Tokyo robotic warehouse needs almost no human workers

Truth is, robots have been doing the work of humans in some industries for years now, though recent advances in technology suggest we’re on course for massive and rapid changes in the workplace.

Take Uniqlo. The Japanese clothing giant this week unveiled a warehouse in Tokyo that’s almost entirely powered by robot technology.

The system is so effective that it’s enabled Uniqlo to remove 90 percent of the people that worked there before the warehouse was given its high-tech makeover. The company also notes how the warehouse has the potential to operate nonstop around the clock, save for the occasional maintenance work.

A video (above) of the warehouse in action shows large robotic arms moving sets of crates onto conveyor belts, where they join others whizzing their way to storage or for further sorting prior to shipping.

The technology scans electronic tags for identification and also to confirm the site’s stock numbers and other data. Prior to shipping items, Uniqlo’s system uses cardboard to wrap the products before sticking on delivery labels.

The video shows just one human worker, placing a red garment into a cardboard box. No, it probably won’t be too long before the remaining employees receive a tap on the shoulder from a robot that can do the job more far more efficiently. Though probably not this one.

The new warehouse was designed and built in partnership with logistics company Daifuku. Uniqlo’s parent company, the aptly named Fast Retailing, plans to invest 100 billion yen (about $890 million) to convert all of its warehouses in Japan and the 11 countries around the world where it operates.

Another high-profile company that’s steadily introducing robot technology to its warehouses is Amazon. Digital Trends took up a recent invitation to see one of its high-tech sites in operation, and we were blown away by what we saw. Check out the thousands of so-called “drive units” that carry products around the warehouse and which are described by the company as “great dancers” for their remarkable nimbleness as they navigate their way around. Alongside the robotic drive units, Amazon’s facility in Kent, Washington, still employs several thousand humans, though further technological advances will see that figure fall over time.

So, warehouse jobs are pretty much taken care of. Check out what other jobs may be on the line as robots continue to get smarter.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Google Pixel 3 vs. Apple iPhone XS: Does Google’s A.I. take down Apple?

The Google Pixel and Google Pixel 2 were both extremely well-reviewed and loved phones but now there’s a new device to take over the mantle. The Pixel 3 boasts top-tier specs, an amazing camera, and all the artificial intelligence you would expect from a Google-made smartphone.

Of course, it’s not without its competition. Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone, iPhone XS, should appeal to any iOS lover out there. But how do the two new flagships compare? We put the Google Pixel 3 and Apple iPhone XS head to head to find out.

Specs

Google Pixel 3
Apple iPhone XS

Size
145.6 x 68.2 x 7.9 mm (5.73 x 2.69 x 0.31 inches)
143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm (5.65 x 2.79 x 0.30 inches)

Weight
148 grams (5.22 oz)
177 grams (6.24 oz)

Screen Size
5.5-inch P-OLED
5.8-inch AMOLED

Screen Resolution
2,160 x 1,080 pixels (443ppi)
2,436 x 1,125 pixels (458ppi)

Operating System
Android 9.0 Pie
iOS 12

Storage Space
64GB, 128GB
64GB, 256GB, 512GB

MicroSD Card Slot
No
No

Tap To Pay Services
Google Pay
Apple Pay

Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Apple A12 Bionic

RAM
4GB
4GB

Camera
12.2MP rear, dual 8MP + 8MP front
Dual 12MP + 12MP telephoto rear, 7MP front

Video
4K at 30 frames per second, 1,080p at 120fps, 720p at 240fps
4K at 60 frames per second, 1,080p at 240fps

Bluetooth Version
Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5.0

Ports
USB-C
Lightning

Fingerprint sensor
Yes
No

Water resistance
IP68
IP68

Battery
2,915mAh
2,658mAh

App Marketplace
Google Play Store
Apple App Store

Network support
T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint
T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint

Colors
Just Black, Not Pink, Clearly White
Silver, Space Gray, Gold

Price
$799+
$999+

Buy From

Google, Verizon

Apple

Review Score
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars

Performance, battery life, and charging

iPhone XS Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Both the Google Pixel 3 and the Apple iPhone XS are flagship phones, but they don’t perform the same. While the Google Pixel 3 features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM, Apple uses its own chips for the iPhone. As such, you will find an Apple A12 Bionic inside the iPhone XS. It can be a little hard to compare Apple devices with Android phones sometimes, but we can go on benchmarks — and those benchmarks are pretty telling. The Google Pixel 3 XL, which will boast very similar performance to the Pixel 3, came in with a single-core score of 2,363 and a multi-core score of 7,712 on Geekbench. That’s not bad, but when compared to the iPhone XS’ single-core score of 4,794 and multi-core score of 11,195, it’s clear who the real winner is.

The Google Pixel 3’s battery comes in at 2,915mAh, which is a little more than the iPhone’s 2,658mAh battery — though that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will last longer on a charge considering the different battery optimizations in Android and iOS. You get a fast charger and cable in the box with your Pixel 3, but if you want to fast charge your iPhone XS, you have to buy the kit separately. Both the Pixel 3 and the iPhone XS offer Qi wireless charging.

Because of the excellent performance, the iPhone is the clear winner here.

Winner: Apple iPhone XS

Design and durability

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Google seems to have dropped the ball in the design department this year. While the Google Pixel 3 looks fine for a 2016 phone, in an era of edge-to-edge displays, the device’s forehead and chin simply look out of place. The back of the phone features a similar two-tone finish to previous Pixel phones, with a single-lens camera on the top right and fingerprint sensor around a quarter of the way down the back of the phone. The iPhone XS, on the other hand, is a beautiful phone. It features a slim notch on the top of the display, but apart from that, there is an almost completely edge-to-edge display.

The phones are very similar when it comes to durability. They’re both made almost entirely from glass, meaning that they will probably fare equally badly in the event of a drop, and they both have IP68 water-resistance.

It’s hard to deny how much better the iPhone looks here. It’s the winner.

