TicWatch Pro on sale for $249, comes with GPS, NFC, and two displays

Mobvoi is touting 5-30 days of battery life with its new Essential Mode feature.

Mobvoi is one of the few companies that’s been keeping Wear OS alive for folks not interested in watches from Kate Spade and Michael Kors, and the latest addition to its lineup, the TicWatch Pro, is shaping up to be its most exciting release yet.

Where Mobvoi’s TicWatch S and TicWatch E have been cheaper/more affordable watches, the TicWatch Pro aims to offer every feature you could ask for. There’s NFC for making mobile payments with Google Pay, a heart-rate sensor, step-tracking, GPS, an OLED display, etc.

All of that sounds like stuff you’d expect from a flagship smartwatch, but Mobvoi’s trying something different with the TicWatch Pro by adding a second FSTN LCD display on top of the OLED one. Here’s how it works.

When you’re interacting with the TicWatch Pro, you’ll see the OLED panel and use it like you would any other gadget. However, when you toggle the screen off or the watch is just sitting on your wrist, the OLED screen will turn off and the LCD one will kick into gear — showing basic information such as the time, your heart-rate, battery life, steps-taken, etc. When you lift the watch to your face or tap on the screen, the LCD will shut off and you’ll be met with your regular Wear OS interface and OLED display.

The TicWatch Pro in normal mode (left) and with the power-sipping LCD panel (right)

Furthermore, the TicWatch Pro will also come with an “Essential Mode” that’ll completely turn off Wear OS and the OLED screen and only show you the basic info found on the LCD panel. If you want to toggle Wear OS back on, you’ll need to wait about one full minute for the boot process.

If you allow Essential Mode to automatically switch on, Mobvoi touts you can get 5 days of juice. If you exclusively use Essential Mode, you’re looking at an impressive 30 days of battery.

You can buy the TicWatch Pro from Amazon right now for just $249.99 in either Black or Silver colors. Do you plan on picking one up?

See at Amazon

Google Assistant: Everything you need to know

There’s a lot going on with the Google Assistant — let’s break down the important stuff.

In May 2016, we got our very first taste of the Google Assistant with the debut of Allo. The Assistant was a big draw to Allo at the time, with Google marketing it as a helpful bot that could make restaurant reservations, search the web, and more within your conversations.

Since then, the Assistant has gained heaps of new features and expanded to smartphones, tablets, speakers, and more. Google’s shown no interest in slowing down development for the Assistant, meaning that it’s likely here for the long-haul.

Whether this is your first encounter with it or you just need a quick refresher, here’s everything you need to know about the Google Assistant.

The latest Google Assistant news

July 10, 2018 — Deezer Premium is now supported on Google Homes in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Italy

Deezer may not be as popular as rivals like Spotify and Pandora, but for subscribers of the paid Deezer Premium service, you’ll be happy to know that you can now listen to all of your Deezer songs and playlists through your Google Home.

Deezer Premium streaming has been available through Google Home since August 2017, but it was initially only live in France and Germany. This was later expanded to the United Kingdom in April of this year, and with this latest rollout, Deezer Premium now works on Google Homes that are in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Italy.

To link Deezer Premium to your Google Home, open the Home app, go to Music, and link your Deezer account.

The service regularly costs $9.99/month, but if you’re a new member, Google’s offering three months for just $0.99. If you want to take advatnage of this offer, it’s good until September 20.

June 26, 2018 — All Google Home speakers now support Spanish

While users have been able to talk to Assistant in Spanish on their phones, we’re just now getting the ability to do the same on Google Home speakers.

Now, users in the United States, Spain, Mexico and other countries can choose to speak to Google Assistant in Spanish. If you want to change what language Google Home uses, open the Home app on your phone. The tap Settings -> Preferences -> Español.

All Google Home Speakers now support Spanish

All the important details

Google Now paved the way for Google Assistant

The Google Now page compared to the new Google Feed.

Before there was the Google Assistant, we had Google Now. Google Now was introduced to the world all the way back in 2012, offering contextual info through the Google Now page and helpful answers to random questions with an “OK Google” voice command.

