HP Chromebook 13 review – CNET
The Good The HP Chromebook 13 has a lightweight, portable and posh aluminum design.
The Bad It’s more expensive than other Chromebooks, and the Chrome OS is naturally limited.
The Bottom Line The HP Chromebook 13 satisfyingly combines the cloud-based simplicity of the Chrome OS with a stylish modern design, even if it’s expensive for a Chromebook.
If a Chromebook and the Apple MacBook Air had a baby, it might look like the HP Chromebook 13.
This HP laptop has a slim and sleek aluminum design that almost rivals the $999 Apple MacBook Air in portability and polish. Its all-metal, anodized aluminum chassis is more durable and eye-pleasing than less expensive, plastic Chromebooks.
However, with configurations starting at $499 and going up from there, it’s expensive in comparison to most Chromebooks, such as the $299 Acer Chromebook 11 or $149 Hisense Chromebook.
If you’re interested in a laptop for casual use, like streaming Netflix, reading email or checking Facebook, most Chromebooks fit the bill. And if you don’t mind paying extra, the HP Chromebook does it with faster performance and more style.
For the binge-watcher
- 13.3-inch screen
- 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution; 3,200 x 1,800-pixel resolution
- B&O-branded audio
The HP Chromebook’s screen looks sharp and bright for everything from reading Reddit threads to streaming “Stranger Things.” But as I sometimes forgot, evident by the fingerprint smudges on its screen, it lacks a touchscreen. (It’s common for Chromebooks to have touchscreens.)
The laptop is light enough to comfortably prop up on your lap in bed while rewatching “Friends” for the 89th time and doesn’t get too hot even after long video viewing marathons. The screen also has great viewing angles, so no matter how it’s tilted, the image is clearly visible.
Above the keyboard there’s a speaker grille that stretches across its entire length. The B&O-branded dual speakers are loud enough to watch a movie with a friend or two, but sound quality is tinny at high volume.
Backlit keys are always a plus.
Josh Miller/CNET
For the writer on the go
If you’re carrying around a laptop everyday for work or school, the less cumbersome, the better. And as much as I love a big screen, sacrifices have to be made for portability.
The HP Chromebook 13 hits that perfectly portable 13-inch sweet spot. It was as unintrusive as the 13-inch MacBook Air that I carry to work every day. Like my MacBook, it barely made a dent in my bag and wasn’t a burden to bring along to after-work happy hours (don’t worry, I kept it in my bag the whole time!) or last minute errands.
Packed with two USB-C ports
Josh Miller/CNET
Anything smaller than a 13-inch laptop makes for a cramped keyboard, and the HP’s compact keys took me some time to get used to. Though I quickly got comfortable with it., I still preferred the more spacious feel of typing with my 13-inch MacBook Air.
The keyboard is also backlit, making it easy to see in dimly lit environments, but it can’t flip over to use the laptop as a tablet, like the Acer Chromebook 11’s keyboard can. If you’re flirting with the idea of a laptop-tablet hybrid, that’s something to consider. (I already have a tablet, so I never had the need to use the laptop in that manner, making it a moot design point for me.)
HP Envy All-In-One 27 (late 2016) Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
HP
The new HP Envy All-in-One 27 is packed with notable features by way of a complete re-design over last year’s model. The most significant upgrade is the new hardware configuration that builds the computer into the pedestal with only the monitor resting on top. This two-volume design allowed the company to reduce the size of the 27-inch QHD monitor to just 15mm thick.
The edge-to-edge display has also been reduced to 9.5mm on the sides and top, and this is also the first AIO design to include HP’s low blue-light mode. Studies have shown that the blue light emitted from monitors and fluorescent lamps can disrupt your body’s natural ability to produce the sleep hormone melatonin. HP’s low blue-light mode protects your precious sleep and helps to prevents eye strain at night.
The monitor includes a webcam that pops up via a spring mechanism on the back when you want to video chat, but it can also be disabled along with the microphone as a privacy safeguard.
