden away, so although they’re not new, it’s worth pointing them out, especially if you’re a newcomer to iOS and the iPhone. Activate Live Photo using the circular button along the top of the screen in the camera app. It’s second from the left.

Andy Boxall/DigitalTrends

When you’ve taken your Live Photo, head over to the Gallery and select it. Next, swipe up on the photo — which will be labeled Live in the top left corner — to reveal three alternative styles: Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure. Tap to select, and see how it changes your Live Photo. You can also edit them in the usual way, including removing the audio, and adding a filter.

Stereo video recording

Photography isn’t the phone’s only strong point. Video is great, too. The iPhone XS and XS Max have four microphones and these can be used to record stereo audio in video and it can be played back on the device’s own stereo speakers. This all happens automatically provided you ensure one setting is correct. Go to Settings, Camera, and provided the Record Stereo Sound option is switched on, you’re good to go.

Now that you’re prepared, go out and shoot awesome pictures with your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max.

Editors’ Recommendations

• iPhone XS Max review
• Apple iPhone XS vs. iPhone XS Max vs. iPhone XR
• How to buy the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR in the U.K.
• Master your iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max with our favorite tips and tricks
• iPhone XS review

Motorola One review: Nice phone, but not the one for me

The Motorola One is Motorola’s new mid-range offering, positioned just above its G range but just below the Z series. It costs 269 pounds (~$355) here in the U.K., and brings a set of fairly middling specs, a nice design, and importantly, Android One.

There are so many excellent mid-range Android devices around right now, so let’s take a closer look in this Motorola One review at whether this one brings anything new to the table.

One great thing: the software

Let’s start with something positive. Android One brings a clean, stock-like Android experience, with guaranteed, rapid updates. This marriage of OS and service is partly what has helped make phones like the Nokia 7 Plus so popular.

While there are always people in the comments section willing to defend the various Android skins and their merits, stock implementations of Android tend to run faster, especially on underpowered hardware. There’s less bloat and fewer “extras” running on top of the UI. Compare the performance of two identical hardware set-ups, and the stock version will generally perform better.

I’m surprised Android One hasn’t made its way onto more mid-range devices

Stock Android devices also get updates faster. OEMs need to make sure their customizations will still work with the new software. For Android One devices, it’s a simple matter of pushing the update to users.

If you’re going to put a middling processor in your smartphone without a ton of RAM, it makes sense to lighten its load as much as possible and ensure it has the very latest version of Android running at all times. This is also typically cheaper for the OEM. There’s no downside — unless you really love a particular feature from EMUI, MIUI, or Color OS.

In this case, you get Android 8.1 out of the box, with monthly security updates and at least two platform updates guaranteed.

I’m very happy to see Android One here. I’m actually surprised it hasn’t made its way onto more devices in fact.

Moto actions let you trigger the torch with a double karate chop

See also

Graduating class: Nexus – Pixel – Android One – Android Go

When Google abandoned the Nexus program a lot of its die-hard fans wanted to know why. Even when the Pixel series first emerged, many of us were still scratching our heads. Now, with the 20/20 …

While this is pretty much stock Android, Moto added a couple of customizations to set it apart. One is the inclusion of “Moto Actions.” These are the same as those found on other Moto devices and let you trigger the flashlight with a double karate chop action for instance, or turn on the camera with a twist of the hand. This works really well and could occasionally come in handy, as long as you don’t end up slinging your device into the floor. As Bruce Lee would say, phones can’t fight back!

Specs and performance

This clean software experience helps performance on the Motorola One make it firmly into the “pretty good” category. It runs on a Snapdragon 625, which is a bit of a drop from the 660 you might find in similarly priced devices.

That’s backed up with a very standard 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage which is expandable by up to 256GB. You’ll also get unlimited photo storage from Google.

Benchmark scores aren’t fantastic here. In Antutu, it only managed to beat 20 percent of users. Remember, this isn’t all that much cheaper than a Pocophone F1 (I’m sure OEMs the world-over are cursing the name Pocophone) or the Kirin 970-sporting Honor Play. The Snapdragon 625 is also inferior to the Helio P60 found in the significantly more affordable Nokia 5.1 Plus.

The hardware affects gaming pretty much as you would expect — I can’t download Asphalt 9 and PUBG is jittery even on lower settings (higher setting options are missing). It also takes forever to load – a good 15 seconds at least (it feels longer when you’re waiting).

Apart from games, it can handle most of what you’d throw at it. Navigating the UI is pretty smooth, though apps occasionally take a second or two to load and the keyboard doesn’t appear quite as instantly as on better hardware.

Even given its lower price, it’s still not great performance. It’s fine for everyday tasks, but not much beyond that.

The phone’s 3,000mAh battery isn’t massive, but it should see you through a day. The TurboPower charging should let you top up 6 hours of battery in just 20 minutes.

The screen is a 5.9-inch IPS LCD with a 19:9 aspect ratio, a hefty notch, and an 85 percent screen-to-body ratio. Unfortunately, it’s only a 720p screen, further hammering home that this isn’t a gaming phone. There’s a single mic at the bottom of the phone. It’s easy to cover up with a finger and only passable in terms of performance and audio quality. This isn’t a media consumption device.

Design and features

The actual design of the Motorola One is pretty nice. It’s glass-backed, which is unusual for the price point, with an attractive black glossy finish, vertical camera arrangement, and indented Motorola logo. It’s pretty slim, very light, and comfortable to hold and use — it actually feels a fair bit smaller than the large screen size might lead you to believe.

The Motorola logo is also a fingerprint sensor. It’s located just where I like and works very quickly.

Speaking of welcome features, there’s also a headphone jack, NFC, and dual SIM. The dual SIM uses “smart learning” to anticipate which SIM card you’ll want to use, based on the time of day and your historical usage. USB Type-C is also here, which isn’t always a given.