Winner: Apple iPhone XS

Display

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Smartphone manufacturers are moving to OLED for their displays, and that is good news for everyone. OLED displays offer more vivid colors, deeper blacks, and better contrast. Both the iPhone XS and the Google Pixel 3 have OLED displays, so they should offer similar performance in that department.

Display size and resolution are very slightly different. While the Google Pixel 3’s display comes in at 5.5 inches with a resolution of 2,160 x 1,080 pixels, giving it a pixel density of 443 pixels-per-inch (ppi), the 5.8-inch display on the iPhone XS has a 2,436 x 1,125-pixel resolution which translates to 458 ppi. They’re both great, so this one is a tie.

Winner: Tie

Camera

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Apple has been beating Google so far, but the camera is where Google can claw back some points. The iPhone XS features a dual 12-megapixel camera with one standard lens and one telephoto lens, and thanks to the dual-sensor setup the phone is able to do things like creating portrait mode shots, where the background blurs in a way that looks like a DSLR took the photo.

On paper, the Google Pixel 3 should perform worse than the iPhone XS. But, as we know from previous Pixel cameras, that’s not the case. The single-lens 12.2-megapixel camera on the Google Pixel 3 is already outperforming all of the competition in early reviews, thanks to the bright, vivid colors, sharp details, and other awesome features. The device also has optical image stabilization, dual pixel phase detection, and HDR support. On top of that, you will find machine learning smarts that analyze a burst of shots and find the best photos.

On the front of the iPhone XS, you will find a 7-megapixel camera, while the Pixel 3 boasts a dual-lens 8-megapixel camera. Thanks to the second sensor on the Pixel, you get features like wide-angle selfies, which is perfect for groups.

The iPhone has a great camera. The Pixel’s camera is even better. It’s the winner here.

Winner: Google Pixel 3

Software and updates

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The software on these two phones couldn’t be any more different. While the Apple iPhone XS features Apple’s iOS 12, the Google Pixel 3 is Google’s showcase for all the best features Android 9.0 Pie has to offer. We’re not going to really weigh in on the Android versus iOS debate here — but we will say that Android can generally do more, which is great for the tinkerers and those that like a lot of customization, while iOS is generally easier to use. The software also includes Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, the two companies’ respective digital assistants.

Both of the two phones should get updates in a timely manner, largely because they’re built by the company that makes the software. This one’s a tie.

Winner: Tie

Special features

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Both the Pixel 3 and the iPhone XS have a few special features to mention — though Google’s artificial intelligence prowess helps it inch ahead. The iPhone XS offers Face ID, which allows you to unlock your phone with your face, as well as make use of Apple’s Animoji.

The Google Pixel 3, on the other hand, offers a number of smart features. For starters, the device has the “Active Edge,” which allows you to do things like activate Google Assistant by squeezing the phone. The device also has Google’s new Screen Calls feature, enabling you to tell Google Assistant to take calls that might be spam. The phone is also getting Google Duplex features, meaning it will be able to call restaurants and book tables for you. Then there’s Now Playing, which can identify any music playing in your vicinity and display the track and artist on your lock screen.

The iPhone has some cool features, but Google’s artificial intelligence is getting better and better.

Winner: Google Pixel 3

Price

This is perhaps one of the biggest points of difference between the Google Pixel 3 and the Apple iPhone XS. While the Google Pixel 3 starts at $800, the Apple iPhone XS steps things up to $1,000. That’s no small price to pay for a phone. If you want to opt for the 128GB version of the Google Pixel 3, you’ll pay $900, while the 256GB version of the iPhone comes in at $1,150 and the 512GB version at $1,350.

Overall winner: Apple iPhone XS

The Google Pixel 3 is arguably the best Android phone currently available, but there are things that make the iPhone a better overall device. It’s more powerful, has a slightly bigger display, and it looks a whole lot better. That’s not to say that the Pixel isn’t worth looking into — it has a better camera, plus Google’s awesome artificial intelligence. If you’re used to Android, the Pixel 3 is probably going to be a better choice for you, but all things being equal, the iPhone XS is the superior phone.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Apple iPhone XS Max vs. HTC U12 Plus: Does more expensive mean better?
• Apple iPhone XS Max vs. Huawei P20 Pro: Clash of the titans
• Apple iPhone XS Max vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Powerhouse face-off
• Apple iPhone XS vs. Sony Xperia XZ3: Which is the best phone for you?
• Apple iPhone XS vs. iPhone XS Max vs. iPhone XR

With Hinge’s new feature, you can be honest about how that first date went

Almost all dating apps provide you with all the resources you need to find a match — a profile, a pool of potential dates in the area, and a space to chat. But apps have yet to implement a feature that checks in with users to see how their first dates went, and Hinge is attempting to change that.

With its new “We Met” feature, Hinge wants to learn about the dates its members go on with matches made through its app. That way, it can inject the information into its algorithm to provide future recommendations that better suit what you’re looking for in a significant other.

But how does it work? Since Hinge is programmed to recognize a ten digit code, the app will automatically know when you and your match exchange phone numbers. A few days later, both parties are then individually asked if they went on a date, and if they would like to see that person again. If either person indicates they’re not interested in a second date, the app applies that information when recommending new people.

If you do end up meeting up with one of your matches later on (after answering ‘no’ to the survey), you can change the status. Simply go into the “Matches” section and swipe to the left — next to the “Hide” option, you’ll also see “We Met,” which you can tap on.

“Until now dating apps didn’t take actual date feedback into account when recommending potential matches,” Jean-Marie McGrath, Hinge director of communications, said in a press release. “We wanted to change that. With “We Met,” we’re learning more about our members’ dating experience which will help us get them out on great dates even faster.”

In terms of privacy, Hinge says any date feedback members share through the “We Met” feature is private. So, you’ll never have to be afraid that your feedback will reach your existing match or even future matches. Hinge says it’s strictly using the data to help improve the algorithm for matches you’re provided with.

This past summer, Hinge unveiled a feature called “Most Compatible” which provides you with people the app thinks you would be most interested in dating but will also be interested in dating you. Found in the discover section of the app, Hinge sends users a new recommendation every 24 hours based on new information it learns about its members.