Other features of the HP Envy All-in-One 27 include:
- Intel Core i5 or i7 processor
- Optional discrete Nvidia GTX 950M graphics card with 2GB GDDR5
- Hybrid storage with up to 256GB SSD and 2TB HDD
- Four front-firing speakers with Bang & Olufsen speakers
- One USB Type-C port, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI
HP also announced the HP Envy Display, a breakout monitor with a thin aluminum stand, and a 27-inch 4K IPS panel with a thin bezel. Connectivity options include DisplayPort, HDMI and USB-C.
The HP Envy All-in-One 27 will go on sale in October starting at $1,300 (roughly £1,075 or AU$1,725, converted), and the Envy 27 Display hits stores on December 4 for $500 (£415, AU$665).
HP Spectre x360 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The HP Spectre x360 updates the premium series laptop with four speakers, a reduced footprint and 15 hours of reported battery life.
HP
There are plenty of reasons to love the current HP Spectre x360: the company borrowed the x360 brand name from its previous fold-back hybrids and added premium features like interlocking hinges for a sturdier design, snappy performance thanks to an Intel Core i5 processor, and 10 hours of battery life.
The combination of style and speed put the Spectre x360 at the top of our list of all-around laptops this year, but HP couldn’t wait until next year to outdo itself with a complete redesign.
Starting at $1,050 (£860 or AU$1,400, converted), the new 13-inch HP Spectre x360 laptop ups the display to a 13.3-inch FHD IPS edge-to-edge touchscreen that twists back into a tablet configuration. The PC is also thinner with a reduced bezel, but the company managed to cram in two extra Bang & Olufsen speakers (four total) so you can get the full stereo experience while it’s in tablet mode.
The new HP Spectre x360 adds two extra Bang & Olufsen speakers for a full multimedia experience.
HP
The new models all come standard with solid-state drives in either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB capacity — solid-state drives are definitely a must-have for multitasking and the ability to quickly wake the machine.
The chassis also has has all the ports you need to turn it into a desktop workstation: two USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 support, HDM, and a USB Type-A 3.0 port for older peripherals.
But the real star of the show is the improved battery life. The new Spectre x360 continues the company’s goal to maximize battery gains without sacrificing performance, and this time HP somehow fit a larger-capacity battery into the thinner design for 15-plus hours of juice — that’s a 25 percent improvement over the last model.
And if you’ve ever had to sit around waiting for your laptop to charge so you can use it on the go, you’ll appreciate the laptop’s Fast Charge feature that recharges the batteries to 90 percent capacity in just 90 minutes.
The new Spectre x360 goes on sale October 12 in the United States.
HP Envy 13
The new HP Envy notebook has a 13-inch display with the option to upgrade to an edge-to-edge glass display, a full HD panel or a touchscreen QHD.
HP
The company also released the Envy 13 laptop for buyers that want to cherry-pick the features they want in a PC. Compared to the x360, this model is also a 13.3-inch design but notably lacks the ability to backflip into tablet mode. Instead, buyers can choose to add an optional edge-to-edge glass display, a full HD panel or a touchscreen QHD.
The primary weakness of last year’s Envy model was the battery life, which we measured to be just over seven hours in our standard battery drain test. Anecdotally, it was worse at only slightly more than four hours in day-to-day use.
This time around, HP packs in 4 more hours of battery life and tells us it can reach up to 14 hours compared to last year’s model, but we’ll run it through our tests for the actual review.
Other features on the HP Envy 13 include:
- Two USB 3.0 ports and one USB Type-C port
- Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor
- Up to 16GB RAM
- 13.3-inch display
- Two Bang & Olufsen speakers
- Dual-band wireless with Bluetooth
- Glass touchpad and backlit keyboard with 1.3mm key travel
- All-metal casing finished in aluminum and magnesium
The HP Envy 13 laptop will go on sale October 26 with prices starting at $849 (£700 or AU$1,130 converted).
Samsung ArtPC Pulse Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Screenshot by Patrick Holland/CNET
Recently, all the news about Samsung seems to revolve around the Note 7 and its problematic battery. Though, it should be noted that Samsung revealed a cool-looking cylindrical desktop computer: the “ArtPC Pulse Premium.”
Despite its size, the ArtPC has decent consumer-friendly specs and yet should be able to handle some occasional gaming on its AMD Radeon RX 460 graphics chip. Of course, until we get our hands on it to test, we won’t know for sure.
