LG InstaView Door-in-Door Refrigerator Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Knock twice on that right door, and it’ll turn translucent to show you the groceries inside.
LG
Want to know what’s in the fridge? With the newest models from LG, you won’t even need to open the door.
They’re called “InstaView” refrigerators — they’re French door models with translucent panels over the right fridge door. Give that panel a double knock, and the tinted glass will fade translucent, allowing you to see inside without letting the cold air out. The four-door model seen here will sell for a cool $4,500 when it arrives on retail floors, though you’ll also be able to buy a three-door model without the extra drawer for $4,300.
All InstaView models come with a black stainless steel finish and also with LG’s Door-in-Door feature, which lets you push a button on the door handle to open the door’s front panel. That lets you access the in-door shelves without actually opening the fridge.
LG
LG makes a lot of other Door-in-Door fridges, including models that look virtually identical to these new ones. An equally-sized, black stainless steel four-door model without the InstaView feature retails for $4,200, so you’re looking at a $300 upcharge for that translucent door.
As for see-through fridges themselves, they’ve been in the works for a while now. We spotted our first one, a motion-sensing model from Haier, at the 2015 IFA appliances trade show in Berlin, Germany. Then, at CES 2016 in January, LG debuted its “Signature” refrigerator, a luxury model with the same knock-to-see-inside trick seen here. That fridge is still yet to debut, though we expect to see it sometime before the end of this year.
LG’s InstaView fridges are expected to arrive at retail this fall. Both the three- and four-door models will come in both standard-depth and -counter-depth varieties. Expect a full review just as soon as we can get one into our fridge testing lab.
Now that Deezer is widely available in the US, should you switch?
People outside of the U.S. are already familiar with Deezer. The streaming service has been available in other parts of the world for a long time now, but until recently the company only made its subscription available to a select few in the States. Until a few weeks ago, you needed to own either Bose or Sonos speakers (or have a Cricket phone plan) to have the option of using Deezer. After dipping its toe in the U.S. market, the streaming catalog is now available to everyone. Does it offer enough to woo subscribers away from other big-name services? Probably not.
First, a few details about my streaming habit. I’m a Spotify user familiar with Apple Music, thanks both to that three-month trial and the fact that my wife uses the service. I’ve been using Spotify since 2010, mostly for a la carte streaming, storing playlists and the radio feature. Despite the addition of video and podcasts, I use PocketCasts for my episodic content because the app has all of the shows I listen to regularly. Spotify does not, and as I came to find out, neither does Deezer.
I’m getting a bit of ahead of myself with podcasts, though, so let’s step back to the main reason you use a streaming service: music. My first order of business was to see if I could find gaps in Deezer’s library. Out of over two dozen albums that I currently have saved for easy access in Spotify, only two were missing here: Emarosa’s latest album, 131, and Thrice’s debut, Identity Crisis. I tried a number of other artists as well, including some that I felt were more obscure. During my searches, I was able find nearly everything I was after. Save for those two albums, I didn’t notice any huge holes in the catalog during my three weeks with Deezer. Not too shabby.
Music that’s exclusive to Tidal and other services isn’t in Deezer’s library, but that goes without saying. If you’re looking for an exact number, Deezer touts a library of 35 million songs. That’s 5 million more than both Spotify and Apple Music and 10 million more than Tidal’s collection. Speaking of Tidal, Deezer offers a similar high-resolution streaming option for $20 a month. There’s one catch: You have to own Sonos speakers in order to stream Deezer Elite’s lossless FLAC songs. That really limits the number of people for whom that option will make sense.
Once you find the music you’re looking for, Deezer makes it easy to save albums and tracks for later. Like Spotify and others, the service has a Favorites section for any song, album or podcast that you “heart” or “star” in the app. In other words, with one click, you can save an entire album to listen to later. Sure, it’s not technically a playlist, but you can still easily get to it from your profile. Deezer’s Favorites is the equivalent to Spotify’s Your Music section, which keeps any saved songs and albums separate from your playlists. This is just one example of how most of the core features in Spotify and other services are available as part of Deezer’s streaming plan, too. That includes apps for mobile, desktop and the web alongside AirPlay for iOS and Mac and Google Cast for the Android app.