It seems Hinge wants to solve a similar issue in the online dating world with “We Met,” as it does with “Most Compatible” —  having too many options that provide a small number of successful outcomes. According to the company’s data, Hinge users are eight times more likely to go on a date with someone they’re most compatible with.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• The best Google Home tips and tricks
• Google Fit hands-on: Bare-bones, but effective
• Apple iOS 12 review
• How to Use Facebook: The unofficial user manual

Huawei Watch GT hands-on review

Research Center:

Huawei Watch GT

Huawei has spotted what it believes is a gap in the wearables market, and has created the Watch GT to fill it. What is it? It’s not a smartwatch that runs Google’s Wear OS, a hybrid smartwatch, or a fitness tracker. It fits somewhere in-between, and shows what Huawei has been working on while it takes a sabbatical from Wear OS watches. We’ve tried one on, played with the software, and have things to say about it.

The Watch GT isn’t a hybrid smartwatch because it has a touchscreen. However, it occupies the space between fitness tracker and full Wear OS smartwatch in a similar way. It uses Huawei’s own operating system called Lite OS, which looks a bit like Wear OS and Samsung’s Tizen, but not quite as pretty, and it’s unable to run apps.

Instead, it’s all about fitness, with a heart rate sensor on the back, GPS, and a wealth of exercise tracking programs, along with swim-proof water resistance. This makes it like a high-end fitness band, without the just-stepped-off-the-cross-trainer looks. The design is reminiscent of the Huawei Watch 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch, in that it’s sporty but with just the right amount of everyday wearability.

Battery and wearability

Huawei CEO Richard Yu recently commented on battery life being an issue with modern smartwatches, and sure enough, the Watch GT elevates itself beyond the regular smartwatch. The battery will last two weeks with the heart rate monitor active for about 90 minutes each week, which is excellent. For the more hardcore, the Watch GT’s battery will give 22 hours use with the screen active, GPS running, the heart rate monitor flashing, and a fitness program going too. Turn everything off apart from the screen and incoming alerts, and it’ll go for 30 days. That’s plenty of flexibility depending on your use. The Watch GT get a big tick next to the battery life box.

That’s what it does, so how does it feel? The case, which comes in stainless steel or black DLC (diamond-level coating), is only 10.6mm thick, so it feels like a traditional watch on the wrist. The face isn’t massive either, and it fitted our normal size wrist without a problem. The case back is made of plastic, which feels cheap and at odds with the ceramic bezel around the screen. The straps are a leather and silicone combination to resist sweat and prolong the lifespan of the leather. It was comfortable and looked good, plus there are quick-release bars to make changing the strap simple.

The case has two buttons on the side, rather than a single crown, which is an unusual style choice. It looks fine, but does take a little getting used to. The top button opens the menu, and the lower button deals with the fitness plans. On the wrist, we liked the Watch GT. It definitely wears better than you expect based on pictures. However, it doesn’t feel especially upmarket. This is a problem, because many hybrid smartwatches do, and while they won’t offer the same level of health tracking features, they do turn heads.

Fitness and software

You will buy the Watch GT for the fitness features, and unsurprisingly, Huawei has added artificial intelligence to make life a little easier. For example, it understands where it is on your wrist when taking your heart rate, which will result in better and more accurate results, plus it knows when you’re active and when you’re not, at which time it will switch the chip — designed by HiSilicon for the Watch GT — into low power mode to conserve energy. The Watch GT interacts with Huawei’s Health app, which is available for iOS and Android, and employs the excellent TruSleep 3.0 system for measuring sleep patterns.

The Watch GT isn’t a hybrid smartwatch because it has a touchscreen.

It all sounds good; but we’re a little concerned about Lite OS. Google’s Wear OS is hardly the best smartwatch platform out there, but it’s much better than Lite OS. We tried it on two different occasions, and found it performed differently each time. In our first encounter it was slow, jerky, and sometimes unresponsive. We’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it was a very early software build, as the second time it was better. Not perfect though, as bugs showed up in some places — switching between watch faces for example — and the menus were still jerky to scroll through. It simply wasn’t as polished as we expect from Huawei today.

It’s obviously early days for Lite OS, and it’s also Huawei’s first major try at a wearable platform. We’re disappointed to see it’s yet more scrolling through menu lists, busy drop down menus, and uninspired watch faces. All the worst aspects of Wear OS. We have not used the Watch GT when it’s connected to a phone, so we’re unable to comment on how it handles notifications.

Huawei knows smartwatches

Back on the positive side, the Watch GT incorporates GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo support for the best possible location tracking, which should please long distance runners. The charging plate uses magnets and two pins to clamp on the back of the watch, and is happily much more secure than the one for the Watch 2, but it’s still a boring piece of circular plastic.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

We know Huawei can do smartwatches. The Huawei Watch still looks good today, the Watch 2 was innovative and feature-packed with a great design, and even Porsche Design didn’t tweak the looks much. The Watch GT is more watch-like, although it’s definitely masculine, and more wearable than a full smartwatch. The battery life promises to be excellent, and the fitness features will please anyone who doesn’t want to wear an ugly fitness band.

However, the software hasn’t made a good first impression. If we must touch and interact with a watch, it needs to be a pleasant experience, as pressing screens on our wrist is inherently unnatural. When it’s a pain, we don’t want to bother. We’ve not been itching to use Lite OS again, and that’s not great news. Let’s hope by launch it has been vastly improved, and the price is as sensible as promised, otherwise the Watch GT may be a misstep in Huawei’s so far impressive list of smartwatch endeavours.