A lot of what made Google Now so great can still be found in the Google Assistant today, with the exception of the Google Now page. The Google Now page used to be home to cards showcasing the weather, information on packages that had shipped from online orders, boarding passes, and more. It’s since been replaced by the Google Feed – a collection of news stories Google thinks you’ll be interested in – and it’s definitely the biggest departure between the two services.

The Google Assistant as a whole is still more powerful than Google Now ever was, but long-time Android users like myself are still mourning the loss of that Now page. RIP, old friend.

Read more: Google Now is being left to wither and die as Google Assistant takes the focus

It’s available on just about everything

In just a few short years, the Google Assistant’s gone from being exclusive to a now-failed chat app to being integrated into just about anything you can think of.

You’ll find Google Assistant built right into most Android phones, it’s the star of the show for the Google Home lineup, and it’s even making its way into sound bars.

Here’s the full list of devices with Google Assistant

Setting up the Google Assistant is as easy or complex as you want

When you set up a device for the first time that has the Assistant, getting started is pretty simple. Accessing it is just a voice command or tap away depending on what gadget you’re using, but if you want to really fine-tune your experience, Google’s got you covered.

Take a quick dive into your Assistant settings and you’ll find options for just about everything – including your weather preferences, changing the Assistant’s voice, retraining your voice model, picking out preferred news sources, and much more.

How to set up and customize Google Assistant

Google Assistant is available in multiple regions and languages

Of course, a smart voice assistant isn’t any good if you can’t actually use it. Fortunately, Google Assistant will be available in 52 countries —adding 38 countries this year — and 17 languages by the end of 2018.

More: Google Assistant will expand to 38 countries and 17 languages in 2018

Google Home’s the premier way to get the Assistant in your house (at least for now)

It’s great to have the Google Assistant on your phone, but if you want to truly experience just how helpful it can be, you’ll want to consider picking up a Google Home.

Google Home is Google’s line of smart speakers that put the Assistant on full-display, allowing you to control smart devices, ask random questions, set timers, play music, and more by just using your voice.

You can spend as little as $49 for the Google Home Mini, $129 for the original Google Home, or a whopping $399 for the Google Home Max.

However, as great as the Home series is, don’t forget that Smart Displays are just on the horizon.

Announced at CES 2018, Smart Displays are essentially smart speakers with the Google Assistant and a touch screen display that can show you helpful visuals when talking to them. It’s basically Google’s answer to the Amazon Echo Show and Echo Spot, and we can’t wait to see more from them.

Everything you need to know about Google’s Home speakers

Then again, is an always-listening speaker the right fit for your home?

However, the convenience of a Google Home (or any smart speaker for that matter) does come at the cost of privacy. Speakers like the Google Home are “always listening”, meaning they’re constantly on the lookout for a hot word to know when you’re talking to it (such as “Ok, Google” and “Hey, Google”).

This means the microphone on a Google Home is always active, but it’s not necessarily storing all the audio it hears when it doesn’t detect its hot word.

Most all speakers allow you to restore some privacy by being able to mute the microphone, but if you want to start asking the Assistant questions, you’ll need to unmute it first.

To learn more about these “always listening” speakers, I’ll pass the mic over to Jerry

Big upgrades are coming to the Assistant on Wear OS

Switching gears for a second, the Google Assistant on Wear OS (formerly Android Wear) is about to get a big upgrade.

In the near future, the Assistant on Wear OS will support Assistant Actions (basically apps for the Assistant) and give you the option to hear its responses through your watch’s speaker or a pair of connected Bluetooth headphones.

Along with this, Google will be adding something called “smart suggestions.” After asking the Assistant for the weather, for example, you’ll see little bubbles for “weather tonight”, “use celsius”, and more so you can continue the conversation with just the tap of your finger. Google Assistant on Android offers something similar, and it’s a great tool to have.

IFTTT supercharges the Assistant’s usefulness

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a powerful online tool that allows you trigger something (that) if a certain event (this) happens. You can connect IFTTT to the Google Assistant to create your own recipes using this formula, and it can allow for some incredibly helpful combinations.

Some of our favorite uses for IFTTT and the Assistant include adding contacts to your Google account, setting your Google Calendar status to Busy for a certain period of time, and much, much more.