Deezer for Mac is compact like the Twitter app.
I’m happy to report that Deezer offers an artist-based radio feature similar to the one I already love in Spotify. While it’s called “Radio” in most services, Deezer dubbed the tool “Artist Mix,” which I only figured out after I started clicking around. As with other streaming apps, you’re free to like or dislike songs to improve its selection in the future. You can also easily add any songs you enjoy to an existing playlist.
As of late, Spotify and Apple Music have both been touting music discovery features as a means of attracting new users. Since its launch, Apple Music has had a “For You” section that offers suggestions based on listening habits, but included in the soon-to-be-released iOS 10 update is a “Discover Mix” that’s more akin to Spotify’s “Discover Weekly” for finding new music. As a Spotify user, I get a lot of use out of “Discover Weekly” and the recently announced “Release Radar” to keep my rotation fresh. Both of those tools are super handy and consistently offer solid picks, so it’s nice to see Deezer serving up recommendations as well.
Deezer’s recently redesigned home page is the first screen you’ll see when you fire up the app or visit the web portal. That entire page is one big library of genre channels, curated playlists and easy access to a feature called “Flow.” Although Flow does a decent job creating a mix of songs based on your listening habits, I found the music selections to be somewhat dated. With “Discover Weekly,” Spotify serves up recently released songs as part of its suggestions, and I actually prefer that to a collection of older tunes. Deezer’s curated playlists are much better than “Flow” in my opinion, as some are dedicated to genre-specific new releases while others I liked focus on specific artists’ greatest hits.
Alright, so far Deezer is stacking up nicely against Spotify and Apple Music. Is there anything that the service doesn’t do particularly well? Yes: podcasts. Deezer added podcasts last year, several months after it bought Stitcher. The company then sold Stitcher and its 8.5 million users to Scripps back in June. I can’t speak to what podcasts were like on Deezer before, but as it stands, the integration makes the app frustrating to use.
No Terry Gross for me.
First, the selection is limited. I listen to five or six podcasts on a regular basis and none of them come up in a search on Deezer. I found that pretty odd since they’re available inside the Stitcher app and since Stitcher is still being used to pipe podcasts into Deezer. On top of not having a great catalog, the podcasts themselves are difficult to find. The only way the episodic content shows up in a menu is if you’re actually able to find one via search and favorite it. Otherwise, you’re left to those discovery channels to find podcasts, and even then there are but two options: News & Politics and Comedy. Perhaps the best illustration of my frustration is that a search for “sports” in Deezer turned up exactly zero podcast results.
I began test-driving Deezer ready to be persuaded that maybe Spotify wasn’t the best option for me. Instead, I found that I’m actually quite fond of my current streaming service’s discovery tools, and unlike a lot of folks, I actually prefer Spotify’s user interface. Sure, Spotify’s podcast library isn’t the best, but it’s at least easier to find and it offers a solid lineup of shows. More than anything else, I was hoping Deezer might allow me to stop using a second app just for podcasts. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. It also seems silly that you have to own a certain brand of speakers in order to pay more for high-res streaming. I wonder how many folks would opt for that pricier tier, even if they were able to do so.
Aside from my complaints about podcasts, Deezer is a serviceable option for streaming music. Since most of the alternatives offer a similar feature set, it really comes down to a matter of personal preference for the user interface or brand loyalty. If you’re a devoted user of Spotify, Apple Music or Tidal, Deezer doesn’t offer enough for people to jump ship. However, if you’ve yet to commit to a service, don’t take my work for it. All of these music streaming services offer a free trial before you have to pay up, so you might as well exhaust all of the options before deciding.
Samsung Gear VR (2016) review – CNET
The Good Affordable. Easy to attach. Great audio-visual quality for a phone-based VR accessory. A growing library of apps and games. This model is more comfortable than earlier versions, and you can charge the phone while using it.
