British Ad Industry Regulator Upholds Apple’s iPhone X Claim of ‘Studio-Quality’ Portraits

A British advertising regulatory body has overruled objections to an Apple television ad in which the company claims iPhone X is capable of “studio quality” portraits (via AppleInsider).

The TV ad in question, which began airing in March, showcases the smartphone’s “radically new cameras with Portrait Lighting” and uses the phrasing, “Studio-quality portraits. Without the studio.”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was compelled to review two complaints filed by viewers “who believed that the phone could not achieve studio quality photography, and challenged whether the claim ‘Studio-quality portraits’ was misleading and could be substantiated.”

In overruling the objections, the ASA said it had “considered consumers would understand the term ‘studio-quality portraits’ to mean that the lighting effects on the phone allowed the user to imitate a portrait photograph when taken in a studio”.

We acknowledged that the camera on the iPhone X featured a focal lens commonly found in studio photography and understood that the images shown in the ad were photographs taken with the phone. We considered that the lighting effects that could be used when capturing and after having captured an image allowed the user to mimic a photograph similar to those taken in a studio.

We recognized that there were many effects, techniques and tools used in studio photography which played a vital role in capturing high standard images, many of which were not available to someone solely using the iPhone X. However, we recognized the emphasis was placed on the significance of the lighting effects on achieving the quality of image the ad demonstrated, and we understood that those images shown were a true reflection of the capabilities of the iPhone X’s camera. For those reasons, we concluded that the ad was not misleading.

In Apple’s response to the finding, the company pointed out that there was no industry standard definition of “studio-quality portraits” and that there “were wide variances between techniques, equipment, lighting and talent,” which led it to understand the term as a subjective one.

Apple stated that the 50 mm focal lens in the iPhone X was one of the most popular professional studio portrait lenses and the lighting options available on the phone mimicked what could be done in a studio.

Clearcast stated that they met Apple at the time the product was released for a demonstration of the product and found that the images in the ad were a fair reflection of the camera’s capabilities. They stated that “Studio-quality” was not an official, measurable term and that the quality of the photographs, to some extent, depended on the skill of the photographer.

This isn’t the first time the British watchdog has looked at viewer complaints regarding Apple ads. In 2008, Android users took umbrage at an Apple ad that claimed “all parts of the internet are on the iPhone”.

The reasoning behind the complaints was that Java and Flash content aren’t supported on iPhone, therefore the claim was misleading. The complaint was upheld and the ad was banned in the U.K., as was another Apple ad that was adjudged to have exaggerated the speed of the iPhone 3G.

Related Roundup: iPhone XTag: AdsBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Neutral)
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Tear it up on Mars in ‘Red Rover,’ the driving sim built on NASA data

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During the festive holiday season in 2016, Alan Chan spent his week’s vacation time off work exploring Mars. As most of us did last minute Christmas shopping, ate turkey, and reminded ourselves of why discussing politics with dad is a bad idea, Chan was romping, carefree, over Mars’ ruddy surface in a rover-style space buggy. Not a bad time to get away from Earth, as it so happens!

“You look at satellite data and you just don’t have a sense of scale, right?” Chan told Digital Trends. “You think, like, ‘here are some mountains,’ but you don’t get a sense of what it would actually feel like if you were standing there. It’s like going up in an airplane. All the towns you’ve been to and the roads you drive around suddenly look completely different. [Being on the surface] totally changes your perception.”

Flat images could be made 3D and run through the Unreal engine to turn it into an explorable experience.

Before we get any further we should note that, no, you haven’t somehow missed out on the greatest homebrew rocketry story of all time. If you feel like you saw something about a solo Mars explorer on TV at some point in the past, you’re almost certainly remembering Matt Damon’s character from The Martian.

Chan — a video game cinematics creator from California — wasn’t physically on Mars. Instead, he was exploring the Red Planet through a hacked-together home project in which he took satellite and terrain data from the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and transformed it into a photorealistic virtual recreation of the martian landscape

“This data was available online for scientific purposes,” he continued. “What I did was to take that information and reformat it so I could put it into a game engine.” With some neat triangulation software, flat images could be transformed into three-dimensions and run through the Unreal engine to turn it into an explorable experience. “I don’t think anyone else had done it before,” he said.

Alan Chan

The results are something that, until Elon Musk and others finally get their act together, lets users explore the sights of Mars — from the enormous Victoria Crater to Candor Chasma, one of the largest canyons in the planet’s Valles Marineris canyon system. You can even play it in full immersive virtual reality, courtesy of an Oculus Rift headset.