Getting started with IFTTT can take some time and patience if you’re new to it, but once you’re all set up and ready to go, it can prove to be a lifesaver.

How to connect Google Home and IFTTT to do amazing things with your connected tech

You’ll get the same experience no matter what devices you use

With so many devices capable of running the Assistant, it’d be easy to think that the experience you get on one gadget would be different from another. This is something that Google struggled with for a while at first, but we’re finally in a position where the Assistant experience you get on a smart speaker, for example, is the same you’ll get on your phone.

There are a handful of features here and there that still create for some discrepency, but for the most part, the Assistant you use on your Pixel 2 is the same one found on Google Home.

Google Home and Google Assistant finally offer the same experience

Google Duplex is actually going to be a thing

Google showed off Duplex — Google Assistant making natural-sounding phone calls on your behalf — at I/O 2018, but quickly noted that it was just an experiment. Flash forward a couple months, and Google announced that certain users have started testing Duplex, and a public release will be here in the next few months. Before you know it, Google Assistant will be able to book hotels, dinner reservations, hair appointments and more without you lifting a finger.

More: What is Google Duplex?

Updated July 2018: Added the Google Duplex and language support sections, as well as links to recent Assistant news.

Which Chromebook should you buy on Amazon Prime Day?

These are the Chromebooks we hope to see on sale come Prime Day 2018.

Amazon Prime Day will be here before you know it. Centered around the longstanding tradition of buying lots of cool stuff while saving lots of money, it’s become a sort of holiday for many a gadgeteer like yourself. Or myself. Everyone expects this year to be just as awesome as the past years have been when it comes to products we just have to get.

There will be Chromebooks on sale for Prime Day this year. There are Chromebooks on sale every year and every year they sell out. It’s understandable — reliable, secure, and inexpensive, Chromebooks make for a great laptop for a lot of people. But not all Chromebooks are created equal, and if I had my druthers, there are a few specific models I’d like to see on sale. Any Chromebook purchased on Prime Day will probably be a crazy-good bargain, but don’t begrudge a man his wishes!

Samsung Chromebook Plus (2017)

The new Chromebook Plus V2 changes the screen into something more cost-efficient and less insane-pixels-everywhere good, so last year’s still-incredible Chromebook Plus is now the cheapest way to get the very best display you’ll see on a Chromebook (or most any other laptop).

The latest Chromebook Pro also has the benefit of more storage and keyboard backlighting, so if you see it on sale you should definitely take a good look.

I will be.

See at Amazon

Acer Chromebook 11 (2018)

The Acer Chromebook 11 normally sells for under $300, and it’s a perfect take on a classic Chromebook that has no aspirations to become your next Android tablet. It’s built out of solid space-age plastic, which happens to be a beautiful shade of blue that Acer calls indigo. It also runs like a champ and sips the battery for all-day usage.

The modern internals and a surprising display will make you smile, and a good sale price will give you that feeling that only a great product that’s worth more than you paid for it can bring.

See at Amazon

ASUS Chromebook Flip 101

There are a handful of versions of one of ASUS’ best little Chromebooks, and seeing any of them on sale would be awesome. They aren’t the most powerful of models and they don’t have the best display you’ll ever see, but these little 10-inch Chromebooks are awesome for toting around. The 10-inch size not only makes them small and lightweight but also a good substitute for a tablet for those times you want to touch things instead of using a trackpad.

See at Amaon

ASUS Chromebook Flip C302

A twofer of ASUS Flips for my list because the ASUS 302 was one of 2017’s best available and only overshadowed by an impressive display from Samsung.

The Flip 302 does happen to have a good display of its own even if it can’t match the best out there, and you’ll find that many of the other specs exceed 2017’s Pro and Plus models from Samsung. ASUS knows how to make a dependable Chromebook, and the Flip 302 is still a good buy a year later. being on sale would sweeten the pot.

See at Amazon

Acer Chromebook 15

Some of us want something small and portable to carry around every day, but other want a Chromebook with a gigantic bright display and don’t mind the extra size or weight. those people would love the Acer Chromebook 15.