Huawei Watch GT Compared To

Withings Steel HR Sport

Garmin Fenix 5X Plus

Fossil Q Venture HR

Apple Watch Series 4

Casio Pro Trek WSD-F30

Alpina AlpinerX

Fossil Q Venture

Garmin Vivoactive 3

Emporio Armani Connected touchscreen…

Apple Watch Series 3

Huawei Watch 2 Sport

Huawei Fit

Apple Watch Series 2

Asus ZenWatch 2

Garmin fenix 2

Huawei Mate 20 Pro hands-on review

Research Center:

Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Huawei’s P20 Pro received plenty of plaudits for its unique, dreamy design and fantastic Leica-tuned camera. Sadly, the phone was never sold in the U.S., keeping this great camera system out of reach for many Americans. Let’s hope the new Mate 20 Pro and the Mate 20 escape that fate, because they carry on many of the P20 Pro’s best attributes. Huawei hasn’t yet announced whether they’ll make it stateside, but historically the Mate line has been sold here, and after playing with them, our fingers are crossed.

We’ll be focusing on the more expensive Huawei Mate 20 Pro here, but you can read our Mate 20 hands-on review for more details on that phone.

Colorful design, bright screen, biometric security

We’re just going to say it: The Mate 20 Pro doesn’t look as good as the P20 Pro. There’s something about the way the P20 Pro lined up the triple-camera set up on the back that made it one of the most beautiful phones on the market, particularly dressed in the stunning “twilight” color.

That color lives on in the Mate 20 Pro — though slightly tweaked — along with four others, but it’s the camera setup on the rear that has us torn. The big, blocky square that houses three cameras and a flash looks like a Lego brick glued to the back of the phone. Curved edges all around help make up for it, and make the Mate 20 Pro more comfortable to hold, but the square will be polarizing. We ended up getting used to the same design on the Mate 20, so tastes may vary.

Over on the front is a 6.39-inch OLED screen that’s curved around all the sides as well. It has 3,120 x 1,440 resolution with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and the screen looks sharp, bright, and colorful with inky blacks.

If you don’t want to register your face to unlock your phone, there’s an in-display fingerprint sensor.

A notch at the top of the screen is about the same size as the notch on the iPhone XS, and unlike Google’s massive notch on the Pixel 3 XL, it has a 3D depth-sensing array for facial recognition. The setup process is almost identical to setting up Face ID on an iPhone, and the phone unlocks quite quickly.

Similar to Google’s Autofill service, Huawei has Password Vault. It lets you store passwords and use the facial recognition system to access the app — without having to type in a password. You’ll essentially get an iPhone XS-like experience of accessing secure apps with just your face, which is something we’ve been wanting more of on the Android side (Samsung is one of the few manufacturers that has a similar service). We haven’t had a chance to try this out to access different apps, so we can’t comment on how well it works.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Alternatively, if you don’t want to register your face to unlock your phone, there’s an in-display fingerprint sensor. That means you’ll see a fingerprint icon on the screen, and when you put your finger on it, the phone will unlock – no outside sensor needed. We saw this technology before on the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS, but it was slow, and janky. On the Mate 20 Pro, Huawei claims the unlocking speed is 20 percent faster. It reacted quickly in our brief test, but we’d have liked to get more haptic feedback when unlocking the phone.

The standard lens packs 40 megapixels with a f/1.8 aperture, followed by an ultra wide-angle lens with 20 megapixels at f/2.2.

The Mate 20 Pro has slim bezels all around and looks quite attractive from the front. But we have to bring up the Mate 20 here. The cheaper phone with fewer features actually looks better. It doesn’t have the fancy facial recognition camera, which allows it to have a much smaller “teardrop” notch at the top of the screen. The much slimmer bezels all around deliver an almost full-screen, bezel-less experience. It’s an LCD screen, though, with a lower resolution, so the screen doesn’t have the same luster as the Mate 20 Pro.

The Mate 20 Pro also has another advantage — it’s IP68 water resistant, which means it can be submerged under five feet of water for 30 minutes, unlike the Mate 20, which is only rated to survive splashes.

Versatile camera

The next big trend with smartphone photography is to make mobile cameras more versatile. Samsung just announced a phone with four cameras, and LG unveiled the five-camera LG V40 earlier this month. Huawei’s sticking with a three-camera setup on the rear, but each camera now has a purpose, and gone is the monochrome sensor.

The standard lens packs 40 megapixels with a f/1.8 aperture, and it’s followed with an ultra wide-angle lens with 20 megapixels and a f/2.2 aperture, as well as a telephoto 8-megapixel lens with a f/2.4 aperture and built-in optical image stabilization. If that set up sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a much more powerful variation of the LG V40’s triple rear camera setup. The increased megapixel count on the Mate 20 Pro means you can expect much higher resolution photographs that can pack in way more detail.

Switching between the three lenses is fast, but not intuitive. You have to slide a zoom slider down to an arbitrary 0.6x setting to be able to access the ultra-wide-angle camera. The images taken by all three cameras look sharp, and it was fun playing around with new perspectives.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro Compared To

LG V40 ThinQ

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

Moto E5 Plus

HTC U11

Xiaomi Mi Mix

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

YotaPhone 2

Sony Xperia Z3

HTC One Remix

Huawei Ascend Mate 2

LG Optimus 4X HD

HTC One S

Samsung Galaxy S II

Google Nexus S

T-Mobile myTouch 3G

Huawei uses A.I. to suggest when to use the different lenses, and recognize a primary subject in the camera to keep it in focus. Like LG introduced with the V30 last year, there’s an A.I. Cinema Mode that lets you apply video effects, such as using a 21:9 cinematic aspect ratio, or a Sin City-esque effect that keeps people in color, and everything else in black and white.

On the front, a 24-megapixel sensor is used for both facial recognition and selfies, but we haven’t had a chance to test it with the latter yet.

The Mate 20 Pro features several A.I. assisted camera modes, including this A.I. Color mode that tracks the primary subjects and maintains a hue effect. Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

This camera looks to be a winner again, and we’re excited to pit it against Google’s Pixel 3, which currently has one of our favorite cameras on a smartphone.

Strong performance, Android 9 Pie, big battery

The Mate 20 Pro is powered by Huawei’s Kirin 980 chipset, which Huawei claims is 20 percent faster and 40 percent more efficient. Two built-in neural processors help with the A.I. functions, and an 8-core GPU delivers 75 percent better performance. We haven’t put the phone through its paces yet, but we didn’t see any problems moving around through Huawei’s new custom Android interface, called EMUI 9.