There’s no IP rating, which makes sense at this price, though it is splash resistant.

Camera

The rear camera here is a 13MP f/2.0 lens backed up by a 2MP depth sensor. The depth sensor allows for portrait mode shots. Unfortunately the aperture is a little too narrow to pull it off sometimes, but autofocus works well.

The front facing camera is 8MP and has pretty much average performance.

Motorola used its own camera app instead of the stock Android one, bringing some quite interesting features. The color picker tool which lets you turn an image entirely monochrome apart from one color, Sin City style. The cinemagraph effect lets you create a photo with one moving element.

You might have a scene of someone pouring a cup of tea while everyone is frozen around them for instance, or a waterfall that continues to fall even though everything else is static.

These are neat effects, but I couldn’t always get them to work. If you want more camera features,  you can download the G6 camera app from the Play Store, and gain access to the full suit of Moto Actions this way if you so wish.

You can predictably expect a pretty average everyday photography performance here. Images often come out over-exposed in places. Detail is occasionally lacking when you zoom in. Some blurriness creeps in thanks to the lack of optical stabilization (don’t try walking and shooting). Low-light isn’t great. The portrait mode is far from the best implementation. However, it’s not totally awful.

If you’re just using it for everyday snaps, you’ll be fine. Occasionally it will even produce something nice. I always like having things to play around with too. This isn’t the best in class, or its own price bracket. It’s a bit of a disappointment. You can find more samples here.

The camera also has Google Lens built in, which will allow you to do things like finding out where to buy things you see in the world. It’s neat and works a lot better than Bixby, but of course this is not the only place where you will find the app!

Closing comments

So, is the Motorola One competitive at this price range?

Eh.

This is a nice phone. I really like using it thanks to the Android One implementation, the thoughtful additional features, some fun camera choices, and a tidy design.

However, it’s a little underpowered for the price. The screen and mic combo mean it isn’t much fun for consuming media either. While I didn’t mind using it during my review period, I could fall back on my Note 9 for watching YouTube or gaming when needed.

Unfortunately then, it just can’t really compete in terms of value with the likes of the Nokia 7 Plus (which is only about 40 pounds (~$52) more expensive) or the Honor Play (which is 10 pounds (~$13) more). Both have similar middle-of-the-road cameras and equally strong designs, as well as significantly more horsepower and much better screens.

The experience is good — it’s not really Moto’s fault we’ve seen such a massive leap in what we can expect at this price range.

If you really love Android One and you don’t care about gaming or watching Netflix on your device, you’ll probably have a good time here. Just maybe wait for the price to come down a bit first.

Buy from Motorola

Next: Unpacking Google’s role in Android One

Death from above? How we’re preparing for a future filled with weaponized drones

It’s a capacity crowd at the 2019 Super Bowl, and 80,000 football fans have gathered inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium to watch the game. The weather is crystal-clear, so naturally the retractable roof is open. As the halftime show gets underway, a wave of excited chatter rolls through the crowd — a flock of a dozen drones has just dramatically dropped into the stadium, immediately above the headline musical act. Even though none of the early rumors about the halftime show included mentions of a drone element, no one is concerned. After that crazy drone display at the last Olympics, aerial shows like this one seem par for the course.

Without the need for a pilot, a drone launched anywhere within the circle, flying at a speed of 45 MPH, could reach the White House in 10 minutes or less.

Sure enough, the drones begin what looks like a choreographed routine, each of the twelve drones heading out toward the seats in a perfect spoke-like pattern. The only hint that something isn’t going to plan is the fleeting yet visibly startled look on the lead singer’s face. But she’s a pro, and doesn’t miss a single beat.

A moment later, chaos. The drones, each equipped with a small but powerful explosive, have detonated within a few feet of the spectators below. Thousands now sit in their seats, unmoving, slouched over what’s left of the person next to them. Thousands more wander around, dazed, while those furthest from the blasts run, panicked, to the exits. Within a day, a known extremist group claims responsibility for the attack, the deadliest on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Real danger, or hype?

Let’s be clear. The scenario above isn’t the stuff of Hollywood spy movies any longer. Recently, DHS intelligence official, David Glawe, told CBS News that what concerns him the most is ”a weaponized drone threatening the Super Bowl or even the White House.” FBI director Christopher Wray, has also made it clear that drones represents a clear and present danger, telling Congress that, “given their retail availability, lack of verified identification requirement to procure, general ease of use, and prior use overseas, [drones] will be used to facilitate an attack in the United States against a vulnerable target, such as a mass gathering.”

The reality is, anyone with enough time, training, and the necessary bomb-making skills could orchestrate such an attack. Last month, Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro made headlines by coming perilously close to being the first head of state harmed or killed by explosive-bearing drones, when he appeared before a large crowd in Caracas.

“In five minutes, you can program an off-the-shelf drone carrying 20 pounds to fly five miles to a destination, perform its activity, and be done,” Tim Bean, CEO at Fortem Technologies, told Digital Trends. Fortem sells drone detection and remediation products, including the DroneHunter: a drone designed to perform mid-air, disabling attacks on other drones.

In the future, will it be necessary to keep an eye on the sky, and ready to take cover at a moment’s notice from an imminent attack?

“In five minutes, you can program an off-the-shelf drone with 20 lbs, to fly five miles, perform its activity, and be done.”

Companies, and professionals who work in the drone industry, perhaps not surprisingly, tend to downplay the risk presented by drone technology. China’s DJI is the world leader in civilian drones. In 2017 the company’s market share was estimated at 70 percent — miles ahead of its nearest competitor. “What happened in Venezuela raises concerns, and generates questions about what happens with drones,” Adam Lisberg, DJI’s corporate communication director for North America, told Digital Trends.  Though it is believed that two DJI Matrice 600 drones were used in the attack on the Venezuelan president, Lisberg was quick to point out that the vast majority of drone use is safe, and suggested that people’s fear of drones will fade as these devices become more commonplace. “There’s a lot of hype because this is a new technology,” Lisberg said.  “An awful lot of people, if they see a drone for the first time, they assume that it’s spying on them, or assume that it’s dangerous.”