You can pair that 15.6-inch display with either of two Intel chips; A Celeron model for everyday computing and regular Chromebooking, or an Intel Core-M model for those extreme Chromebook sports. Both are a great buy at the regular price, and seeing either with a hefty Prime Day discount would be awesome.

See at Amazon

Your pick?

If you’re looking for a Chromebook this Prime Day, which model(s) tickle your fancy? Here’s to seeing a great deal or two in 2018! 🍻

Chromebooks

• The best Chromebooks
• Chromebooks in education: Everything you need to know
• Should you buy a Chromebook?
• Chromebook Buyers Guide
• Google Pixelbook review
• Join our Chromebook forums

Live Streaming TV Service ‘Philo’ Launches on Apple TV

Live streaming television service Philo today launched on the fourth- and fifth-generation Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, after first launching on iPhone, Roku, smart TVs, desktop and web browsers, and more last November.

With the Apple TV app, subscribers can sign into their Philo accounts and watch 40 channels at the cost of $16 per month. The service mainly attracts customers who aren’t interested in sports as it has no such channels, which helps to decrease subscription costs.

“Our goal is to build a television service that people love. The expansion onto Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV is a natural extension for us and allows many new people to discover and enjoy Philo, as well as expanding the viewing options for our existing subscribers,” explained Andrew McCollum, Philo’s CEO. “We’re thrilled with the response we’ve seen to Philo so far, but we’re always looking for ways to make it even better, and this is another big step forward in that direction.”

With the connected apps — now including Apple TV — users can watch their favorite channels live or on demand, pause live TV, restart programs from the beginning, save shows to a 30-day DVR, and watch on up to three devices at once.

The company promises that a native Android app is coming soon, and also announced that it has raised more than $40 million from investors with AMC Networks, Discovery, and Viacom leading its Series C round of funding. The money will go towards “product features” and “enhancements” to Philo, which will soon include a “socially-driven TV experience.”

Earlier in the spring, Philo also introduced the ability for subscribers to unlock the streaming apps for TV networks included in their Philo subscription. Now, more than 35 participating TV Everywhere apps support this feature, so that if users pay to stream a channel like AMC on Philo, they can use their Philo log-in within the AMC app to access paywalled content.

Philo’s $16/month tier now provides access to 40 channels, including A&E, AMC, BBC America, Lifetime, TLC, Travel Channel, and VH1. There’s also a $20/month option that increases the channel count to 49, adding in options like Logo and Nicktoons. Philo’s entertainment-focused lineup lacks sports, live news, major broadcast networks, and local channels — all of which help lower the monthly cost of the service.

Philo’s low-cost angle comes in contrast to rival services that include sports and local channels, at a hit to subscribers’ wallets since most have announced price hikes in recent months. YouTube TV started off by increasing its cost from $35/month to $40/month to align with Hulu with Live TV and PlayStation Vue’s $40/month starting price. Then in July, DirecTV Now announced the increase of all plan prices by $5/month, meaning its cheapest plan also starts at $40/month.

Sling TV’s $20/month Sling Orange plan was one of the closest tiers to Philo on the market, but this plan will increase in price as well, jumping to $25/month beginning in August.

Those interested in Philo can download the Apple TV app today on the tvOS App Store, and the service’s iOS app [Direct Link] is also available to watch on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Tag: Philo
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Netflix Announces ‘Smart Downloads’ Feature Coming to iOS Later This Year

Netflix has announced a new feature launching for Android smartphones and tablets today, and coming to iOS devices later this year, called “Smart Downloads.” With this turned on, the Netflix app will automatically delete the downloaded episode of a show that you’ve finished watching offline, and replace it by automatically downloading the next episode in line (via BuzzFeed News).

The company says this will help to save space on smartphones and tablets while ensuring that users can keep binges going without having to search through the app’s menus for the next episode they want to watch offline. Netflix explains that Smart Downloads are only activated when users are connected to Wi-Fi and are done with an episode.

“Downloading is a very manual process today,” Netflix director of product innovation Cameron Johnson told BuzzFeed News. “And you have to manually go back and delete episodes.”