It’s based on Android 9 Pie, so you’re getting the latest version of Android with all its features, which you can read about in our handy guide. Huawei said it has reduced the complexity of the user interface by stripping the number of menus in the Settings app, increased system responsiveness, and eliminated slowdown over time. The operating system was quite responsive in our time using the phone, but we’ll need more time to verify some of Huawei’s other claims. Regardless, the interface still looks a little too close to iOS for our liking.

It will take more testing to see how the Mate 20 Pro’s camera stacks up against the competition.

There’s 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage that can be expanded thanks to a MicroSD card slot.

The 4,200mAh battery on the Mate 20 Pro is 200mAh bigger than the P20 Pro’s battery, which is an impressive accomplishment, considering how thin this phone feels. If that big battery sounds like you’ll have to wait a while for it to fully charge up, think again: Huawei claims its 40-watt Huawei SuperCharge technology will get you up to 70 percent with just 30 minutes of charging. That’s impressive, and something we’ll definitely be testing.

Fast wireless charging is on board as well, but more interestingly, the Mate 20 Pro has the exclusive ability to wirelessly charge another phone — you heard that right: reverse wireless charging. If you’re with a friend who has a phone that can wirelessly charge, but neither of you have battery packs, just place their phone on the Mate 20 Pro, and you can top them off. We don’t know yet how fast this is, and how much battery life the Mate 20 Pro will lose in a short amount of time, but it’s unique, and we’re excited to try it out.

Price and availability

Huawei has not shared pricing and release details for the Mate 20 Pro yet. We expect the price to sit around the $1,000 mark, and we speculate Huawei will bring the Mate 20 Pro to the U.S., but likely closer to January. We can’t confirm this just yet, but we’ll update this story as soon as we learn more.

It will take more testing to see how the Mate 20 Pro’s camera stacks up against the competition, and how much it has improved over the P20 Pro. This phone also checks off all the boxes from performance to battery life , so we’re excited to see how usable it is day-to-day. Stay tuned for our full review soon!

Huawei Mate 20 hands-on review

Research Center:

Huawei Mate 20

With its latest phones, Huawei has given us something of a dilemma: The Mate 20 Pro is ultra-desirable, but the Mate 20 also puts forward a very strong case for itself, meaning you have two great new Huawei phones to choose from. The most striking difference between them is the screen and its tiny, and dare we say it, attractive, notch. That’s right, as notches go, it’s a beauty, but what about the rest of the phone? We’ve spent some time with it to find out what it’s like.

Full-screen experience

Huawei has done an astonishing job of minimizing the bezels on the Mate 20, which gives a full-screen experience we haven’t seen much of outside of the Oppo Find X. After dealing with the Pixel 3 XL’s cavernous notch, the little teardrop on the Mate 20 seems positively petite. While there is still a chin bezel, it’s very small and hardly noticeable.

This is one super looking phone. With the device nestled in your palm, the Mate 20’s expanse of screen provides a wonderful window into your media. We loved zooming in on photos, just to see them fill up the entirety of the display.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

However, it’s not the same experience as looking at the Mate 20 Pro. The Mate 20 has a flat 6.53-inch, 2,240 x 1,080 pixel RGBW LCD screen, and not the curved 6.4-inch, 3,120 x 1,440 pixel OLED screen on the Pro. It’s not as bright, the viewing angles aren’t as good, and it doesn’t have quite the same luster and shine. Put alongside the Pro, it looks downright flat. After a longer test, we’ll be better able to assess it against others in its class, but for now, the screen is both its big benefit, and a slight weakness.

Camera and video

The Mate 20 has a three-lens camera on the back, set inside an unusual square-shaped module. At first it’s an odd look, but we grew to love it, particularly the way the edges curve at the same angle as the edges of the phone, giving it a softer, more coherent look. Huawei has clearly learned from partnering with Porsche Design on the Mate RS that symmetrical design is the best kind of design.

Huawei has employed its artificial intelligence to enhance video, and there are some very cool modes to play with.

While the cameras look the same on the outside, there are some differences inside. The Mate 20’s main camera has 12 megapixels and the wide-angle has 16 megapixels, both of which are lower than the 40-megapixel and 20-megapixel lenses on the Pro. The 8-megapixel telephoto lens is the same on both cameras. Briefly using the cameras back-to-back did show some differences, and while the Mate 20 Pro’s camera will obviously take superior shots in some situations, the Mate 20 is no slouch.

The new wide-angle lens works brilliantly in conjunction with Huawei’s artificial intelligence system, driven by the Kirin 980 processor. The camera understands what it sees, and recommends switching to a wide-angle view if it thinks the photo would be improved. Crucially, it just offers up a button, rather than forcing a change, giving you the choice. Switching between lenses without this AI prompt is cumbersome and confusing, though, and we’d prefer a more consistent process.

Shooting across the London skyline, the wide-angle shots looked excellent, with blue skies, fluffy clouds, and detailed buildings. However, it did wash parts of the sky out more than the Mate 20 Pro, showing there are more differences deep inside. On the version we tried, there was only a 2x optical zoom, rather than going up to 5x zoom like the Mate 20 Pro. It’s not clear whether this will come with the final version of the software, as we were using a pre-production unit.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Huawei has also employed its artificial intelligence to enhance video, and there are some very cool A.I. Cinema modes to play with, like changing the background in real-time while shooting. The most noticeable effect comes when it isolates a person and keeps them in color, while making the background black and white. The A.I. looks for people and faces, rather than objects, so it doesn’t just highlight a single color like Motorola’s Spot Color mode, for example. Other modes are for portraits, and cinematic effects along the same lines as LG’s video tools.

EMUI 9 and Android 9 Pie

The Mate 20 comes with Android 9.0 Pie and the latest EMUI 9.0 user interface, which is now faster, smoother, and more responsive. The settings menus have been distilled down to fewer, more logical options. Huawei has added its own Digital Wellbeing system, and the other major change are new gesture-based controls.