Joshua Ziering, co-founder of commercial drone platform, Kittyhawk, agrees. “The Maduro incident certainly signifies a realization that there is the capability for bad actors to do bad things with drones,” he said. “However, I see a lot more hysteria than I do actual cause for concern.”

Preventing poor piloting

DJI sees poor piloting as the biggest cause for concern. “Most people using drones [recklessly], are probably careless, or clueless, not criminal,” Lisberg said. To address this issue, DJI has added a drone safety quiz to its mobile app, limiting beginner pilots to only the most rudimentary flight functions until they can show a sufficient level of knowledge. The app is also constantly updated with geo-fencing restrictions — information about local no-fly zones. Pilots receive warnings when they are flying near sensitive areas such as airports, and the software will actively prevent the drone from flying inside these zones.

Andrius Aleksandravicius/Getty Images

Ziering is also on-side with DJI’s belief that dangerous drone use is largely the result of ignorance, not malicious intent. “What really keeps me up at night is not the bad actors,” he said, “it’s the second group… the ignorant actors who maybe don’t know the rules and don’t want to harm anybody, but because of their disregard for understanding how this all works, they have a very real chance of harming somebody. There’s far more of them than bad actors.”

It starts with detection

Whether it’s an ignorant pilot, or an individual or group intent on causing harm, all of the experts we spoke to agree: The first step is being able to spot a drone before it causes havoc. Step two is determining whether or not it poses a threat. The third and final step, is taking action to neutralize the threat.

It’s like a license plate for drones, but instead of simply printing a physical ID on the drone itself, each drone broadcasts its ID.

Airborne drones fall into two categories: Those that are being actively piloted from a remote control, and those that are following a set of pre-programmed instructions.

Of all the drones in the air at any one time, most will fall into the first group. They’re remotely piloted, usually benign, and controlled by (hopefully) competent pilots. The drone industry, along with the FAA, which regulates drone use in the United States, is currently working out a framework that would give security forces and law enforcement the ability to differentiate these drones, from ones that might be possible threats. Known as “remote ID,” it’s like a license plate for drones, but instead of simply printing a physical ID on the drone itself, each drone broadcasts its ID.

DJI’s Aeroscope detection system can spot the company’s drones from miles away, yet is small enough to fit in a briefcase.

A year ago, DJI launched a remote identification system that represents the first attempt to establish this license plate concept. Aeroscope, as it’s called, automatically locates and monitors DJI drones flying anywhere within radio range. DJI claims that when equipped with an appropriate set of antennas, Aeroscope can detect the company’s drones up to 50 kilometers away, and can obtain info about these drones in as little as two seconds. Aeroscope can be ordered as a fixed installation, suitable for large, permanent zones like arenas, power plants, or airports, or as a briefcase-based mobile unit, for short term events like political rallies, or outdoor concerts.

It’s a powerful tool, but it’s not a panacea. The fatal flaw here is that Aeroscope only detects DJI-built drones. So how do we identify non-DJI drones? Unfortunately we don’t have a good system in place. While DJI is attempting to make its remote ID system an industry standard, its efforts have not been met with a lot of interest. “Other manufacturers don’t want to adopt that standard because they want their own standard,” Ziering said.

Eyes and ears

Even if Remote ID eventually becomes a standard, we’ll still need a way to detect drones that aren’t broadcasting it. In fact, these are almost certainly the drones we should be paying the most attention to. San Francisco-based DeDrone is one of a handful of companies that have created drone detection and surveillance products that are geared toward this task.

Using the same radio-frequency based techniques as DJI’s Aeroscope, combined with high-resolution video cameras, DeDrone’s DroneTracker platform can not only identify the location of a drone and its pilot, but it also takes an educated guess about the kind of drone it has found, which could help a security team determine the risk. A drone the size of a DJI Mavic Pro poses a far smaller threat than one the size of a FreeFly Alta 8, an octocopter that can carry a 20-pound payload. The goal, according to Pablo Estrada, DeDrone’s vice president of marketing, is to “make intelligent decisions about what’s happening in the airspace and display it to the user.” From there, it’s up to the security team to decide what their next steps should be.

Dedrone

Radio-frequency scanning on its own isn’t enough. Many drones can be set to follow a preset course using only GPS to guide them. “That’s called flying on the waypoint,” Bean said. “When you fly on a waypoint, the drone is not emitting any radio frequency — no RF, there’s no joystick, there’s nothing to jam, there’s nothing to intercept. It’s just listening to the GPS.” A drone flying on a waypoint represents a very credible threat. “These are called RF-dark drones,” Bean said, “and they are the tools of people with ill intent.”

These are called RF-dark drones, and they are the tools of people with ill intent.

Detecting these RF-dark drones requires radar. Trouble is, conventional radar, like the kind used at airports or military installations just isn’t designed for drone detection. “It’s topology challenged,” Bean said, “so it can’t see through a building, and it can’t see other side of a hill.” In a crowded, urban environment, this is a severe constraint. Conventional radar installations are big, expensive, and can emit a lot of energy, which poses a health risk. “If you stand in front of it, it will kill you.”

Fortem Technologies has created its own specialized radar module called TrueView, specifically for tracking drones. It’s small enough to be mounted on a drone, so it can even be used as an air-to-air tracker. It’s a low power system, and it’s also cheap enough that a facility like a stadium could install enough of them to give itself a 360-degree view of the surrounding airspace. “No one flies below our radar,” Bean said.

Downing a drone

Once a drone has been detected, and deemed a threat, it’s time to decide how to deal with it.