How is this useful? Imagine you download an episode or two of Stranger Things at home and watch it on the subway ride to work. Once you connect to your office WiFi, Netflix will delete the episodes you’ve already watched and seamlessly download the next one in the background.

If users want to keep an episode downloaded to their device without having to worry about Smart Downloads deleting it, the feature can be turned off as well. Smart Downloads only work for episodic TV shows and will not automatically replace a movie with another similar program.

Netflix first introduced offline downloads in November 2016, allowing viewers to download select shows and films to their devices to watch them during moments when they aren’t connected to the internet. Most of Netflix’s originals are supported for offline viewing, and all content available for download can be found in the “Search” tab of the Netflix mobile app.

Smart Downloads will launch for iOS devices sometime “later this year.”

Tag: Netflix
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Firefox Test Pilot Program Expands to Mobile With ‘Firefox Lockbox’ Password Storage iOS App

Mozilla’s Firefox Text Pilot program allows users to test out experimental features and provide feedback that goes toward improving the service, and today the company is expanding the program to include two mobile apps. The first is an iOS app called Firefox Lockbox and it enables you to access your saved passwords within the app so that you can easily sign into various other apps on your iPhone.

The password management app syncs with existing Firefox accounts and imports the passwords you’ve already saved in the Firefox browser. You can then browse a list of all your passwords, copy the one you need, navigate to another app, and paste it into the log-in field. The company says the app is secured by 256-bit encryption and supports unlocking via Touch ID and Face ID.

Since Firefox Lockbox requires you to sync existing passwords from the browser, it’ll only be useful for those users who regularly use Firefox to browse online and store their log-in information.

With Firefox Lockbox, iOS users will be able to seamlessly access Firefox saved passwords. This means you can use any password you’ve saved in the browser to log into any online account like your Twitter or Instagram app. No need to open a web page. It’s that seamless and simple. Plus, you can also use Face ID and Fingerprint touch to unlock the app, so you can safely access your accounts.

Notes by Firefox is the second Test Pilot app, and is built for Android users so that they can take and store notes across desktop and mobile devices. Any note written in the Firefox browser can then be synced to the new mobile app, and vice versa.

For those interested in testing out the apps, you will need a Firefox account and Firefox Sync to gain full functionality of each of the app’s features. Otherwise, the company explains that the Test Pilot program is open to all Firefox users to try out, and the Firefox Lockbox app is available on the iOS App Store for free starting today [Direct Link].

Tag: Firefox
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WhatsApp, Messenger, and Minecraft Among Most Popular Apps in App Store’s 10 Year History

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Apple’s iOS App Store, Sensor Tower has shared a list of the apps and games that have spent the most time in the #1 spot of the store’s various charts. Looking at the period of time from July 1, 2010 to July 5, 2018, Sensor Tower’s researchers found that a total of 30,000 unique apps have achieved #1 status on the free, paid, or top grossing charts in at least one country.

Image and charts via Sensor Tower
Honing in the data a bit more, Sensor Tower found 422 apps that hit #1 on the top free iPhone apps chart in the United States during this period, and of those apps, Facebook Messenger spent the most days at #1 with a combined 317 days. Worldwide, WhatsApp earned the top spot with a combined 1,783 days at #1 for free iPhone apps. Popular apps in both the U.S. and worldwide for these charts included Snapchat and YouTube.

Looking at the amount of days at #1 for paid iPhone apps, Minecraft had the most days both in the U.S. (847 days) and worldwide (1,645 days) App Stores. Games were popular in the U.S. on the paid iPhone apps chart, also including Angry Birds (311 days), Heads Up (225 days), and Where’s My Water (47 days), but globally there was more of a mix with apps like Facetune (1,501 days), Afterlight (1,312 days), and 7 Min Workout (1,134 days) rounding out the top four spots under Minecraft.

Clash of Clans spent 805 days at #1 on Apple’s top grossing iPhone apps chart in the U.S., coming in far ahead of the second place app Candy Crush at 278 days. The only non-gaming apps on this chart were Pandora (202 days), Netflix (172 days), and Spotify (61 days). Worldwide, Clash of Clans held onto the top spot with 1,900 days, while Spotify also remained in the top ten with 1,047 days spent at #1.