The Huawei Mate 20 sports a 4,000mAh battery with fast charging.

Like Apple’s iOS, you swipe up from the bottom of the screen to return to the main home screen, swipe up and pause for the open app menu, and gently swipe on the side of the screen to go back a step. A cute, springy arrow animation confirms successful gestures, though it sometimes seemed a little jerky for us.

The thinner, taller Mate 20 Pro makes these gestures more comfortable compared to the more traditionally phone-shaped Mate 20. However, the gesture controls show promise, aren’t overly complicated, and also aren’t mandatory: You can still use traditional Android controls. They’re a good start.

Mate 20 Pro differences

The Mate 20 has a 4,000mAh battery inside with fast charging using the proprietary Huawei SuperCharge system for almost 60 percent charge in 30 minutes. Paired with the efficient Kirin 980 processor, a full charge means three days of battery life, which is very special by today’s standards.

The huawei Mate 20 (left) and Mate 20 Pro. Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

However, it does lack the wireless charging capability seen on the Mate 20 Pro, and the body only has an IP54 rating, not the Mate 20 Pro’s IP68 rating, meaning weaker resistance to water and dust resistance. It doesn’t have the depth-sensing front facing camera, or the Mate 20 Pro’s in-screen fingerprint sensor, which has been replaced by a sensor on the back.

So which Mate 20 should you buy? We need more information. Huawei hasn’t yet specified cost for these phones, or where they will be sold. But you’re unlikely to feel short changed if you skip the Pro. The standard phone packs the same power, shares some of the best features, looks great, and feels expensive. However, if the camera is significantly better, the Pro will be hard to resist, especially when all the other differences are taken into consideration.

Huawei Mate 20 Compared To

Moto E5 Plus

LG V30

HTC U11

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

YotaPhone 2

Sony Xperia Z3

HTC One Remix

Huawei Ascend Mate 2

LG G Flex

LG Lucid 2

LG Optimus 4X HD

HTC One S

Samsung Galaxy S II

Google Nexus S

T-Mobile myTouch 3G

It’s amazing how far the Mate series has come. Just a year ago, the Mate was only of interest to big-screen lovers who could forgive the lack of character and charm. The Mate 10 Pro managed to break free of the tedium, and now both the Mate 20 phones are desirable enough that we can’t wait to use them both for a longer period of time. The brilliant P20 Pro might even be left to gather dust in the shadow of this phone.

If that doesn’t show excitement over a new smartphone, we don’t know what does.

Netgear Arlo Q vs. Arlo Q Plus: Which should you buy?

We’re a virtual company made up of tech experts from across the globe. We know that when you’re looking for a security camera, you want all the features that’ll keep your home safe.

Netgear Arlo Q

Standalone security

$127 at Amazon

Pros

• 1080p video
• No base station needed
• Two-way audio
• Zoom and Pan
• Night vision

Cons

• No local storage
• No Ethernet connection
• Single user only
• Indoor only

The Arlo Q is an excellent stand-alone security camera for most needs. The video is clear, the app is easy to use, and setup is a breeze. You’ll need a strong Wi-Fi signal and have to manage saved video through the app or cloud service, though.

Netgear Arlo Q Plus

Connection and power options

$200 at Amazon

Pros

• 1080p video and night vision
• No base station needed
• Two-way audio, with zoom and Pan
• Local storage
• PoE

Cons

• Single user only
• More expensive
• Indoor only

The Arlo Q Plus takes what’s great about the original and adds two features: Power over Ethernet and local storage via an SD card slot. You pay a lot more for those features, of course.

Know what you need

Both versions of the Arlo Q are the same when it comes to video and audio quality. They both use the same app and have the same controls, yet have a fairly large difference in price. This is because of the two extra features in the Plus model that you might not even need: Power over Ethernet (PoE) and local storage. Whether you need them or not, and whether you’re willing to spend the extra cash, will determine which Arlo model is right for you.

Resolution	1080p	1080p
Two-way audio	Yes	Yes
Stand-alone	Yes	Yes
24/7 recording	Yes	Yes
Pan and Zoom	1080p	1080p
Weatherproof	No	No
Connectivity	Wi-Fi	Wi-FiEthernetPower over Ethernet
Local storage	No	Yes

Both models of Arlo Q are great indoor security cameras, especially if you don’t want or need a base station or complete security system. They use the app for Android, iOS, or Amazon’s FireOS and are easy to connect and place just about anywhere you might need them.

There are a few drawbacks — I wish you could share your camera controls and view with another user, and they both aren’t good products if you need something for outside of the house. The Arlo Q Plus does add two features that many will find necessary: PoE and local storage.

PoE means you won’t have to hire an electrician if you don’t have an outlet handy.

Power over Ethernet adds two options. The first, and most important for a lot of us, is that you don’t have to have an AC plug nearby to use them. PoE is exactly what it sounds like: you can power small devices over an Ethernet cable. That means no hiring an electrician to add a plug when you can run the Cat 6 cable yourself. It also means you’ll have a fast connection even in places where your Wi-Fi router won’t reach.

Local storage is a big plus because the Arlo Q can be operated as a 24/7 continuous security cam. Without that storage, you’ll either need to have the app open and watching 24/7 or pay for extra cloud storage (you get seven days worth of storage for free and other packages are available) to keep all the footage. That can be expensive, and having local storage allows the Arlo Q Plus to act as an inexpensive stand-alone 24/7 camera without buying any DVR device or being in dire need of cloud storage.

Both models are great, but buying the Arlo Q Plus is wise if you think you’ll ever need a 24/7 camera or want to use the Power over Ethernet option. If not, save the $75!

Netgear Arlo Q

Standalone security

$127 at Amazon

Easy and simple

The Netgear Arlo Q is one of the best standalone security cameras you can buy. Setup and operation are dead simple, but you will need strong Wi-Fi and it’s not suited for 24/7 duty without an expensive cloud plan.