This is where things get dicey. Under the current FAA rules, even law enforcement personnel cannot legally shoot down a drone. “Shooting down a drone has the same consequences, legally and technically speaking, as bringing down an airliner or a Cessna,” Jeffery Antonelli, an expert in drone law, told Popular Mechanics.

A recent 1,200-page FAA Reauthorization Bill, however, is looking to change this, and would “give the Department of Homeland Security and FBI the right to track and down drones that they deem a ‘credible threat’ to a ‘covered facility or asset,’” according to NBC News.

Even if it eventually becomes legal for authorities to do so, perhaps the biggest reason not to shoot a drone with a gun, is it’s simply not that easy. Even trained snipers, under controlled conditions, struggle to hit a flying drone. In a densely-packed urban environment, a shot that misses a drone could easily become a shot that hits a bystander.

Georges Gobet/Getty Images

This has prompted companies to develop other forms of “kinetic” responses to unwanted drones. You may have seen videos of trained eagles grabbing drones out of the air, their sharp talons acting like grappling hooks on the drone’s landing gear. It’s a spectacular display of animal aerobatics, and when successful, the raptor drags the target drone to a safe location. Unfortunately they can’t always be relied on to do the job.

Because a netted drone will fall, it could be dangerous to use a net gun over crowds or other sensitive locations.

So-called “net guns,” like the SkyWall 100, are a non-lethal alternative to shotguns and rifles. These weapons fire cartridges at up to 100 MPH, which then expand into nets to envelope the target drone. Once tangled, the drone falls to the ground. The gun’s range is limited — usually no more than 100 meters — and is slow to reload. Additionally, because a netted drone will fall, it could be dangerous to use a net gun over crowds or other sensitive locations.

Another solution is to mount a net gun to a drone. Fortem’s DroneHunter, is an autonomous, radar-equipped drone, that is armed with a tethered net gun. It’s the airborne equivalent of “the good guy with a gun” defense. In the best case scenario, a DroneHunter captures its target, and tows it to a safe distance. This outcome is not guaranteed, The DroneHunter is limited to one shot per mission, making accuracy and precision critical to success.

A variation on this idea is Malou Tech’s Drone Interceptor MP200, a multi-rotor aircraft that drags a large net as it flies. The goal is to tangle a target drone in the net, but aerodynamic drag created by the net itself makes the MP200 much less maneuverable than its prey, and there’s always the risk that the net could be become caught on an object, downing the MP200 instead.

So are any of these kinetic responses reliable? Ziering has his doubts. “If you give me a drone,” he said, “I’m relatively sure that I could defeat most kinetic solutions very easily.”

Jammers and hackers

You don’t necessarily have to use physical force to eliminate a drone. Electronic countermeasures can be effective from a considerable distance, and they aren’t limited by quantity of ammunition. “Currently, the most effective technique is some type of a radio frequency jamming device,” Estrada said. It is suspected that such a device was used in Caracas to prevent those drones from reaching their target.

It is suspected that a radio frequency jamming device was used in Caracas to prevent those drones from reaching their target.

Unfortunately, jamming a venue the size of a stadium would invariably interfere with much more than just hostile drones. Were this kind of jamming to interfere with GPS or other aviation signals, it could be catastrophic.

It is possible, however, to aim a jamming signal at specific target. DeDrone is currently partnered with Battelle, the maker of the DroneDefender, a rifle-like electronic jammer that can disrupt a drone’s GPS reception, as well as the pilot’s remote control. Using the DroneDefender against a drone is almost like using a tractor beam from Star Trek, if Battelle’s YouTube videos are an accurate portrayal. They show soldiers safely forcing a drone to land, by maintaining a constant bead on the drone with a DroneDefender. Australian company DroneShield, makes a similar device, called the DroneGun. One of these devices was likely the “anti-drone” gun used on the set of Game of Thrones, to keep spies from taking photos of the HBO production.

Someone armed with the DroneDefender would need to be able to see their quarry, and be within 400 meters. Multiple, simultaneous targets would require multiple personnel armed with DroneDefenders, who could be deployed to an appropriate set of locations in time to intercept the drones before they reach their destinations. This makes it a last line of defense – one that’s hard to use in darkness, or in any conditions that make visibility difficult.

Battelle DroneDefender®

In an ideal world, law enforcement would have the ability to take control of a threatening drone without the need to jam its communication. Adam Lisberg doubts that such a thing is possible, at least with DJI’s drones. “You can never rule out anything in the technological arms race,” he said, “but we’ve never heard of a situation in which someone could be able to truly take control [of our drones]. Our drones are designed to be controlled only by the person who’s holding the controller.”

Nonetheless, this kind of remote-commandeering is exactly what a company called Department 13 claims it can do.  Its “Mesmer” technology can listen for, and take control of, any drone within range of its antennas. “By adapting to the protocol used to control a drone,” the company’s website says, “Mesmer inserts messages that tell the drone to exit a restricted airspace, return home, or land in a predetermined safe zone.” Department 13 says Mesmer can also scale up, to address multi-drone swarms. Italian company Finmeccanica, claims its Falcon Shield system can do the same thing.  It sounds like an excellent solution, albeit one with a potentially frightening down-side should the technology ever fall into the hands of the people we’re trying to defend against. The other problem with Mesmer is that it’s not effective against RF-dark drones. With no remote control signals sent to these drones, there’s nothing for Mesmer to hear or adapt to.

Flying in the face of danger

Both DeDrone and Fortem claim that their respective technologies have proven successful in the field, but neither company was willing to provide concrete proof. Estrada points out that his company has been used to protect against drone threats two years in a row at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. When we asked if DeDrone had managed to detect and help neutralize a drone threat at the conference, Estrada declined to comment.