The Bad Only works with a specific collection of Samsung phones. Oculus PC game and app library isn’t cross-compatible with Android or Google Cardboard VR ecosystems. Lacks the positional awareness of PC-based VR rigs. Limited inputs mean it’s less immersive VR than you can get with larger, more-expensive PC-connected systems like the Rift.
The Bottom Line The latest Gear VR adds compatibility with Samsung’s latest phones and cements its position as the best mobile VR product right now.
I remember putting the Samsung Gear VR on my face and being blown away by the experiences it created. It was my first take-home doorway into virtual reality. That was December, 2014.
VR has since become a commodity everywhere: in high-end PC-connected systems like Oculus Rift and Vive, in cheap disposable phone accessories like Google Cardboard. There will be game console-ready stuff in PSVR, soon, too. But in the meantime, the Gear VR abides, a veteran in this fast-moving landscape.
The newest version, which connects to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and a handful of older Galaxy phones, is really pretty much the same. The connectors and a few finishing touches are different. (To be clear: if you’re happy with any one of the earlier Gear VR models, you’re fine — the changes are tweaks, not overhauls.)
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A larger touchpad, and two buttons instead of one: small differences, but comfy ones.
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I said “the same,” but that’s not really true at all. Oculus and Samsung — the headset is a joint venture — have steadily continued updating the software and app library in Gear VR. There are hundreds of apps and games, and so many types of streaming-video experiences via apps like Oculus Video, Within, Jaunt and others, that the amount of things to do seems inexhaustible.
There’s a small price to pay. Many apps cost anywhere from $1 to $10, and it’s hard to vet out the quality. Some games are well worth it (like Anshar Wars, Minecraft or Neverout); others feel buggy and low-quality. And your taste in VR games and apps might not be the same as mine. The aesthetics of virtual reality are still evolving and hard to figure out without trying some stuff. And — VR aficionados take note — just because Oculus helped design the Gear VR doesn’t mean that your PC-based Oculus Rift games will be playable here, and vice versa — there’s very little software crossover, although your Oculus account is the same and there are a growing set of intercommunicating functions…and a few apps like Minecraft that will play nicely together.
But, as a $100 accessory for your phone — provided you have a Samsung phone that works with it — Gear VR is still the best mobile way to dive into other worlds. And, for me, I still use it more than the obviously better, but harder to set up and share Vive or Oculus Rift.
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Old Gear VR (left), new Gear VR (right). The new one adds Note 7 support via USB-C.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The same, with a few tweaks
Gear VR comes in a new blue-black design that looks more like the higher-end PC-connected Rift, but it’s the same concept as the white-and-black accessory it’s replacing. You slot your phone (a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ or Note 5,) in, strap it on your face, and put on headphones.
The new Gear VR has a slightly improved field of view: 101 degrees, versus 96 degrees. I couldn’t discern the difference. The focal wheel, which works with glasses or without, is easier to turn, and the headset fit more comfortably on my face. The side trackpad’s a bit larger, smoother, and is easier to find with your fingers. There’s also a new button above the trackpad that’s a direct Home button shortcut, sitting next to a “back” button that helps navigate the Gear VR menus and settings.
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USB-C and Micro-USB pop-out adapters included (don’t lose them).
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Amped Wireless Ally Plus Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The Ally Plus Wi-Fi System includes the Ally router and one Wi-Fi extender.
Amped Wireless
Home mesh Wi-Fi systems are hot right now — we recently covered the Orbi Wi-Fi System from Netgear, for instance — but the new $380 Ally Plus Whole Home Smart Wi-Fi System from Amped Wireless has more than just easy setup to recommend it.
The Amped Wireless system promises to protect your entire home network from malware and online phishing scams in real time. This feature is based on Chime, a smart router platform developed by antivirus company AVG, which is designed to keep hackers out of your smart home gear. Amped also boasts a comprehensive parental control feature.