Netgear Arlo Q Plus

Connection and power options

$200 at Amazon

Take everything great about the original Arlo Q, then add connectivity and storage options to make it even better. The Arlo Q Plus is the camera to buy if you want to drop it in a place with a poor Wi-Fi signal or plan to archive 24/7 video footage.

Best leather cases for the Google Pixel 3

Google Pixel 3 is a gorgeous device, and it would only be fitting to add a gorgeous case to protect it. Silicone and hard plastic cases are great for protection, but a leather case just adds the right touch of elegance. These are the best leather cases for your new Pixel 3 that we’ve found so far.

Slim wallet

Bellroy leather phone wallet

Bellroy, the maker of fine leather goods, has a slim wallet option for your Pixel 3. It has a slot that’s big enough to fit two cards comfortably, and the magnetic closure makes sure your cards are tightly secured.

$89 at Google

Extra cool

Bettop faux-leather case

Bettop’s one-piece case has an inner layer of TPU rubber to cushion your Pixel 3 in case you drop it, and the outside is covered in PU leather, which has a great texture and looks just like the real thing. Comes in black or gray.

$8 at Amazon

Sleek and refined

Bellroy leather case”

If you don’t need a wallet slot but still want a slim leather case, then Bellroy’s regular leather case should do the trick. It offers a slim profile, minimalist design, and comes in either black, navy, or “caramel” brown.

$45 at Google

Folio-style wallet

Arae leather wallet case

If you like more of a classic wallet case, then Arae’s case is perfect for cutting down on your pocket carry. It has slots for four cards and a larger cash pocket, and your Pixel 3 is secured in an inner bumper case. Comes in black or rose gold.

$13 at Amazon

There will certainly be more cases to come in the next few months, but for now, these are your best options. It may be expensive, but the Bellroy leather case is the best option right now, with its sleek design and great color.

Canada Daily Deals: Oculus Go, Philips Hue, toys for the Holidays, and more

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on Oculus Go, Amazon’s must-have Holiday Toy List, Choetech Micro-USB/USB-C 2-in-1 cables, Philips Hue + Amazon Echo bundles, Nintendo Switch, and much more!

View the rest of the deals

Each day, the Thrifter Canada team scouts out and shares amazing deals on products you know and love, helping you find the best prices on the ‘net.

For more Canadian deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter CA, sign up for the Canadian newsletter and follow the team on Twitter.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review: A three-pronged attack

Call of Duty is back.

We weren’t sure what to think when Activision and Treyarch announced there would be no single player campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. For the first time, the game would have to thrive entirely on its multiplayer components.

There are three such components on tap in Black Ops 4, and they all cater to different types of gamers. Is the total package worth its cost?

Classic Shooter

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Call of Duty has never been this good.

Bottom line: Black Ops 4 is the best Call of Duty game in years and deserves to be on your radar.

$60 at Amazon

The Good

• Three meaty online game modes
• A superior Battle Royale experience
• Extremely focused gameplay mechanics

The Bad

• No single-player campaign
• Could be more casual-friendly

Boots on the ground

Seeing as head-to-head multiplayer is Call of Duty’s bread and butter, it was especially crucial for Treyarch to get it right. Black Ops 4’s theme this year is “Boots on the Ground,” an emphatic declaration that the fans’ disdain for jetpacks and wall-running and all that crazy stuff has been addressed.

Indeed, you’ll spend a vast majority of your time on the ground throughout your firefights. The game ditches the jetpacks and instead offers more exciting classes, tighter gunplay, and more balanced gameplay overall.

This change impacts the various specialist classes the most, as it adds a lot more strategy to the game. Space-controlling specialists like Torque get better since enemies can’t leap over his barbed wire and barricades. Recon gets better because you can use the vision to help you monitor key choke points without enemies being able to clear it. And if you are missing aerial action, Ruin offers a bit of the high-flying ability you’ve given up, thanks to his grappling hook.

Black Ops 4 made other gameplay changes that make the game feel, well, we’ll just say different. One of those changes gives up regenerative health for a user-initiated healing mechanic. Yes, that means you can heal anytime you want instead of waiting to be out of combat for a few seconds.

I thought this might be a little too potent when I first heard about it, but after playing the game, I can’t say it has the potential to hurt the formula. In fact, it helps add to the intensity that comes with surviving until your next score streak. And because it’s on cooldown, there are plenty of moments where you can’t get a heal right when you need one, making those situations where you’re reaching for a score streak even more unhinging.

Despite all its changes, at the end of the day, it’s still Call of Duty.

Other than that, it’s still Call of Duty. It’s fast-paced engagements in tightly designed maps from the past and present. It’s buttery smooth performance with a nearly 60FPS framerate upscaled at resolutions up to 4K. It’s a vastly flexible loadout system that lets you create the perfect build for your play style. It’s ridiculous kill/death ratios thanks to slightly overpowered score streaks. (Seriously, those dogs and juggernauts are unkillable!)

That also means some of the series’ pain points are still in play, the biggest of which being a frustrating random respawn system that’ll be responsible for more instant deaths than you can stomach. The system is in place to prevent the spawn camping that many-a lovely soul tend to do, but it feels like it does more to punish you than it does to help.

I would have also preferred more choices in weaponry and accessories. That’s not to say there’s no variety in that regard — there’s something for every soldier here. But you can count the number of weapons in any given category on the one hand, and that might be a bit of a deterrent for some. And, well, at least the progression track needed to get those weapons and accessories doesn’t feel overly grindy.

Fortnite’s worst nightmare

Blackout is the mode that unceremoniously replaces campaign, and has hopes of supplanting others in the genre it challenges. Blackout is Battle Royale Call of Duty style, and is probably the biggest thing that contributed to the hype train leading up to Black Ops 4’s launch.

For the uninitiated, Blackout follows the hunger games formula almost to a T. As many as 100 players drop into a map empty-handed. Your goal is to find a gun and be the last one standing. Along the way, you’ll search and loot houses, find weapons, attachments, and gear, run from a harmful zone that doesn’t stop closing in around you, engage enemies in sudden death battles, and even fight a zombie horde or two.