The most appealing part for me is the cylindrical design that features a built-in omnidirectional Harmon Kardon speaker. Combining a desktop computer with the body of a speaker isn’t new — check out the HP Pavilion Wave. The fit and finish of the Samsung seems premium — which is probably why Samsung included that word in the name.
The ArtPC continues the trend of stout cylindrical computers: the MSI Vortex and let us not forget the 1,027-day-old Mac Pro.
The ArtPC Pulse Premium is available to preorder on Amazon in two configurations. It will be available starting October 28 in the US. At this time, Samsung doesn’t have any more info to share.
Side and top view of the “Samsung ArtPC Pulse Premium.”
Screenshot by Patrick Holland/CNET
Netatmo Healthy Home Coach Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Netatmo
Like Netatmo’s first product — the Urban Weather Station — the Netatmo Healthy Home Coach is a cylinder that sits in your home and monitors the conditions around it. Announced today and available now, the $100 Healthy Home Coach tracks the same things as the indoor module of the Urban Weather Station — air quality, humidity, temperature, and noise. But, like the name suggests, the Home Coach also offers advice based on what it senses about the conditions in your home.
According to Netatmo, the advice takes your specific family into account. For instance, if you have a baby, you’ll be told if you’re keeping your home too cold for the well being of the child. You’ll be told to ventilate rooms if the air quality is poor. And you can monitor noise levels and the rest of these measurements in real time and see their recorded history in Netatmo’s iOS or Android app.
Do you need a coach?
You’ll obviously need to tell Netatmo quite a bit about your family to get tailored advice, and I’m sure some parents will bristle at the idea that an app knows more about how to care for their child than they do. Knowing the conditions in a specific room can be quite helpful, but that’s what the indoor module of the weather station is for. Honestly, I’m not quite sure why the Healthy Home Coach is being introduced as a new product rather than a software update to the existing app.
Air quality monitors
- Elgato Eve Room
- Withings Home
- Netatmo Urban Weather Station
Still, if you just want an indoor module, the $100 Healthy Home Coach will save you money over the full $180 Urban Weather Station and maybe that’s what Netatmo is doing here — rereleasing the indoor module on its own at a discount with free advice packed in. That’s fine, and like the existing Netatmo monitor, the Home Coach works with HomeKit so you can ask Siri to check the status of your home.
Hopefully, you’ll also be able to use the Home Coach to set up triggers via Apple’s HomeKit app, so a fan automatically turns on if the air quality dips below a certain point. That’s something we’ll look for when we test it for a full review.
Outlook
You can buy the Netatmo Healthy Home Coach now via the company’s site as well as at Lowes, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Amazon. Again, it’s $100 here in the US. In the UK, you’ll be able to purchase it for £100 starting October 15 on Netatmo’s site. The Healthy Home Coach is not available in Australia for now.
At the very least, I expect the Healthy Home Coach to take accurate readings — the Urban Weather Station does. If the advice actually adds anything to the experience that a person with common sense couldn’t figure out by looking at the readings, then the $100 price could be well worth it.
ELAC Uni-Fi UF5 review – CNET
The Good The Elac Uni-Fi UF5 sounds twice as good as speakers that cost twice as much. It’s crazy value for money.
The Bad Build quality could be better, bass definition suffers with complex material compared to some other speakers, and they may need an expensive amp to perform their best.
The Bottom Line The Elac UF5 are our favorite speakers under $1,000 combining unheard-of transparency with enough kick to tempt rock and dance fans.
Speaker designer Andrew Jones is on such a winning streak right now that, if he was a professional poker player, he should be hurtling out a side door as two burly men with goatees and cummerbunds dust their hands and warn him never to come back.
Following up his uniformly excellent Elac and Pioneer speakers was never going to be easy, but the new Uni-Fi UF5 floorstanders are superb. This speaker effortlessly combines the glorious midrange of the UB5 bookshelf speakers with the “rock” tendencies of the Elac Debut. If you’re hemming and hawing about which of the Elac models to buy let there be no doubt: It should be this one.
It’s not perfect — the build quality is behind Elac’s competitors, for example — but as before it’s the sound quality that you’re paying for here. We haven’t yet found a model under two thousand bucks that can hold a candle to these.