Essentially, the Ally Plus is a kit comprising one dual-band AC1900 router, called the Wireless Ally Whole Home Smart Wi-Fi Router, and one dual-band AC1900 wireless extender. They’re preconfigured to work together right out of the box. You connect the router to an internet source, such as a cable modem, and then place the extender unit a minimum distance away. The two will connect to each other and create a seamless Wi-Fi network, according to Amped Wireless, large enough to cover up to 15,000 square feet, and fast enough to deliver high-speed internet.
The Ally router comes with four Gigabit LAN port, one Gigabit WAN port and one USB 3.0 port.
Amped Wireless
Amped Wireless says the new system can be managed via both a web interface and a free mobile app for Android and iOS devices. Unlike other Wi-Fi systems where you can add more extenders to further extend the Wi-Fi coverage, Amped Wireless says the Ally Plus will include just the two units for the price of $380. Your only other option is to get just the Ally router by itself, without the extender, for $200.
Both options will be available in early October. Check back then for the full CNET review.
Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Link Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Dyson
With app-enabled smarts, the ability to heat or cool the air, a bladeless design, and a powerful HEPA air filter, the Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Link has a lot going for it. Good thing, too, because it costs an eye-popping $600.
Apparently, the filter removes almost 100% of particles from the air — Dyson claims 99.97%. It has some built-in smarts and can adjust the airflow automatically depending on the air quality in the room. You can also use the Dyson Link app to monitor the air quality in your home from afar and activate the purifier.
Dyson’s bladeless lineup
- Dyson Pure Cool Link
- Dyson Pure Cool
- Dyson AM009 Hot+Cool
Most of these tricks are the same on the $500 Dyson Pure Cool Link, which hit the market this spring. Dyson’s been incrementally adding more and more features to its bladeless fans for a couple of years now, and this newest version brings heat to its purifier just in time for fall. Dyson has a bladeless fan with the ability to heat and cool, but this is the first with smarts, heating, cooling, and air filtration.
You’ll be able to splurge on Dyson’s newest fan starting September 1 on Dyson.com if you’re in the US. On September 18, the $600 Pure Hot+Cool will roll out to major US appliance retailers. If you’re in the UK, the fan will cost £500 and goes on sale September 5. It’ll be on sale around the same time in Australia for AU$850.
Parrot Disco Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
It’s a drone! It’s a plane! It’s a Parrot!
At CES 2016, the Paris-based wireless technologies company revealed the Disco, a first-of-its-kind, ready-to-fly wing-shaped drone for consumers. Back in January, it was still a project. As of today, Parrot announced Disco is on its way for $1,300, which roughly converts to £990 or AU$1,700.
Like its Bebop quadcopters and line of Minidrones, Disco is designed to be something anyone can pick up and pilot. It’s a lightweight fixed-wing aircraft (it’s less than 700 grams or 1.6 pounds) made from flexible plastic foam with a single rear propeller strong enough to get the Disco up to about 50 mph (80 km) for flights up to 45 minutes.
Joshua Goldman/CNET
A system of sensors inside — accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer and GPS/GLONASS, plus a pitot tube for airspeed — help newbie pilots stay in the air. Parrot even gave the whole system a catchy name: CHUCK, which stands for Control Hub and Universal Computer Kit.
CHUCK makes it possible to simply toss the Disco into the air like a Frisbee and have it automatically ascend to 50 meters (164 feet), at which point it will fly in a circle until you give it a command. Once you’re up, turning left and right is as easy pushing a direction on the control stick, and the same goes for changing altitude.
For the Disco, Parrot shrank its supersized Skycontroller available for the Bebop drones. The new smaller design is closer to a controller you’d get with a toy drone, but the Wi-Fi MIMO remote control still has a theoretical range of 1.2 miles (1.9 km).
Part of the size reduction is because the smartphone/tablet mount is gone. Instead, the Disco comes with Parrot Cockpitglasses, a first-person-view (FPV) headset that, once you insert your smartphone, gives you a view from the full HD camera in the nose. If you need to see something on the ground while you’re flying, the Cockpitglasses can switch to the view from your smartphone’s rear camera.