Tim Bean was similarly coy about Fortem’s results. He claimed he didn’t have the rights to tell us about his clients, or to quote their experiences. “It is deployed, it is working, it is doing what it’s designed to do,” he said.

We may simply have to accept a world in which we add the threat of a dangerous drone to an already worrisome list.

The technology to detect, classify, and neutralize nefarious drones exists. It’s already being used to secure sensitive installations, like power plants, large sporting and entertainment venues, airports, and government buildings. High-profile events, like presidential inaugurations, royal weddings, or even the Olympics will also benefit from a heightened airspace awareness and ready countermeasures.

There’s even some hope that we’ll be able to monitor larger areas too. DeDrone and AT&T recently partnered to extend drone surveillance over areas the size of a city, but reliably protecting a busy city intersection, a school playground, or even a busy mall parking lot from a random drone attack will likely prove difficult.

In the end, we may simply have to accept a world in which we add the threat of a dangerous drone to an already worrisome list that includes mass shooters with large capacity magazines, bombs, and people who are willing to use vehicles as weapons.

For now, we’ll have to rely on lawmakers to ensure that our legal frameworks find the right balance between protecting the incredible opportunities and innovations that the drone industry is creating, and protecting the lives that will hang in the balance when this technology is inevitably used to cause harm. Let’s hope that’s not a flight of fancy.

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• DJI’s new Mavic drones are here, and they’re even better than we expected

Behind the unsettling sci-fi landscapes of Simon Stalenhag’s ‘Electric State’

A boxy blue car, like the old Volvo my dad used to drive, sits parked in a desolate lot in one of Simon Stålenhag’s dystopian illustrations. Fastened to its roof rack is a kayak. A young woman in white sweatpants, a hooded leather jacket, and red backpack stands on a nearby hill.

It’s a familiar scene from my 90’s childhood — except the girl is holding hands with a bobble-headed robot and staring up at four animatronic ducks riddled with bullet holes from some recent wargame. One of the duck’s heads is blasted straight through. Dust gathers in the distance. As with a lot of Stålenhag’s work, it’s a haunting image that carries an air of tranquility. The focal point isn’t the devastated ducks but the gentle embrace of the human and her robot.

It’s been a big year for Stålenhag, a Swedish digital artist who’s gained something of a cult (and Kickstarter) following for his evocative depictions of rural and suburban landscapes mixed with eerie science fiction elements. In July, it was announced that Amazon Studios would adapt his breakout artbook, Tales from the Loop (2015), into a television series. In September, Stålenhag’s most recent work, The Electric State (2017), was released in the United States.

The narrative artbook follows the journey of a young traveler, Michelle, and her robot, Skip, as they head west to the Pacific coast through an alternative America torn apart by civil war and the trappings of military-grade virtual reality. Along their journey they encounter colossal warships that loom over the horizon like metal mountains and dead VR addicts still plugged into their headsets. Set in the 90s, the story mixes one-part nostalgia with one-part sci-fi into a captivating cocktail.

We spoke to Stålenhag about his inspiration for the book, his creative process, and whether he considers The Electric State a cautionary tale. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

With Amazon purchasing rights to Tales from the Loop, knowledge of your work has gone more mainstream. But, for people who aren’t familiar, how would you how would you describe the scenes you create?

Simon Stålenhag: My art is basically science-fiction-themed landscape painting. I try to approach scenes as if they’re real, as if I’m actually seeing these things. I’m more inspired by landscape artists and wildlife art than science fiction art. Although, I am also very inspired by science fiction.

When did you decide to place robots and spaceships into images of rolling hills?

I started with landscape and wildlife art. I drew birds and Swedish wildlife when I was a kid. That was my big passion. I always wanted to paint things that I see in my everyday life. And then I started working in the video game industry and I learned to draw all these the robot and monsters and science fiction themed stuff, and it just kind of bubbled out while I was doing the landscape.

I’ve had two passions, really. I had landscape and wildlife interests, and then rediscovered all these science fiction classics of the 80s, of my childhood, when I was in my early 20s. All the nostalgia of that era. It’s like I wanted to do two projects — one science fiction and one landscape — but I didn’t have time, so I had to combine them. It always felt natural to mix them together.

That’s one of the aspects that makes your work so gripping — it combines real, nostalgic, sort of rural settings with a kind of a high-tech alternative reality. It’s foreign things surrounded by the familiar.

Yeah, it’s like a two-part trick. The natural and familiar elements are like a trick to get you to buy into this science fiction stuff. But also, in terms of my own passions, I kind of use the science fiction stuff to trick people into seeing the ordinary stuff. Like, Oh yeah that’s how those cars looked like. To me, I’m not sure which part of it I enjoy the most or which part I want people to look at the most. Sometimes it’s the regular stuff, the ordinary and everyday items that I want people to look bit extra at. Sometimes you have to use some tricks to get people to do that.

What comes first for your creative process? Is it the story or the scene?

Most of the time it’s actually music. I make music playlists and I kind of see it play out as a film. I scrape the whole concept, the whole aesthetic from the playlist. With The Electric State I made this 90’s alternative rock playlist with Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson and Rage [Against the Machine]. A wide variety of music that spoke to the characters and attitude I wanted use. My previous books were much more the 80s and early 90s, more of that kind of innocent childhood nostalgia. With the Electric State I wanted to do something that was grungier and more about alienated youth culture. This is basically my Kurt Cobain book.

At one point I actually called main character “Negative Creep,” from the Nirvana song. I put that character in this creepy, weird version of the mid-90s U.S. This was before I did the actual research and the actual road trip that Michelle goes on in the book. I did the three-week road trip with my wife and mom. I wasn’t sure what exact landscapes and what exact settings I would use, but I knew I was going to see stuff that was going to fill my head and make me want to paint. I already had the character and the mood.

You’ve said previously that your work is very personal to you. I’m curious how the character Michelle develops as a personal character. You took this road trip, so that has a personal element but I’m wondering if there’s more.