While the Elac UB5 was almost a carbon copy of Jones’ earlier Pioneer EBS73, the UF5 is its own animal. It’s better (and cheaper!) than the EFS73 floorstander. So the Elac UF5 snatches the crown from the Pioneers to become our new king of affordable tower speakers.
Design
View full gallery Sarah Tew/CNET
Have a decent size living area? Floorstanding speakers are what we recommend. The UF5 adds three 5.25-inch aluminum woofers to the same concentric 1-inch soft dome tweeter and 4-inch aluminum midrange driver used on the UB5.
The speakers are big at 38 inches high by 10 inches deep by 8 inches wide. To help with stabilization, they come with a set of screw-on feet and are fitted with carpet-piercing spikes. There are rubber caps in the box for use with hard floors. Elac’s UF5, UC5 center channel, and UB5 bookshelf speakers have extra-beefy binding posts that work with thick audiophile cables fitted with spades or banana connectors.
View full gallery Sarah Tew/CNET
The veneer is the same vinyl the company used with previous Elac models, and it’s also the one chosen by Klipsch. It’s fine, if prone to damage, but in general the speakers’ build quality isn’t quite up to the standard of the work Jones did with Pioneer, or even Elac competitors like Bowers and Wilkins or Klipsch.
The driver surrounds are probably the weakest part of this design. While they look OK with their silver finish, they don’t quite sit flush with the front of the speaker if you run your fingers around them — they may even feel “spongy”. We noticed early on in our testing that one had even come unseated and was audibly vibrating with bassy material. Pushing the surround in with a finger stopped the noise but we don’t remember this happening with any other speakers.
View full gallery Sarah Tew/CNET
If you prefer something a little sleeker, the company will also make a Slim version of this speaker and others in the UF range. It’ll come with the choice of a satin black or white painted finish. The slim version of the UF5 is also little thinner and a touch deeper and will cost an extra $400. Despite the change of dimensions, the company says the internal volume is the same and it will sound identical.
Nubia Z11 review
Nubia is still a relatively unknown brand in the Android world, but the Chinese company has been making in-roads into the competitive European and US markets with a slew of fantastic smartphones. Nubia is hoping to continue their rise in popularity with their latest flagship offering, the Nubia Z11, which has recently been released in Europe, with an US launch imminent as well.
- Nubia Z9 review
- Hands on with the Nubia Z11
Does this high-end smartphone bring enough to the table to stand out from the crowd and can it survive in the increasingly-competitive US market? We find out, in this comprehensive Nubia Z11 review!
Design
The Nubia Z11 may not have the most eye catching or original design, but it’s still a good looking phone that features a solid build quality. The device basically features a rectangular slab design, with a full metal unibody construction that puts its build quality at par with a lot of current generation flagships.
The rounded corners and slight tapers around the back and sides make it more comfortable to hold, but because the metal body doesn’t have any sharp or flat edges to help with the grip, the phone can be a little slippery and difficult to hold onto at times.
If you’ve come across a Nubia smartphone before, you will be familiar with the red accents that the company uses with their devices to make the phone stand out a bit, such as the ring around the camera and the bright red capacitive navigation keys that are found below the display. This particular unit is the standard silver model, but there is also a black and gold dual tone version that is more flashy, and looks really good and more unique.
Taking a look around the device, the volume rocker and power button are on the right side, and are positioned well enough to be comfortably within reach of your thumb. The buttons are also made of metal, with a nice tactile feel to them. On the left is the dual SIM card slot, with the secondary SIM slot also doubling as a microSD card slot, and up top is the headphone jack and IR blaster.
An IR blaster isn’t something that is often seen with smartphones anymore, but does provide a convenient way of controlling your television and other peripherals. Finally, at the bottom is the USB Type-C port which is flanked by what appears to be dual stereo speakers. However, the dual speaker grill design is present just for the sake of symmetry, with only the right side housing a single speaker unit.
Display
The Nubia Z11 comes with a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display, but unlike other competing flagships, the display resolution is 1080p instead of Quad HD, resulting in a pixel density of 403 ppi. The display gets very bright, features very saturated colors and good viewing angles, and provides plenty of sharpness. Doing anything, including reading text, watching videos, and playing games, is enjoyable, so unless you are using this device for VR, you aren’t going to easily notice the difference in resolution.