Parrot
You can still pair the controller with a smartphone or tablet (iOS or Android) and use the FreeFlight Pro app instead of flying by FPV. Along with a live view with telemetry, the app interface lets you set speed, altitude and distance limits and your wireless and photo/video settings. The drone also captures photos and video to 32GB of internal storage.
The biggest difference between piloting the Disco compared to the Bebop quadcopters is that it can’t hover in place or fly straight back or to the sides — the Disco is constantly moving forward. Because of this, Parrot lets you set a geofence to keep it from flying off. When it hits the set boundary, it will automatically return it to you.
There’s no sense-and-avoid system either, so if you’re headed straight for a wall or tree you’re on your own. Landing can be done automatically, with the drone coming down in a spiral the same way it goes up. Or you can manually land it, with the pressure sensors underneath helping to bring it in smoothly.
Also, if you want to skip the autopilot stuff, you can bind the Disco to a regular RC transmitter and pilot it in a full manual mode.
We’ll be taking it out to fly and I’ll be back with soon with some hands-on impressions. If there’s anything specific you’d like to know, though, drop it in the comments.
LG OLEDB6P series review – CNET
The Good With the exception of even more-expensive 2016 OLED TVs, the LG B6 outperforms every other TV we’ve tested. It evinced perfect black levels, wide viewing angles, accurate color and a brighter picture than last year. It’s compatible with both types of HDR TV shows and movies, Dolby Vision and HDR10. Its striking design features a super-slim panel.
The Bad Expensive.
The Bottom Line LG’s high-end 2016 OLED TVs deliver the best picture quality of any TV we’ve ever reviewed, and the B6 is the best value of the bunch.
LG’s 2016 OLED TVs are everything I expected, and even after hours of watching them, they still surprise me with how good they look.
I expected the best picture quality ever, anchored by perfect black levels and viewing angles, along with expanded HDR compatibility for the widest access to the best video content available. I expected beautiful design and the thinnest panels around. I expected to pay out the nose. Check, check and check.
In side-by-side comparisons with LCD TVs I tested there’s not much of a contest: the B6, LG’s “cheapest” 4K OLED TV, simply looks better in almost every way. Its picture is basically the equal of the more-expensive E6 I tested at the same time, so I don’t think it’s worth paying extra for that TV’s superior sound and styling. It’s also better than the 55EG9100 and the EF9500, two OLED TVs from last year that are still available (often at slight to steep discounts). The gap is narrow, but wide enough that I don’t advocate buying the older version unless the discount is truly steep, say $800 to $1,000 for the 65-inch versions.
So yes, with the exception of the E6, the B6 is the best TV I’ve ever tested. And yes, most people will think it’s too expensive to buy one. Extremely good LCD TVs, like the Sony XBR-X930D and the Vizio P series, cost thousands less, and deliver image quality that’s good enough for just about anyone.
LG OLEDB6P (pictures)
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But maybe you’re not “just about anyone,” and a “good enough” picture isn’t good enough for you. Maybe you’re sick of waiting for the price of OLED to fall while you watch an inferior TV every day. And maybe the price difference between a good LCD and a great OLED is worth paying, for whatever reason. You, dear reader, should buy a B6.
Series information: I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 55-inch LG OLED55B6P, but this review also applies to the 65-inch OLED65B6P. Both sizes in the series have identical specifications and according to the manufacturer should provide very similar picture quality.
I also reviewed the more expensive OLED65E6P at the same time. It has very similar picture quality as well, with most of the differences noted below. For that reason the two reviews are very similar.
LG sells curved a version of the B6, the C6, which has the same specifications and features — the exception being that the C6 has 3D, while the B6 does not. I prefer flat to curved TVs, but the difference is largely aesthetic. Then there’s the ultra-expensive G6, with its rotating sound bar stand. I didn’t test either model, but LG says they all have the same picture quality as the B6 and E6 I did review.