The road trip was like the opposite of the book. It was a very happy experience. We were kind of singing along in the car. But the personal experience that I drew from were my own teenage years. When it comes to her story and memory flashbacks, they weren’t autobiographical but I’ve been on those similar situations. I wasn’t a foster kid and I didn’t have it as bad as she had it, but I’m a divorce kid and I kind of try to draw from those experiences of feeling abandoned.

The relationship with Skip was inspired by my older sister who took care of me when our parents divorced. She was eight years older than me and she was a taking care of me and my older brother. I wanted get that love into the book but place it in a very dark world. You can’t have everything be gloomy and dystopian. To me it has to have some kind of hope. That was the challenge — to make that relationship seem real.

With the backdrop of gloom in the story, it really magnifies things like hope and love. It makes them kind of pop.

Yeah, in a way it became easier to make that stand out because having a very grim setting and then having this girl speaking very compassionately to the tin-can robot.

I’m curious about your idea behind Sentre, the conglomerate that sells VR headsets to consumers but is also a part of the military industrial complex. Where did your idea for this company come from?

Sentre was inspired by the way a lot of our information technology, like the internet and computers, seem to come from the defense budget. We wouldn’t have this technology if it wasn’t for some defense projects back in the 50s or 60s. I wanted to mirror how cell phones and the internet became a consumer commodity but how they came from something else. How they came from within the war machine.

It’s meant to be satirical in a way. I wanted to make fun of the mid-90’s crazy boom in consumer information technology and all the advertising and the general tone of the home consumer electronics tech that we were flooded with in that era. I wanted to have fun with that aesthetic and make it into a kind of zombie thing.

Is the story a cautionary tale?

It’s more of a satire. It’s not too serious. There is a serious threat inherent in our technology but it’s almost cliché by now. Nuclear energy is a source of energy but you could also destroy the planet. Social media is a similar thing. It connects people in oppressed parts of the world and it can be used for good and bad. Right now it feels like it’s out of control and used in undemocratic ways. But this book isn’t about that. It’s more satirical.

But I am scared by technology and the way it’s used right now. I also don’t think there’s any other way out of our problems. I think technology is the only way to go. We just have to learn and get better at using it responsibly. I’m not the person to say how that should be done. But that’s the big question and problem of our age.  I sometimes feel like if I really would have wanted to address that problem, I wouldn’t do a book like The Electric State, which is much more personal. It’s about family. The backdrop of a dystopian high-tech world is just the way I do it.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a very proper post-apocalyptic work. It’s claustrophobic, much more confined, set in a bunker. We get to see some flashbacks. But it’s much more of a war traumatized world. My main idea right now is to capture the confusion of all of the trauma of the apocalypse and try to get stories about some characters. It’s definitely a darker story than the Electric State.

When do you think you’ll release that?

Hopefully late next year.

Do you have a working title?

Right now it’s called the Labyrinth.

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Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA review

Research Center:

Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA

There are legitimate reasons to spend over a thousand bucks on a laptop, whether it’s cutting-edge industrial design or durable build quality. But each year, the reasons are fewer and fewer.

The Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA, which starts at $800, is yet another point against extravagantly expensive laptops.

Its predecessors have long been our go-to recommendation at this price point, and Asus has followed it up with a worthy successor. With a quad-core processor, a lightweight build, and ambitious battery life claims, is the UX331UA the little ZenBook that could?

Finding the right balance

Set the ZenBook 13 UX331UA next to a Surface Laptop 2, MacBook Pro, or Dell XPS 13, and you’ll immediately see the difference. All three might be thin and silver on the outside, but a discerning eye will spot where Asus cut costs. Everything from the shiny, concentric style of the lid to the plastic bezels feels, well, cheap – because it is less expensive.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

But that’s comparing apples and oranges.

Unlike those expensive devices, the ZenBook 13 lands at just $800, which happens to be right in the price range most people consider affordable. At that price, the ZenBook 13 fits in with its contemporaries, offering a modern design. We like the look of the Lenovo Yoga S730 and IdeaPad 530S better, but the ZenBook is right behind them.

Asus delivered a fantastic typing experience; we found ourselves typing quicker and more accurately on the UX330A

Weight and thickness are where this ZenBook really shines. At just 2.5 pounds and 0.55 inches thick, the ZenBook 13 is lighter and thinner than a MacBook Pro! It’s not the champion in this area. Compared to competitors in the same price, the $800 Lenovo Yoga S730 is slightly thinner and lighter. However, the Zenbook handily beats the affordable HP Envy 13t, or the Dell Inspiron 13 7000. It’s also lighter than the Dell XPS 13, though only just.

Though thin and light, the ZenBook 13 doesn’t feel flimsy. There are spots in the keyboard deck where there’s some flex if you push hard, but you have to go looking for this flaw to notice it. The hinge, meanwhile, feels sturdy and can be opened with one finger.

The ZenBook 13 has a standard array of ports, including an HDMI port, USB-C port, two USB-A 3.1 ports, and a miniSD card slot. That’s a bit of something for everyone. We’d prefer a USB-C charging port over the proprietary barrel plug, but that’s our only complaint, and it’s not one most its competitors solve.

You can have a good keyboard on a budget

The keyboard is a crucial area of the laptop where Asus could have cut quality. Instead, Asus has delivered a fantastic typing experience. We found ourselves typing quicker and more accurately than on lower-travel keyboards like the MacBook Pro. The bottoming action feels right in the sweet spot of firm without being stiff.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

As much as we enjoyed the keyboard, we do have one complaint. The function row of keys at the top of the deck require holding down one of the function keys to work. It’s a nitpick, but it required for accessing things like volume and brightness control. This is a common laptop tactic that makes accidental presses less likely, but we prefer immediate access without having to tap the function key.