The Nubia Z11 features an eye catching display, but what makes it really stand out is that there appears to be no bezel on the left and right sides of it, something that Nubia was able to achieve by curving down the sides of the screen.
This design aspect is something you will be familiar with if you’ve used previous Nubia flagships, but it remains impressive to look at, and really makes it feel like you are holding just a screen in your hand. With the side bezels being so thin, the phone also feels a lot more compact when compared to other smartphones that feature 5.5-inch displays.
The curves on the side aren’t as drastic as what you will find with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge or Galaxy Note 7, but that didn’t stop Nubia from adding some software tweaks to take advantage of these slightly curved sides.
You can perform a variety of functions, like adjusting the display brightness by sliding two fingers up and down along the edges of the display, swiping up or down from the edge to switch between apps that are running in the background, swiping repeatedly from the edge to close all recent apps, or holding along the edge and swiping inwards to quickly switch to a specific homescreen.
This feature can be really useful, but is a little awkward to use, with there also being the fact that some of them aren’t that much faster than doing things the traditional way. I also ran into a lot of issues with accidentally triggering these features by just holding the phone. Fortunately, all of them can disabled if you come across the same problems, or don’t find them particularly useful.
Performance
Under the hood, the Nubia Z11 packs a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, backed by the Adreno 530 GPU and 4 GB of RAM, which is the standard processing package across the board when considering 2016 flagships. The black and gold version of the device not only looks better, but also comes with 6 GB of RAM and double the on-board storage.
The performance has been perfectly fine with the 4 GB of RAM version of the device. Even with Nubia’s heavy skin, it’s been very fast in day to day use, and handles launching apps, browsing the web, watching videos, and playing graphically-intensive games well. The only exception to the otherwise smooth performance is when it comes to multi-tasking, with the experience feeling very slow and clunky.
There is no dedicated recent apps key, so the way to access it is via a long press of the back button. The recent apps screen itself takes a few seconds to load. The apps are laid out in a horizontal swiping view, allowing you to see only a couple of apps at the same time, and swiping back and forth to switch between apps is a lot slower in comparison to something like the card stack layout of stock Android.
Hardware
64 GB is the available on-board storage, but as mentioned, the black and gold version with 6 GB of RAM doubles that to 128 GB. Expandable storage via microSD card for an additional 256 GB is an option as well, but since this utilizes the second SIM slot, users will have to make the choice between expandable storage and dual SIM capabilities.
There is a single speaker unit that is bottom-firing, which isn’t an ideal placement. However, the speaker itself sounds fine, and doesn’t get distorted or sound tinny at the highest volume. It is on the quieter side though, and can be a little difficult to hear with the volume set at around the 50% mark or lower.
On the back of the phone is a fingerprint sensor, that has worked extremely well. It is fast and accurate, doesn’t require a lot of time to setup, and there have been no problems when using it to unlock the phone. The scanner has been very reliable, and rarely has it misread my fingerprint, which easily puts it at par with some of the best smartphone fingerprint sensors currently available in the market.
The Z11 comes with a 3,000 mAh battery, and while Nubia claims that their battery optimizations will allow up to 2 days of battery life, my experience hasn’t matched that claim. With regular usage that involves social media, surfing the web, and a couple of hours of watching videos or playing games, the device comfortably allows for a full day of use, which is fine, but nowhere near what Nubia claims the battery is capable of.
If battery life is a concern, the device comes with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, allowing you to get back to a full charge in a short amount of time.
Camera
When it comes to the camera, the Nubia Z11 may not be packing any fancy dual lens setups that we’ve been seeing with a lot of other smartphones, but you do get some rather interesting features here. Up front is an 8 MP camera, which is definitely more than good enough to take care of all your selfie needs. On the back is a 16 MP shooter, with a f/2.0 aperture, optical image stabilization, and phase detection auto focus.
The camera app is straightforward and easy to use, but it does feel very iOS-like. You can swipe left or right to switch between different camera modes, and there are some built into this camera that make it unique and a lot of fun to use. For example, there is a Clone mode, that will overlap several photos to make it appear as though there are multiples of a person or object in a single shot. It does a good job of stitching these photos together for the most part, but it isn’t always perfect.