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There’s thin, then there’s OLED TV thin
Plenty of LCD TVs are exceedingly slim in profile these days, but few take it to the level of OLED. The top half of the B6 TV, which consists of just the OLED panel itself and enough structure to support it, is pencil thin, just 0.18 inch deep. The bottom half, where the electronics, power supply, inputs and other stuff live, is thicker at just under two inches.
The B6 lacks the striking picture-on-glass design of more expensive 2016 LG OLEDs, but it’s still beautiful TV. It’s nearly all picture from the front, with just a tiny LG logo. The stand is angular and darker shade of silver, and adds a mass of transparent plastic on the back to create a more floaty look.
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I’m guessing most buyers in this price bracket will opt to wall-mount, though, foregoing the stand. Unlike earlier LG OLEDs, which required a special add-on wall bracket, the B6 and other 2016 models can work with a standard VESA wall mount.
The remote is basically the same as last year, and I’m a fan. LG kept its trademark motion control, which allows you to whip around the menus with a responsive cursor rather than a plodding directional keypad. That keypad is still available too, if you want it, along with a slick rubberized scroll wheel. The step-up E6 and G6 TVs enjoy a new, redesigned remote, although it’s not much better than this one.
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Smart TV is solid, but not the best
There’s nothing wrong with LG’s Web OS Smart TV system, and I am glad that response times are snappier than last year throughout the menus, but competing systems (with the exception of Vizio) are better. Roku and Android TV have more apps and a better design, and Samsung has the unique ability to control more of your gear.
4K streaming with Dolby Vision HDR is available from Netflix, Amazon and Vudu, which outpaces the HDR selection of Samsung (which lacks Vudu’s HDR) and Vizio (which lacks Amazon’s) and matches Sony’s. 4K-capable apps include YouTube and Xfinity’s lame 4K sampler, formerly exclusive to Samsung, which only works for Comcast subscribers.
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Other apps are hit or miss. You get Hulu, Crackle, MLB TV, Plex, Google Play Movies and TV, Spotify and Pandora, for example, but LG’s system is missing both HBOs (Go and Now), Showtime (or Anytime), Pluto TV, Sling TV, Watch ESPN, CBS All Access, PBS, PBS Kids and more. Roku and Android TV have all of those, and many more niche apps too, while Samsung’s selection is about the same, give or take a few services. (Note that CNET is a division of CBS.)
You also get voice search and a “content store” but none of it is as easy to use, or as comprehensive, as other systems. In the end you’re best off, as usual, getting your streams from an external device.
Features and connectivity
Key TV features
| OLED |
| N/A |
| 4K |
| HDR10 and Dolby Vision |
| Flat |
| Web OS |
| Motion |
| No |
OLED is the dark star of the show here. Its basic tech closer to late, lamented plasma than to the LED LCD (SUHD or otherwise) technology used in the vast majority of today’s TVs. Where LCD relies on a backlight shining through a liquid crystal panel to create the picture, with OLED and plasma, each individual sub-pixel is responsible for creating illumination. That’s why OLED and plasma are known as “emissive” and LED LCD as “transmissive” displays, and a big reason why OLED’s picture quality is so good.
New for 2016 LG is claiming 25 percent higher light output and a wider color gamut compared with previous models like the EF9500. Interestingly, it also says all of its new 2016 OLED TVs have the same picture quality. See the picture quality section below for tests of those claims.
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The other big improvement over last year is support for both types of HDR video: Dolby Vision and HDR10. Today at least, that means TVs like the B6 can access more HDR TV shows and movies than other devices. On the other hand, the B6 is also the only 2016 4K OLED TV to lack support for 3D sources. If you want a non-curved 2016 OLED with 3D, your cheapest option is the E6.
The only other features difference between the B6 and E6 is the latter’s superior sound system.