The touchpad lets the keyboard down and is the laptop’s biggest flaw. It’s useable, but the tracking of precise movement often feels off. The touchpad seems to lack crisp response, leaving an ambiguous grey area between a tap, a drag, and a click. While it’s a Windows Precision touchpad, gestures like two-finger swipes felt clumsy, as did precise controls like selecting text.

Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA Compared To

Razer Blade Stealth (2017)

Lenovo Yoga 720 13-inch

Toshiba Portege Z30-C1310

Asus ZenBook UX305

Asus Zenbook UX301LA

ASUS Zenbook Prime UX32VD

Acer Aspire S5

Sony Vaio S Premium 13.3-inch

Lenovo IdeaPad U310

Toshiba Portege Z835

HP Folio 13

Asus Zenbook UX31

Asus U36Jc

Sony Vaio S Series

Sharp M4000

The ZenBook 13 UX331UA does not include a touchscreen, a 360 display, or stylus support, instead opting for a traditional laptop experience.

Not perfect, but a beautiful display

Displays on laptops under $1,000 tend to be dull, and over-saturated. Most of the ZenBook 13 UX331UA’s contemporaries do poorly, whether that’s the Acer Swift 3 or the Lenovo IdeaPad 530S. Asus has, on the other hand, continues to defy the odds and include excellent displays in its ZenBook 13 laptops. In fact, this 13.3-inch, Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS display is one of the better screens we’ve ever tested, especially in several key categories.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

The first is contrast. The UX331UA has a high contrast ratio and fantastic black levels. That makes it a perfect screen for watching movies, as the lighting appears just as the director of the film intended it to be. Go ahead and watch a horror film with the lights turned out on this laptop — we dare you.

The color gamut and accuracy also impress. In fact, it’s not a bad option for an amateur photographer looking for a display they can trust. That’s not something we can say about most mid-range laptops.

The only real problem with the UX331UA’s display is brightness. It maxed out at 256 nits in our reading, which is a bit under our preferred minimum of 300. Most competitors offer a brighter display. That said, we found brightness adequate in most situations, even under the bright lights of our office. Credit the matte screen, which reduces glare.

The speakers are weaker. They’re down-firing, which isn’t ideal for clarity or volume, and the ZenBook 13 has problem offering enough of either. Most owners will want to rely on headphones or external speakers.

Great performance for the price

The ZenBook 13 UX331UA comes with an Intel Core i5-8250U processor, which is the same chip we saw in the previous UX330UA. It’s a fast, nimble processor, and the perfect fit for a $800 laptop like this one. It multitasks like a champ, even if your typical workload includes dozens of open tabs, running applications, and streaming music simultaneously. At no point did we wish for a Core i7 instead.

Looking at the results of a synthetic benchmark like Geekbench, the UX331UA outpaces many laptops with the same processor, especially in multi-core performance. Results were middling in the Handbrake test, which measures how long it takes the laptop to encode a 4K video. It’s in tasks like that where the higher clock speeds of laptops with a Core i7 can flex their muscles.

You should note this ZenBook’s chip is part of the Kaby Lake-R series, announced in late 2017, and not the Core i5-8265U from the newer Whisky Lake series. While we don’t expect that to greatly change day-to-day performance, it’s missing a couple of features such as gigabyte Wi-Fi and a (supposed) increased battery life.

Fortnite won’t play well without turning the settings all the way down, but you could play a light game like Rocket League. 

The storage included on the UX331UA is one area where a sacrifice had to be made. Although it’s a solid-state drive, the Micron 1100 in our test unit connected over the SATA standard instead of the faster PCIe connection. Compared to high-end laptops like the MacBook Pro or Dell XPS 13, the read and write speeds are often cut in half. It’s common to see SATA SSDs or even old-school hard disk drives on laptops in this price range, but some laptops like the Lenovo IdeaPad 530s include a PCIe drive.

We wish Asus could’ve done the same, but we also think this is an acceptable sacrifice. The solid-state drive remains quick enough to offer snappy day to day performance, and you won’t notice a difference unless you regularly handle very large files.

Want to play Fortnite? Buy a different laptop

The UX331UA is not meant for games, as it lacks a GPU from AMD or Nvidia. You can’t enjoy Fortnite at playable framerates without turning settings all the way down and changing the resolution to 720p.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

However, a light game like Rocket League can play smooth using just the laptop’s integrated Intel 620 UHD graphics at 1080p resolution. You’ll have to turn down some of the render quality, but we achieved a smooth 50 frames per second once we did.

Because it doesn’t include a Thunderbolt 3 port, you can’t depend on the UX331UA to power an external GPU. Asus does offer a model with a Nvidia MX150 in it, known as the UX331UN, but that pushes the price up to $1,000.

Battery life

Excellent battery life was a strength this laptop’s predecessors offered, and that similarly-priced laptops lacked. This year, Asus reduced the size of the battery from 57 to 50 watt-hours, which worried us heading into our battery tests.

The first we tried was a video loop test, which plays a 1080p trailer on repeat until the battery dies. It lasted for nine and a half hours, which isn’t bad, but it’s a full hour and a half less than the older UX330UA. It even depleted the battery faster than the Acer Swift 3, which cleared 10 and a half hours.

It’s a similar story in the Basemark benchmark, which tests the battery against an intensive workload. This resulted in a 31 percent drop in battery life from the previous version — and again, is below the Swift 3.

Riley Young/Digital Trends

There is a silver lining to the ZenBook’s battery life, and that’s in web browsing. The UX331UA lasted over 10 and a half hours, which is extremely impressive. In fact, it sets a record in this benchmark, outside outliers like the Surface Book 2 (which has a second battery in the tablet portion) or the Asus NovaGo (which uses a Qualcomm processor). It even beats the Dell XPS 13, with its larger 60 watt-hour battery.