Another interesting mode is called Electronic Aperture, that lets you select an aperture from as wide a f/2.8, to as narrow as f/44. Changing the aperture will effectively change the shutter speed from as quick as 0.3 seconds to as long as 72 seconds, with the longer shutter speeds allowing you to capture some silky smooth motion blur with moving objects, while still keeping everything that is stationary in focus.
The Z11 has three types of stabilization built in to allow you to use this feature with just your hands, but in my experience, the results were still much better with a tripod, especially if you are using shutter speeds that are over a minute long.
The general picture quality is actually quite good. The shots taken are pleasantly sharp and detailed, and there’s enough color to make them pleasing to the eye, but without going overboard and looking oversaturated and unnatural. However, it does have the tendency to overexpose and blow out highlights, but this issue can be alleviated by using HDR mode.
What I like most about HDR mode with this camera is that it will automatically take a standard shot and HDR shot in one take, which can ultimately save you a lot of time, and avoid the hassle of switching back and forth between HDR and standard modes.
In low light situations, the camera tends to hunt for focus a lot, which makes the shooting experience feel a lot slower. That said, shots taken in poorly-lit environments still have a relatively good amount of detail. There isn’t a whole lot of grain or noticeable noise reduction to be seen, but there are still problems with properly exposing highlights, which is also seen with day time shots.
Software
On the software side of things, the Nubia Z11 is running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, with version 4.0 of Nubia’s user interface, which drastically changes the entire Android experience. The interface is cluttered with bright and cartoon-ish icons, there are a lot of transparency effects, and there is also no app drawer.
It is jam packed with a slew of interesting features though. If you long press on the fingerprint scanner, or hold the volume down button and volume rocker, you will get the option to take a long scrollable screenshot, a standard screenshot that you can crop different shapes like hearts or circles out of, or create a recording of the screen.
My favorite feature has to do with how this phone handles split screen multi-tasking. To enter this mode, all you have do is swipe up from the bottom of the display, but instead of giving you a list of applications like you would see with other smartphones that feature split screen multi-tasking, the Nubia Z11 splits the screen into two separate desktops.
It’s a very different approach, but by doing it this way, you are able to use virtually any application you want, with the exception being the camera. That said, just because you can use any app doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. For example, apps like games can open in the split screen view, but these aren’t exactly split screen friendly. However, apps for social media, email, text, and web browsing all work just as you would expect.
Specifications
| Display | 5.5-inch IPS LCD display 1080p resolution, 403 ppi |
| Processor | 2.15 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Adreno 530 GPU |
| RAM | 4/6 GB |
| Storage | 64/128 GB expandable via microSD up to an additional 256 GB |
| Camera | 16 MP rear camera, f/2.0 aperture, OIS, PDAF, dual LED flash 8 MP front-facing camera |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 4.1 GPS + GLONASS NFC IR USB Type-C 1.0 |
| Battery | 3,000 mAh |
| Software | Android 6.0 Marshmallow |
| Dimensions | 151.8 x 72.3 x 7.5 mm 162 grams |
Gallery
Pricing and final thoughts
Pricing for the Nubia Z11 in the US is still to be determined, but in Europe, the device is currently priced at €499 (~$560) for the standard version, and €599 (~$673) for the black and gold edition. Hopefully these prices are not an indication of what the eventual cost in the US will be, as these will make the Nubia Z11 a rather expensive smartphone to get your hands on.
There you have it for this in-depth review of the Nubia Z11 ! The big question here is whether this smartphone is worth getting over other current generation flagships. The Z11 is a solid high-end device from Nubia, but it doesn’t necessarily offer a lot of compelling reasons to be considered a better option that its competition. Had it released in the US a lot earlier, it would have garnered a lot more attention, but at this point, there are numerous great options at different price points, and Nubia might be a little late to the party.
Ding Smart Doorbell Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Ding
You know the drill. Someone rings your doorbell when you aren’t expecting it and you immediately enter stealth mode — tiptoeing around to catch a glimpse of the person through a nearby window without them noticing you.
If it’s a solicitor, you’ll want to ignore it. But if it’s a delivery person bringing that cute sweater you ordered from Asos a day earlier than anticipated, you’ll want to answer. What to do, what to do…
A handful of enterprising startups are already working to solve this universal dilemma with the smart doorbell. A Wi-Fi-enabled gizmo you swap in where your old buzzer used to be, smart doorbells give you more ways to “screen” your front door without actually opening it.