Less game, more data visualization

Ultimately, Red Rover isn’t really a game. There are no mission objectives, no evil aliens lurking behind rocks to be mowed down, and no way to die. What it is is an impressive demonstration of cutting edge data visualization; the way that creators can take advantage of the amazing space data being produced by organizations like NASA and turn it into something that’s approachable and understandable to the rest of us.

“I would love to visualize flying through the Great Red Spot on Jupiter but I don’t have enough data to do it just yet.”

It’s not wholly accurate, Chan acknowledged. The Martian buggy itself is, by his own admission, ridiculously overpowered. He also took a few liberties with the ambient wind noises, which are there to make it more immersive, but are probably more than you would actually hear in real life. However, the biggest bit of dramatic license involved creating textures to flesh out the extra detail needed for the planet.

Despite being the most high-resolution footage we’ve yet got of Mars, Chan notes that it still only equates to one pixel per half meter. That means that, uploaded with total fidelity, the surfaces look horribly stretched close up.

To counteract this, he replaced them with new texture data of sand, dirt and rocks to make it look better. (“You can actually disable that in the ‘options’ menu so you can see the data as it was actually taken,” he noted. If you’re more scientifically oriented you might want to do that.”)

Development screenshots. Alan Chan

In the future, Chan would like to extend the project to other planets, whenever the data is available. “I would love to visualize flying through the Great Red Spot on Jupiter but I don’t have enough data to do it just yet,” he said.

Mars remains the main focus, though. With that in mind, the title will continue evolving as more and more HiRISE data is beamed back to Earth.

Alan Chan, developer of Red Rover

In his Steam notes for the “game”, Chan — who is in late forties — notes that he grew up believing that we would have colonized Mars by this point. To date, we have not, which is why Red Rover may be your best chance to explore the planet.

At $4.99 on Steam, compared with the billions spent by space agencies, it’s almost certainly the cheapest.

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The Nokia 7 Plus isn’t officially available in the U.S., but here’s why you should buy it anyway

This is your best chance to pick up the Nokia 7 Plus if you’re living in the U.S.

The Nokia 7 Plus is the best $400 phone you can buy right now, but unfortunately it isn’t officially up for sale in the U.S. HMD Global is currently focusing on Asian markets, and while the Nokia 6.1 is available direct from Amazon for $269, that’s the only Nokia-branded phone sold officially in the U.S.

However, the global variant of the Nokia 7 Plus is now being listed on Amazon for $359, with the particular model offering compatible bands for AT&T and T-Mobile.

It works on AT&T and T-Mobile

The Nokia 7 Plus variant on sale (TA-1062) features a host of LTE bands, specifically 1/3/4/5/7/8/20/28/34/38/39/40/41. Band 4 compatibility is key here as that makes the phone eligible to work on AT&T and T-Mobile. It doesn’t have all the requisite bands for either carrier as it’s missing band 12, so coverage will be limited. That said, bands 4 and 5 provide LTE connectivity across wide swathes of the country, so you shouldn’t face a lot of issues in this regard.

Should you face issues with LTE connectivity on either AT&T and T-Mobile in your locale, you can at least turn in the device as it’s backed by Amazon’s 30-day guarantee. Furthermore, you won’t be able to use the Nokia 7 Plus on Verizon or Sprint as this is a GSM model.

The build quality is fantastic

The Nokia 7 Plus has an aluminum unibody with a six-layer ceramic finish at the back, giving the phone a matte finish. The matte texture makes it easier to hold, and the aluminum chassis makes it one of the most durable phones in this segment.

Nokia devices in the past have long been associated with durability, and HMD is imbibing the same qualities to its portfolio of Android devices. I’ve been using my Nokia 7 Plus for well over two months now, and after numerous knocks and tumbles, the phone is still going strong.

Snapdragon 660 is a performance beast

The Nokia 7 Plus has the distinction of being the first HMD device to feature an 18:9 panel. It also features a Snapdragon 660 chipset, Qualcomm’s mid-range powerhouse. The Snapdragon 660 made its debut last year, and continues to be one of the best chipsets in the sub-$500 segment.

You also get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage as standard, microSD card slot, dual 12MP + 13MP cameras, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and a 3800mAh battery that delivers over a day’s worth of use with ease.