- 4x HDMI inputs with HDMI 2.0a, HDCP 2.2
- 3x USB ports
- 1x component video input
- 1x composite video input (shared with component)
- Ethernet (LAN) port
- Optical digital audio output
- RF (antenna) input
- Remote (RS-232) port (minijack)
The selection of connections is top-notch. Unlike many of Samsung’s sets, this one actually has an analog video input for legacy (non-HDMI) devices.
Picture quality
There’s nothing like OLED, and the B6 and E6 are the best OLED TVs I’ve tested so far. They improve on the EF9500 from last year with better brightness, wider color gamut and better uniformity in dark areas. They’re not perfect, but they’re better than any LCD TV I’ve tested. To be fair, however, my comparison crop didn’t include the very best 2016 LCD TVs from Samsung (the KS9800) and Sony (the Z9D), so I can’t say for sure whether the B6 is better than them.
If you’re looking for differences between the two, this review isn’t the place to find them. According to my eyes and measurements both were equally adept with the vast majority of stuff I tested. The B6 did have less input lag for gaming, there were slight differences in video processing, and the E6 was a bit brighter, but I can’t say whether that was the result of their screen size differences.
And in case you’re looking for a link to my picture settings, I’m not going to provide them for this review. Check out my calibration and HDR notes for details.
Comparison models
- LG 65EF9500 (65-inch OLED TV)
- LG 55EG9100 (55-inch OLED TV)
- LG OLED65E6P (65-inch OLED TV)
- Samsung UN65JS9500 (65-inch LCD TV)
- Samsung UN65KS8000 (65-inch LCD TV)
- Vizio P65-C1 (65-inch LCD TV)
Dim lighting: OLED was king here. All four of the OLED TVs in my lineup produced equally perfect black, compared with the variously lighter shades of black found on the LCD TVs. As usual the difference showed up most in dark scenes, for example in “The Revenant” Chapter 21 where Hugh emerges into the searchers’ torchlight. The black bars above and below the image, the shadows among the trees, and Hugh’s silhouette all appeared in true black or very dark shadow, and all looked blacker and more realistic than any of the LED LCD sets.
Asus ZenFone 3 review – CNET
The Good The latest ZenFone 3 from Taiwanese smartphone maker Asus packs a premium design and materials into a brilliant, affordable phone.
The Bad The ZenFone 3 beautiful looks and premium build gives it the chops to compete with other similar phones, while its camera takes satisfying shots.
The Bottom Line The cluttered user interface nags you with notifications until you turn them off. The glass rear is also a fingerprint magnet.
After two generations of plastic phones, Asus is finally returning to its premium roots. The ZenFone 3 houses midrange specs in a beautiful body that’s surprisingly affordable. With a starting price of $249 for the model with 32GB of onboard storage — around £170 or AU$350 — this phone is a fantastic deal for markets in Asia like India and Singapore. Those in the US and UK will have to wait till the fourth quarter before the phone launches there, unfortunately.
The ZenFone 3 looks like an iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S7 hybrid and feels especially premium compared to other phones that stick with metal or even plastic builds. And its USB Type-C port brings the handset into the growing ranks of phones that switched to the new standard.
Asus ZenFone 3 gets a beautiful new glass…
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The 5.5-inch full-HD display is bright and vibrant, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor is snappy. It’s not as powerful as flagship phones packing the Snapdragon 820 chip, of course, but it’s powerful enough to play Asphalt 8 and Pokemon Go without issue. The phone scored well in our diagnostic benchmark tests, easily proving its chops as a midrange handset. Battery life was great, lasting around 16.5 hours in our looping video tests. Most phones hold up for around 11 to 12 hours, while those with bigger batteries can easily go up to 20 hours or more.
USB Type-C is taking over — here are the…
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Camera wise, the 16-megapixel rear lens with its four-axis optical image stabilization does a good job with lowlight shots. Check out the gallery below for some of the shots I took. If you have jittery hands, this feature will definitely be useful. On the front, the 8-megapixel shooter has the Asus Beauty Mode, which, when used on me, doesn’t really do much, but selfie addicts might enjoy controls that can slim the face and enlarge your eyes.