The App Store officially launched on July 10, 2008 with 500 apps for iPhone 3G owners to download, 75 percent of which were paid downloads. Over time the App Store grew and expanded, introducing in-app purchases, apps for the iPad, subscriptions, revamped interfaces, and more. Most recently in iOS 11, Apple introduced editorialized content on the App Store’s home page with articles and features that highlight new and interesting apps and games every day.

For more on the ten-year anniversary of the iOS App Store, be sure to check out our retrospective that dives into the big events that hit the App Store over the past decade.

Tag: Sensor Tower
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Airbus to build Mars rover to get first soil samples back to Earth

With Mars the focus of so much exciting space research these days, scientists must be chomping at the bit to get their hands on some of those dusty red rocks that until now we’ve only been able to view via images beamed back to Earth.

In April, we learned that NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) had teamed up on a project to do just that — retrieve samples from the red planet and return them to Earth for the first time.

This week the bold plan took a major step forward when the ESA granted Airbus a $5.3 million contract to design a concept vehicle capable of retrieving Martian samples that will have already been collected by the Mars 2020 rover. The vehicle would then load them aboard an ascent vehicle that will put the samples into orbit before being brought to Earth in a separate spacecraft.

If it sounds like a fiendishly challenging project, then you’re right. It is.

The so-called “fetch” rover will be built by Airbus at its site in Stevenage, England, just north of London.

“One rover bound for Mars in 2020 is already under construction by Airbus in Stevenage and the knowledge and expertise honed there will now be applied to designing this new mission, which aims to safely deliver – for the first time – material to Earth from another planet,” said British science minister Sam Gyimah.

Assuming the complex project proceeds smoothly, the team behind the fetch rover aims to send it on its way in 2026.

“It will be a relatively small rover, about 130kg, but the requirements are very demanding,” Ben Boyes, leader of the feasibility team at Airbus, told the BBC. “The vehicle will have to cover large distances using a high degree of autonomy, planning its own path ahead day after day.”

Preliminary work by Airbus suggests the fetch rover will look something like this. Airbus

How will it all happen?

The Mars 2020 rover will drill for and scoop up soil samples of interest, transfer them in small containers, and place them at pick-up points.

Six years later, an ascent vehicle will land on Mars, together with the fetch rover. The rover will collect the canisters and bring them back to the ascent vehicle. The ascent vehicle will then depart Mars and rendezvous with an orbiter that will return to Earth with the samples.

At least, that’s the plan.

The technology is complex and still being developed, and for that reason the timing could change. Boyes said that one of the “cool new technologies we want for the rover is to be able to detect the canisters visually from a distance and then drive over and automatically pick them up.”

Scientists say the samples could provide answers to questions about whether there was ever life on Mars and hopefully take our understanding of the planet to a whole new level.

Commenting on the project, British astronaut Tim Peake, who spent time aboard the International Space Station in 2015/2016, said we’re now in “an exciting new era where businesses and space agencies are working closer than ever before on ambitious missions to expand our knowledge of the solar system and deliver benefits to people’s lives.”

Editors’ Recommendations

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Surface Go vs. Surface Pro

In fleshing out its tablet range with the Surface Go, Microsoft is looking to offer a decidedly cheaper option for prospective Surface buyers.

But how does the Surface Go measure up to its bigger brother, the Surface Pro? Is it worth spending that bit extra, or can you get what you need with the lower-cost option? In this head to head, we pitted the Surface Go versus the Surface Pro to find out where the best value for money lies.

Design

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

We call the Surface Pro the best Windows 2-in-1 you can buy for good reason. It sports a fantastic chassis that’s sleek and sturdy with a solid, premium feel to it. It’s a little heavier than the Surface Go and measures up at nearly a couple of inches longer, but that doesn’t detract from it being a versatile, compact device. It has a great hinge that lets it fold out to almost flat (165-degrees) with the kickstand and you can always flip the keyboard around for full tablet mode when needed.