Nokia 7 Plus review: Come for the value, stay for the excitement

You get the promise of quick updates

HMD has committed to the Android One platform for all of its Android phones, and that translates to two platform updates and three years of security updates for all phones in its portfolio. HMD managed to do a stellar job rolling out updates, with the Nokia 7 Plus running Android 8.1 Oreo and the phone is in the first wave of devices to pick up the Android p update once it’s released.

It costs just $90 more than the Nokia 6.1

The main issue with importing a Nokia 7 Plus is the customs duties and shipping costs associated with the purchase, but with the phone available from Amazon and backed by a 30-day guarantee, this is the best time to get your hands on the device.

Right now, the phone costs just $90 more than the Nokia 6.1, and for that amount you’re getting an 18:9 panel, beefier hardware in the form of a Snapdragon 660, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage, and much better cameras. Sure, you’ll lose out on warranty as the model on sale is a global variant that doesn’t offer U.S. warranty, but you’ll be able to return your unit within 30 days to Amazon should you face any issues.

As outlined above, the Nokia 7 Plus has outstanding build quality, and is one of the sturdiest phones in this segment today. For $359, there really is no reason not to try out the Nokia 7 Plus and see what’s on offer.

See at Amazon

Replace your recessed lights with these Philips Hue bulbs for $40 each

With 13 million color options, which will you pick?

Amazon currently has the white and color ambiance Philips Hue flood lights (BR30) on sale for $39.99 each, which is a savings of $10. This style lightbulb is designed to be used in floodlights and overhead recessed lighting, though if you are looking for a regular bulb, they are on sale as well for the same price. The cost of entry with Hue lights is on the more expensive side, so any time you can pick up an extra bulb or two at a discount you should.

Smart lights quickly become addictive, and before you know it, you want to replace every light in your home. This price drop is a match of the lowest we’ve seen the bulb hit, and that was for only a brief period of time around Black Friday. You can control them using the free Philips Hue app or with just your voice through Amazon’s Alexa on an Echo Dot and Google’s Assistant on a Home Mini.

In order for the lights to work, you will need the Philips Hue Smart Bridge, which is down to $52 from $60. For $17 more, you can get the 2-bulb starter kit, which comes with the Bridge and two white bulbs that you can use in your home as well.

See at Amazon

WhatsApp Gains New Group Chat Setting for One-Way Messaging

WhatsApp rolled out an update over the weekend that introduces a useful new administrator setting to the popular messaging platform to make group chats more functional.

Essentially, the new setting allows group chats to be set up so that only approved admins are able to send messages to the group, which should help prevent important information from being lost in a hail of messages from group members.

WhatsApp says the feature is intended for certain use cases where groups are used to receive important announcements, including parents and teachers at schools, community centers, and non-profit organizations.

To enable the setting in WhatsApp, tap Group Settings -> Send Messages and select Only Admins.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has focused on improving the group chat experience over the last few months, introducing group descriptions, a catch-up feature, and protection for users who are being added repeatedly to groups they’ve left.

Tag: WhatsApp
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Drake’s ‘Scorpion’ Breaks Single-Day Streaming Record on Apple Music

Drake’s fifth album, Scorpion, has surpassed the artist’s own single-day streaming record on Apple Music, with over 170 million streams in its first 24 hours of availability.

Apple told The Verge that Scorpion now holds both the U.S. and global streaming records for the company’s streaming service, and the debut is the biggest ever single-day streaming total for any album on any streaming service.

Drake’s last album, More Life, held the previous record with 89.9 million streams in its first day. It also set records on Apple’s Beats 1 radio service, marking the biggest Beats 1 show in its history at the time.

Apple promoted the artist’s latest release by launching a site that lets visitors make their own Scorpion album cover art with personal photos. The company also made sure Siri had something to say when fans asked the virtual assistant what Drake’s nicknames are.

Apple Music is working overtime for

This is what happens when you ask Siri what Drake’s nickname is pic.twitter.com/3fbRKvKAhA

— Micah Singleton (@MicahSingleton) June 28, 2018

Scorpion appeared on almost 30 of Spotify’s popular playlists, but the rival service was still unable to keep up with the Apple Music’s streaming figures for the album, despite it having around 120 million fewer subscribers than Spotify.

According to Spotify’s public charts, the album was streamed over 132 million times in its first 24 hours, but Spotify said that number could end up being higher once it finishes tallying the results.

Scorpion is expected to shatter the single-week streaming record of 431 million streams currently held by Post Malone’s Beerbongs & Bentleys.