We don’t love the results of the first two tests, but none of the results are disaster, and web browsing best replicates what the average person will do with this laptop. Taken together, our tests make it clear you can rely on the ZenBook 13 to endure a full work day of use.

Our Take

The ZenBook 13 UX331UA once again proves Asus is the king of budget Windows laptops. It’s not perfect — we’d still prefer a more interesting design, a faster SSD, and even a better touchpad. But when it comes to the basics that really matter in a laptop, like portability and performance, the ZenBook 13 has it in spades. If $800 is your max budget, your hunt for a laptop is officially over.

Is there a better alternative?

The closest alternative is the Acer Swift 3, which was recently been updated with new processors and thinner bezels around the screen. However, we prefer the ZenBook UX331UA for its longer web browsing battery life and better display.

The other close competitor is the $800 Lenovo Yoga S730, which hasn’t been released. We were left impressed with the design, updated processor, keyboard, and size of the device in our short time with it, but we haven’t yet tested important features like battery life and display quality.

If you’re willing to add a couple hundred dollars to your budget, you can buy many great laptops, such as the $900 Dell XPS 13. The Core i3 processor will be a bit slower, though the premium design and faster SSD might be a worthy tradeoff. Lastly, you could always opt for the older ZenBook UX330UA, which isn’t much worse and saves you $50.

How long will it last?

The ZenBook UX331UA should last you at least a few years. Although you can’t upgrade the internal components, they are all up-to-date and high in quality. There’s even a USB-C port thrown in for good measure.

Asus’ customer service is another question. The one-year warranty that comes bundled is typical for a laptop, but Asus customer service isn’t as reliable as some competitors. The company’s support website is particularly difficult to navigate.

Should you buy it?

Yes. This is the best laptop at this price-point – and probably all the laptop you actually need.

How to stay anonymous online

When data and privacy scandals are a daily occurrence in the news, learning how to secure your identity online is essential.

This guide will help you learn ways to gain anonymity for the majority of your web-based communications and activities. But before we get started, it should go without saying that if you’re trying to stay anonymous, you shouldn’t use your real name when creating any online account. That’s the first step to take with your social media accounts.

Once that’s done, here are the four levels of anonymity we’d recommend next.

Level 1: Browse in private whenever possible

Browsing in private mode is simplest thing you can do to make some of your general internet usage a bit more anonymous.

Here’s how it works: You leave cookies every time you visit a website. These cookies are stored on your computer and hold a modest amount of data based on what websites you’ve visited, allowing other web pages to deliver an experience tailored to you. That could be Facebook showing you an ad for that new MacBook you searched for on Google, or YouTube seeing that you’ve been looking up videos about the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 phone. These cookies can be used to create a unique fingerprint based on the data that’s been collected.

Just browse in private mode to avoid all that. All modern browsers have a private browsing feature, including on mobile.

Level 2: Avoid Google (or Bing or Yahoo)

Google, Bing, and Yahoo might be the three most popular search engines, but the trio also collects the most data about you in order to serve relevant ads and personalize services. Especially when logged in with your account, these search engines can collect your name, email address, birthday, gender, and phone number. Asides from that, Google and Bing can also collect important data such as device location, device information, IP address, and cookie data.

To avoid being tracked when searching on the web, we recommend you use a service like DuckDuckGo. This an independent search engine which doesn’t give you personalized search results. Everyone who searches sees the same results, and anything you search for won’t be collected or stored. The search engine also claims it has nothing to sell to advertisers, which means you won’t ever be subject to targeted ads seen when using Google and other websites.

Level 3: Hide your IP address

The next important thing you can do to stay anonymous is to hide your IP address, which is the easiest way to trace online activity back to you. If someone knows your IP address, they can easily determine the geographic location of the server that hosts that address and get a rough idea of where you’re located. Broadly speaking, there are three ways to obscure your IP address and hide your location.

First off, you can use a proxy server. If you want all of your online activity to be anonymous, the best way to do it is to pretend to be someone else. This is basically what a proxy server does: It routes your connection through a different server so your IP address isn’t so easy to track down. You also can use a virtual private network (VPN). For most intents and purposes, a VPN obscures your IP address just as well as a proxy does – and in some cases even better. A VPN is a private network that uses a public network (usually the internet) to connect remote sites or users together.

Finally, you can use TOR. Short for The Onion Router, TOR is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. Browsing with TOR is a lot like simultaneously using hundreds of different proxies that are randomized periodically.

Level 4: Use anonymous email and communication

Using proxies, VPNs, and TOR will obscure your IP address from prying eyes, but sending emails presents a different anonymity challenge. Let’s say you want to send somebody an email, but you don’t want them to know your email address. Generally speaking, there are two ways to go about this.

The first is to use an alias. An alias is essentially a forwarding address. When you send mail through an alias, the recipient will only see your forwarding address, and not your real email. Since all mail is forwarded to your regular inbox, this method will keep your real email address secret, but it will not, however, keep you from being spammed like crazy.

Secondly, you can use a disposable email account. This can be done in two ways: Either you can just create a new email account with a fake name and use it for the duration of your needs or you can use a disposable email service. These services work by creating a temporary forwarding address that is deleted after a certain amount of time, so they’re great for signing up for stuff on sites you don’t trust and keeping your inbox from being flooded with spam.

Also, using a VPN and communicating through an anonymous email address will keep your identity hidden, but it still leaves open the possibility of your emails being intercepted through a middleman. To avoid this, you can encrypt your emails before you send them using HTTPS in your web-based email client, which adds SSL/TLS encryption to all your communications. For webchats, you also can consider using TOR chat or Crytopchat, which are encrypted chat services that are hard to break.

So, there you have it, a simple four level guide to staying anonymous online. Some of these methods might be more extreme than others, but all put you in control of your privacy and should give you an extra peace of mind when browsing the web.

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