The Surface Go is comparable in almost every way and looks near identical. You’d be hard-pressed to tell them apart by look or feel, and it’s hard to tell at first glance where the Surface Pro’s enhanced price tag comes from. You do have a smaller screen — 10-inches versus 12.3-inches on the Pro — but both sport great little keyboards and touchpads (not bundled in, unfortunately). The keyboard on the Go really impressed us enough that we’d happily say it’s the best 10-inch keyboard we’ve ever used, but at that form-factor, it’s just not as comfortable over long periods as the larger, but arguably inferior quality, Pro keyboard. In both cases, you have to pay extra for that input option.

In terms of connectivity, the Pro shows its age a little by offering a traditional USB-A 3.0 port, alongside a microSDXC card reader, miniDisplayPort output, Surface port for power, and a headphone jack. The Surface Go changes that up for a single USB-C port, a microSDXC card reader, and a headphone jack.

Performance

Internal hardware is where you stop wondering why the Surface Pro is a more costly device. It’s significantly more powerful. Where the Surface Go starts at $400 and sports an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y dual-core processor with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space, the Surface Pro has much more impressive choices to pick from. Where the $800 base model comes with an Intel Core m3 processor — which the Pentium Gold chip should pull slightly ahead of — from there things get far more interesting. For an extra couple of hundred dollars, you get a quad-core Core i5 CPU, and if your budget allows it, there are options for a Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of RAM, and a TB of storage space.

The Surface Pro is also available today with LTE Advanced connectivity, while we’re told that the Surface Go will be available with that as an option further down the line.

The Surface Pro’s display is more impressive too. Coming in at 12.3-inches, it has a resolution of 2,736 × 1,824 resolution, with a pixel density of 267 pixels-per-inch (PPI). In comparison, the Surface Go offers an 1,800 x 1,200 display with a PPI of 217. While both displays look great, it’s hard to argue that the significantly greater density of pixels on the Pro doesn’t look better.

While the Surface Pro is the more expensive device in almost all configurations, that gets you a more powerful system and one that can do far more than the basic, general-computing tasks of most Surface Go configurations.

Portability

What the Surface Go lacks in power, it makes up for in portability. It’s a smaller device at 10-inches at its broadest point, where the Surface Pro measures 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33-inches. It’s also lighter, weighing just 1.15 pounds, while the Pro tips the scales at up to 1.73 pounds with the weightiest hardware configuration. Both tablets are very portable, but if you plan to lug one around all day, the Go is the noticeably lighter device.

The Go may struggle to last as long as the Pro on a single charge though. While the Surface Go is said to manage around nine hours of general computing, the Surface Pro is rated for up to 13.5-hours. In our testing it managed more than 10-hours of constant video looping, so it will easily make it through a full workday and then some. We have some misgivings about whether the Go can do the same.

Pay for the Pro

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

If you’re considering both devices in this head to head, you should almost certainly opt for the Pro. While its price tag is higher, its hardware configuration far outstrips the Surface Go. They might look roughly the same, but the higher-resolution display, more powerful processor, and lengthier battery life make the Surface Pro an all-around better convertible table than its cheaper, newer counterpart.

The Surface Go is a decent little device, but it’s more suited to competing with the likes of Apple’s iPad than it is with the Surface Pro. If you can afford it, buy the Pro. You won’t be disappointed.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft Surface Go hands-on review
• The Surface Go tablet unofficially leaks online
• Microsoft Surface Book 2 15-inch review
• Microsoft Surface Pro (2017) review
• Acer Switch 7 Black Edition vs. Microsoft Surface Pro

Surface Go vs. iPad

Of all the low-cost tablets out there, the one Microsoft is most keen for its new Surface Go to come out on top against is Apple’s iPad.

Both touchscreen mobile devices have decent internal hardware, great screens, and are lightweight and portable. But which is best? To answer that question, we pitted the new $400 Surface Go versus the $330 iPad in a classic head-to-head comparison.

Design

The 2018 Apple iPad sports what is, at this point, the classic iPad design. It looks near indiscernible from its predecessors and while that isn’t a bad thing, this does mean it sports relatively chunky bezels compared to most of its contemporaries. The Surface Go isn’t much trimmer around the edges though. The overall look and feel of both devices is premium, but not the most cutting edge in terms of design. They feel sturdy and solid in the hand, though the iPad is ever so slightly lighter.