Up against the poorly-optimized mess known as PUBG and the ever-changing Fortnite that has become as polarizing as it is addictive, Blackout had real opportunity to tap into this growing genre, and I must say that Treyarch delivered emphatically. This is one of the smoothest, most polished Battle Royale games out. Only Fortnite can contend from a performance standpoint, with other games of the realistic nature Blackout prefers not even coming close. While Call of Duty isn’t always running at a locked 60 frames per second, it runs damn close nearly all the time, and that’s a far sight better than games like PUBG on Xbox One are capable of.

While Blackout doesn’t do anything to jump off the rails completely, it does have enough of its own flavor to avoid the “shameless clone” badge. The game employs the usage of unique gadgets that can help in a variety of situations. There are your typical throwables like grenades, Molotovs, and flashbangs, but you also get grappling hooks, RC cars, proximity mines, tripwire, and barricades.

Beyond that, consumable perks give you a temporary edge. While there was potential for power creep with this idea, the perks have proven highly situational, and the fact that they take up valuable inventory space while in use helps maintain a healthy balance. I was also worried about vehicles, but they haven’t been problematic in Blackout. There’s so much risk involved with using them that I only opt to take one if I feel I can’t make it to the next safe zone on foot.

Sacrifices had to be made, but Treyarch’s gamble on multiplayer paid off.

Blackout is a rather enjoyable experience from beginning to end. Jumping out of the plane and wingsuit gliding down to your target is exhilarating, and once you’re on the ground, the match pacing is just about right. The map — which is littered with open-ended locations based on fan-favorite maps from previous Black Ops games — seems to be sized perfectly, and the safe zone timings ensure you can’t get too cozy in one place for too long. The result? More movement and more engagements, fewer lull periods, and faster matches overall. Hell, you could even decide to go shoot some zombies if you’re hungry for action and happen to avoid the rest of the lobby.

We’d appreciate better inventory management and looting, and armor can be a bit too effective at blocking damage, but all in all, Blackout deserves all the hype. It takes all the best parts of the battle royale genre and builds on it in a way that no other developer has been able to, all the while avoiding some of the mistakes that eventually caused incumbent players like Fortnite and PUBG to lose good chunks of their player bases.

The future of this mode will depend on how much attention Treyarch will give it and whether it listens to user feedback to inform future decisions. With a promise that it’s doing just that, we could have a winner.

These zombies are scary

I’ve never been a huge Zombies guy myself, so when I ventured into the mode with a few friends, I was a bit skeptical on its ability to hook me. Throw a line into the water and call me a dumb fish, because I have never had so much fun in this mode than while playing Black Ops 4’s version of it.

In Zombies, you start with a weak-ish starting weapon as you fight a horde of undead. They’ll start out weak and thin in numbers at first, but as you fight more waves, you’ll notice their ranks start to grow and their power start to inch from laughable to terrifying. You’ll earn points for the kills and objectives you complete and you can use those points to open gates and unlock new areas, buy new guns, and to buy perks and power-ups.

Zombies provided the kind of fun and laughter that feels like it’s healing you.

Black Ops 4 takes the zombie experience to a new level with the addition of elixirs and talismans. The former can be seen as consumable perks, offering some benefit to you for a short time, while the latter is a passive ability that’ll be active as long as you play. The cool thing with either mechanic is that you can customize your loadout before each match to get the exact abilities and perks you want. The game has a range of unlimited use “classic” elixirs and talismans to take into matches, but there are stronger limited use options that can be earned by spending points at the laboratory.

All of this is saved within customizable classes, though there are a range of default ones to start you off with. I initially chose the warlock preset build which hooked me up with an ability that paired a sawed-off shotgun with a machete and dishes out massive melee damage. It’s the most empowered you’ll feel in this game, and it adds a whole new feeling that I have yet to experience in any other Call of Duty game.

I won’t lie and say I wasn’t overwhelmed by it all at first, though. The game foregoes delicate onboarding to give you more upfront choice. This is cool for those who want everything all at once, but it doesn’t do well to lessen the burden of knowledge for the more casual fanbase it’s targeting. Unfortunately, that lack of hand-holding extends well into the game mode itself, with the game being a bit unclear on how to tackle its various objectives in order to earn more powerful guns and perks. I’m not sure I’d have gotten as far as I did had it not been for a group leader who knew what he was doing. There’s a tutorial, but it merely scratches the surface of the mode’s basics.

But therein also lies the fun in zombies. Overcoming the uncertainty and figuring things out as you go is a lost art in gaming, and it can be the catalyst for the sort of cooperative play that’s often missing in today’s games. For the first time in a match of zombies, communication and teamwork were more important. There was no room for the times where my squad likes to run around and do their own thing because being trapped in a corner during the later rounds can doom even the sharpest of shooters.

Rounds are often capped off chaotically, with your team eventually succumbing to the never-ending sea of undead who seemingly rush in through all crevices. There was nothing more hilarious than seeing my comrades fall one by one until eventually, we all perished. And nothing was singularly funnier than when a lone surviving friend of mine narrowly escaped the clutches of three mini bosses only to be yanked right back into the mauling. It provided the kind of laugh that feels healing, and those are the moments you look for in game modes like this.

Verdict on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

I’d be doing a disservice by failing to mention that Activision had completely lost me at one point. I felt betrayed by the Call of Duty series after the abominations that were Ghost and Advanced Warfare, so much so that I never even gave Black Ops 3 a chance, nor did I spend much time on WW2.

I say all of that to say this: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the ticket. It’s the winner. It’s the home run. It’s everything it needed to be for Activision to win back some of the souls like me who had all but written the series off as staleness or wackiness took hold.

4.5
out of 5

Sacrifices had to be made, but the gamble of chopping off a short single player campaign to focus on multiplayer modes that will offer many more hours of fun has paid off. Multiplayer and Zombies are much better off because of it, and newcomer Blackout sets Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 up as the most well-rounded multiplayer shooter of the year.

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

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