Focal Listen review – CNET
The Good The Focal Listen has a sturdy design and a comfortable and snug fit, and it sounds excellent for the price. Detachable cable includes an integrated one-button remote. The headphone folds up to fit in an included neoprene case.
The Bad Headphone is a tad heavy, may fit a little too snugly for some folks, and may not have enough bass for some listeners.
The Bottom Line French company Focal’s closed-back, over-ear headphone is designed for mobile use and delivers excellent sound for $250.
You may not have heard of French company Focal, but it makes some very good-sounding headphones. The latest case in point is its new Listen closed-back over-ear headphone, which retails for $249. No word yet on an international launch, but that price roughly translates to £175 or AU$340.
Although this is a full-size headphone, it’s designed for mobile use and works just fine with phones — it has a one-button remote and microphone integrated into the cord, which is detachable. The single-button remote allows you to skip tracks forward and back, pause and play music, and answer and end calls (call quality was good).
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Focal’s Listen headphone is an excellent sounding and comfortable full-size over-ear headphone that’s fairly affordable.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Although there are no volume controls on the cord, I like that Focal separated the microphone (a decent quality omnidirectional mic) from the one-button remote, which sits lower down on the cord and is easy to access.
The Listen may not look superstylish, but it is comfortable and is a better designed headphone than Focal’s earlier Spirit One, which we reviewed back in 2012. The Listen feels nice and sturdy, but — at 9.9 ounces or 281 grams — it isn’t the lightest headphone. That weight takes a little away from its comfort level. (Bose’s around-ear models and Sony’s MDR-1A are more comfortable overall.)
Focal Listen headphones (pictures)
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Both Steve Guttenberg, who writes CNET’s Audiophiliac column, and I really liked the way this headphone sounded. It offers well-balanced sound with excellent detail; potent, tight bass and clear mids. It also sounds pretty open for a closed-back headphone, so the sound doesn’t get stuck inside your head.
Netgear Orbi WiFi System Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
The satelline unit of an Orbi Wi-Fi System
Netgear
Ever since the debut of the Eero, a number of competitors have introduced similar devices, like the Luma or the Almond 3. Today Netgear joined this home mesh network movement with an announcement of its own: the Orbi Wi-Fi System that’s slated to be available next month for $400.
The Orbi system includes two devices, a router and a satellite wireless extender. The two come pre-paired out of the box. You connect the router to an internet source such as a cable modem, then place the Orbi satellite at the center of the home — and that’s it. Now your home is covered with Wi-Fi fast enough to deliver high-speed internet.
Basically, like all home mesh systems, the satellite unit connects to the router’s Wi-Fi network wirelessly, then extends that Wi-Fi network further using its own Wi-Fi broadcaster.
What makes the Orbi Wi-Fi System different, however, according to Netgear, is that it leverages a tri-band setup. This allows the two units to communicate using one band, then the satellite unit can use its other two bands to extend the Wi-Fi network. In theory, this helps eliminate the signal loss that always happens if the extender uses the same band for both receiving and extending Wi-Fi signals.
Though this is a tri-band system (which Netgear says has a combined Wi-Fi bandwith of 3,000Mbps), the Orbi will deliver a only single Wi-Fi network. In other words, you will see only one Wi-Fi name, instead of three.
Netgear says the band that’s used to connect the two devices is a dedicated 5Ghz 802.11ac band that has a top speed of 1.7Gbps, and that you won’t need to figure out where to best put the satellite unit as long as it’s placed at the center of your home. In reality, a 5Ghz band has relatively short range, so depending on how large your home is — as with all Wi-Fi extenders — finding the right spot to place the satellite unit for the best performance can still be tricky.
Netgear claims that the Orbi system can cover a home of about 4,000 square feet. The company says that by the end of the year, it will release Orbi systems that include more than two units as well as add-on units that you can use to expand an existing system, to further extend your Wi-Fi coverage.
To find out how the new Orbi Wi-Fi System stacks up against the Eero, check back next month for its full review.
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