When it comes to external connections, the Surface Go offers a USB-C connector, as well as a MicroSDXC card reader, and a headphone jack. The iPad has even less connectivity options, with just a headphone jack and Lightning port — the latter of which you’ll need an adaptor for to connect USB devices.

The software on both systems is decidedly different. Where the iPad runs Apple’s iOS platform and is limited to App Store applications, the Surface Go runs a full Windows 10 installation. Although it defaults to Windows 10 S — thereby restricting users to Microsoft Store apps only — you can run a full Windows 10 install on there with a few clicks. That expansive support for applications outside of the Microsoft’s closed garden gives the Surface Go an advantage over the iPad in that respect. It is clear from our time with the Microsoft tablet though, that Windows 10 is still better suited to keyboard and mouse, over touch, control. It’s a more functional software suite than the iPad offers, but it’s not as intuitive.

If you do spend a bit extra for the Surface keyboard, you’ll get an input option that is leaps and bounds ahead of the iPad’s offering, but at just 10-inches, it can still feel cramped compared to those found on larger devices.

Performance

One of the most important aspects of any tablet is the display, and both the iPad and Surface Go have great looking touchscreen panels. The Apple tablet sports a 2,048 x 1,536 Retina screen that looks sharp and has good coloring. It’s not quite as black as we’d like, but for less than $350 for the base model, it’s a great looking display. The Surface Go’s has a lower resolution screen at 1,800 x 1,200 with a noticeably reduced pixel density (256 vs. 217), but it still looks good in the 10-inch form factor.

Underneath their glossy surfaces, the two tablets offer quite different hardware suites. The iPad sports Apple’s own A10 Fusion core, with an embedded M10 coprocessor. It pairs that with 2GB of RAM and a choice of 32GB or 128GB of on board flash storage space. The Surface Go packs one of Intel’s dual-core (with hyperthreading) Pentium Gold 4415Y processors with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There are options however, for up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That should give it significant memory bandwidth advantages over the iPad, though in our testing we didn’t notice much of a difference between the two in general computing ability.

The biggest differentiator between the two is in graphics performance. While the Pentium chip does have Intel’s HD 615 graphics chip, that doesn’t give it the ability to do much beyond handle very light 3D-rendering apps like Powerpoint. While the iPad is hardly built for serious gaming, it’s much more capable of handling anything you can throw it from the App Store.

The iPad is also available with full LTE connectivity. While that isn’t quite yet a possibility with the Surface Go, we’re told it will be in the future.

Portability

At 1.03 pounds, the iPad comes in a shade lighter than the Surface Go, which weighs 1.15 pounds without the keyboard. It’s also a little more compact, though 9.7-inches is about as close as you’re going to get to the Surface Go’s 10-inches, without calling them the same size.

Battery life is likely to be better on the Apple hardware too. Apple claims up to 10-hours of general usage for full charges and we found that played out in our testing. After five hours of YouTube videos, the battery life had only drained more than a third. While we don’t yet have hard battery-life results for the Surface Go, its battery is four watt-hours smaller than the iPad’s and Microsoft only claims nine-hours of life. The concern there, is that the Surface Go may not be able to handle a full eight-hour workday on a single charge, especially if you’re using it for slightly heavier lifting.

For small, lightweight, portable tablet devices like these, that’s a must and suggests that the iPad would be a much more stable pick for day to day use.

Conclusion

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Microsoft’s Surface range has grown from strength to strength over the years, giving us some fantastic hardware like the Surface Book 2 and the Surface Pro. While the Surface Go makes a valiant attempt to resurrect the low-cost, convertible tablet part of that range, it doesn’t do it well enough to supplant its main rival. Apple’s iPad has a lower base cost, a higher-resolution display, a larger battery, and more impressive graphical chops. While the Surface Go might have greater productivity features with its option for a full Windows 10 operating system, that’s not what the average person usually wants to sacrifice for better accessibility.

The Surface Go is a worthy contender to the iPad’s entry-level crown, but it falls noticeably short of its classic rival.

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