The Ding Smart Doorbell, pre-orderable on Kickstarter beginning today for a minimum campaign contribution of $119/£92 — roughly AU$155 at the current exchange rate — is simply the latest iteration of this connected doorbell trend.
Related Links:
- Pro version of the Ring Video Doorbell swaps flexibility for refinement
- SkyBell downsizes the smart doorbell with Trim Plus
- Yale’s new doorbell lets you see who’s at the door
- You won’t have to guess who’s coming to dinner with these smart doorbells
Here’s how the whole Wi-Fi doorbell thing has worked with all of the previous models I’ve tested:
The doorbell rings
An alert pops up on your phone
Click the alert to pull up a live video feed
Use the two-way talk function to speak with them, as needed
Assuming the internet connection at your home and on your phone is solid, you should be able to do this whether you’re snuggling on your couch 15 feet from your front door or on vacation a thousand miles away.
19 outdoor cameras that take home security…
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Ding is slightly different in that it doesn’t come with a camera at all. Instead, when someone rings your front door, you’ll get an alert and have the option to talk to the person from your phone via the related Android or iPhone app. This isn’t quite as exciting as being able to spy on your guests without peering through a peephole, but it still gives you the flexibility to ask that delivery person to leave your sweater under the doormat.
I didn’t find any mention of integrations with products from other manufacturers through IFTTT or another smart-home platform. Both Ring and SkyBell HD smart doorbells work with IFTTT, so that’s a little disappointing.
You do have the option of either hardwiring the Ding Smart Doorbell or using battery power (Ding doesn’t specify if it’s a rechargeable or a replacement battery). Your purchase also comes with an accompanying door chime, appropriately dubbed Chime. Mount it on the wall in your house or set it on a flat surface and Chime will act as a supplemental doorbell alarm.
Ding’s Kickstarter campaign began today, so there’s plenty of time to buy in. The funding goal is $50,000, units can ship anywhere in the world, and they are expect to reach backers in August 2017.
WD My Pasport portable drive review – CNET
The Good The new WD My Passport portable drive has lots of storage space, good performance and supports strong encryption. It’s available in some vivid color options and comes in an eye-catching design.
The Bad There’s no USB-C (so no future-proofing) and the high-capacity versions of the drive are bulky.
The Bottom Line You can carry a lot of data with the new My Passport and the many color options open up new organizational possibilities.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
View full gallery
Each color of the new WD My Passport comes with a color matching USB cable.
Josh Miller/CNET
If you want to store a lot of data, and maybe even use colors to categorize your data, the new My Passport portable drive from WD is for you. The drive has up to 4TB of storage space (also available in 3TB, 2TB and 1TB) and comes in six vivid (mostly) color options: black, yellow, red, white, orange and blue, each with a matching USB cable.
The new drive has a completely new design compared to previous My Passport models. It no longer looks anything like a passport book, taking instead a squarish shape with relatively sharp edges while still managing to look pretty good, in my opinion. One thing to keep in mind is that it’s thick, at about the size of a deck of cards, and measuring 0.85 inch by 3.21 inches by 4.33 inches (21.5×81.5x110mm), with the exception of the 1TB version which is thinner at 0.64 inch. However, this physical size is normal for high-capacity portable drives; the 4TB Seagate Backup Plus Fast also shares similars dimensions.
CNET USB 3.0 portable drive performance
Seagate Expansion
125.2
127.93
G-Tech Gdrive EV ATC
119.0
138.73
Seagate Backup Plus Slim (summer 2015)
118.8
125.35
WD My Passport Ultra (spring 2015)
110.2
117.34
WD My Passport (fall 2016)
106.4
108.56
WD Elements
95.7
102.15
Legend:
Write
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Note:
Longer bars mean better performance
Like most portable drives, the new My Passport supports USB 3.0. To my disappointment, however, it doesn’t use a USB-C port, instead opting for an old Micro-USB 3.0 port. This doesn’t affect the drive’s performance but does means it won’t work with computers that only have USB-C, such as the 12-inch Macbook. To compensate for its lack of vision, the drive supports the most secure 256 EAS encryption — an optional feature you can turn on using included security software — to protect your data from prying eyes. There’s also a backup software application called WD Backup. While it’s fine to use, it’s not as convenient as other built-in backup tools like Time Machine (Mac) or File History (Windows 10).
I used the 4GB version for performance tests and got somewhat above-average performance. With a sustained copy speed averaging around 110MB/s via USB 3.0 (the drive also works with a USB 2.0 port but at a significantly lower speed), it’s fast enough for almost anything you’d want to do with a portable drive.
Should I get it?
If you’re looking for a portable drive with a lot of storage space, the WD My Passport is a solid option, especially with a suggested retail price ranging from $60 to $80 for 1TB to 4TB, respectively. (You can expect the street price to be lower, and pricing for Australia and UK is not available at this time but that directly converts to a starting price of about AU$79 or £49.) If you intend to have multiple drives and use the colors as a way to categorize your data, it’s definitely a great choice. For something more portable, however, I’d recommend the WD My Passport Ultra or the Seagate Backup Plus Slim. And if USB-C is a must, the Glyph Blackbox Plus and the G-Tech G-Drive Mobile USB-C are better alternatives.
WD My Book (Fall 2016) review – CNET
The Good The new WD My Book is fast, good-looking and supports a high level of encryption.
The Bad The drive doesn’t support USB-C, is a bit slower than its competitors (with a higher price tag) and lacks additional features to have it stand apart.
The Bottom Line Though good-looking, capacious and fast, the WD My Book has no must-have special features.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
Is WD’s new My Book essentially the desktop version of its My Passport? Pretty much. Measuring 6.7 by 5.5 by 1.9 inches (170.6 by 139.3 by 49mm) the new drive is essentially the larger version of the My Passport, both in psychical size and capacity, delivering up to 8TB of storage (also available in 6TB, 4TB and 3TB). But unlike the portable drive, which is available in six colors, the My Book comes only in black, making it kind of boring.
The new external drive does share some of the same features as its smaller brother however, including support for 256-AES encryption, and the preloaded WD Backup software. Sure, it does what it’s supposed to do (backup your data) but is really only useful if you use an older version of Windows. With Windows 10, I’d recommend the native Windows 10 feature, File History for backups, and of course since all Macs have built-in Time Machine, there’s little need for any additional backup software there.
CNET USB 3.0 portable drive performance
Seagate Backup Plus Hub
181.3
195.78
WD My Book (Fall 2016)
167.8
167.43
Segate Backup Plus Desktop
150.9
180.45
Seagate Expansion
125.2
127.93
Buffalo MiniStation Extreme
110.3
118.82
ioSafe SoloPro G3
109.1
110.8
LaCie Christofle Sphere
105.5
111.43
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Longer bars mean better performance
The My Book doesn’t support USB-C. Instead it uses the old Micro-USB 3.0 port and includes a foot-long connection cable. This means it won’t work with computers that only have a USB-C port, like the Macbook. The My Book doesn’t have extra USB ports to work as a USB hub, a cool feature first introduced by the Seagate Backup Plus Hub. And like all desktop external hard drive, the My Book require an external power adapter to work.
I tested the 8TB version of the drive and via USB 3.0 and it did well, with the sustained copy speed averaging some 170MBps (that’s more than 50 percent faster than the My Passport). It’s not the fastest, however, trailing behind the recently reviewed Seagate Backup Plus Hub by more than 10MBps. To make matters worse, the new My Book has a more expensive suggested retail price starting at $130 for 3TB all the way up to $300 for 8TB (the 3TB and 8TB capacities of the Seagate Backup Plus Hub can currently be had for just $100 and $230, respectively.) It’s safe to say, however, that the street price of the My Book will likely be lower.
Should I get it?
While I like the look of the new WD My Book, I feel it doesn’t have enough to justify its comparatively high cost. The drive is a bit slower than its competitor and has no notable features, other than encryption, which is not important for a desktop drive since you won’t be carrying it around and likely won’t lose it. That said, while you won’t be disappointed getting it, I’d recommend the Seagate Backup Plus Hub instead for its faster performance and the included USB Hub feature. But when the street price gets lower, which is likely, the WD My Book will also make a great desktop external storage solution.
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