Tags: Apple Music, Drake
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Multi-lens camera firm Light is putting up to nine lenses in a smartphone

Light

Light, maker of a wacky-looking 16-lens camera that hit the market last year, has plans to incorporate its technology into a smartphone.

Dual-lens phones are becoming increasingly commonplace, but Light intends to take on the competition with a smartphone featuring a seemingly absurd nine lenses.

Silicon Valley-based Light recently showed the Washington Post a bunch of concept and working prototype handsets with between five and nine lenses built into the back. It hopes to unveil the device by the end of this year.

The company claims its smartphone camera will offer excellent low-light performance and various depth effects while shooting images of up to a whopping 64 megapixels. That’ll surely seem like overkill for most casual smartphone owners, while those that choose to shoot photos at such a high setting will need to be mindful of storage space on the phone, as saving such large images to the cloud could prove time consuming and even costly, depending on your data plan.

There’s no word on whether Light is collaborating with an existing smartphone maker to build the phone, or whether it’s going it alone. We’ve reached out to the company for clarification and will update when we hear back.

Challenges

Design challenges include slimming down the technology, as Light’s standalone camera, at almost an inch thick, is something of a brick in smartphone terms.

It’ll also need to find an attractive price point for the device. Light’s standalone camera, which offers similar specs without all the phone functionality, already costs a wallet-flinching $1,950.

Light’s unique camera technology uses multiple lenses of varying focal lengths to capture multiple images at the same time, and then uses algorithms to fuse them together to create a single picture.

Its L16 camera also lets you adjust the focal plane and depth of field after the image has been snapped.

Light says its 52-megapixel camera offers DSLR-quality images, but reviews of the L16 at the end of last year cast doubt on its claims of excellent low-light performance. With development work continuing, however, the company last month issued a software update that it said improved the camera’s image quality by at least one full stop “in most low light scenarios.” Light described the update as a “huge” step forward, “specifically around fine details and noise reduction.”

With a growing number of smartphones featuring some pretty nifty camera technology with two or three lenses, Light will have to offer a truly top-notch camera — as well as a compelling smartphone design — to have any hope of succeeding in an already crowded market.

The company has support though, receiving a $30 million cash injection from GV (formerly Google Ventures) in 2016, as well as investment from manufacturing giant Foxconn.

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This clever mobile ‘airbag’ could save your phone when you drop it

Philip Frenzel/Landesschau Baden-Württemberg

If you’ve never dropped your smartphone, then guess what? It’s going to happen sooner or later.

While most phone cases do a stellar job of protecting handsets when they hit the deck, some drops prove too much, leaving you with a damaged handset and a costly repair bill.

Ever since the first phone slipped from some poor soul’s hand, a number of tech firms have been looking into how to better protect the devices from breaking on impact.

Taking their cue from automakers, companies such as Amazon and Sony filed patents outlining designs for miniaturized airbag systems that inflate when the system detects the phone is falling.

But while those ideas remain as plans sketched out on paper, an engineering student at Aalen University in Germany has taken it upon himself to design a fully working phone protector that springs into action just before the handset hits the ground.

The German Mechatronics Society was so taken by the design that it awarded the student, Philip Frenzel, a national prize for his efforts.

Frenzel’s device comprises a slim case with four prongs located inside each corner. When the sensor detects the phone is falling, the prongs automatically deploy, preventing any part of the phone from hitting the ground.

One notable advantage over airbag systems is that the device can be quickly reset by pushing the prongs back inside the case.

While the design looks like something you might see flying about in a martial arts movie, the prongs have actually been designed to be quite springy in order to absorb the shock when the phone hits the ground. Though admittedly they still look as if they could cause some damage in a bar brawl.

You can watch the device in action in the video below.

Frenzel says that next month he plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for his creation, which, if it receives sufficient backing, could prove popular with those who have a habit of handling their smartphone like a bar of wet soap.

But in the meantime, if you need some advice on how to pick the best smartphone case for your needs, be sure to check out Digital Trends’ useful guide. Alternatively, if you’d prefer a sturdier smartphone that’s built to take bashes and splashes (to a limit, of course!), then here’s some suggestions for the best rugged smartphones on the market today.

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These are the largest Bitcoin mining farms in the world

The world is in the middle of a second gold rush — but it’s not gold they’re mining today. It’s Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, ones and zeroes that are being turned into pure profit. Around the globe, they’re making millions from machines, minting with microchips, printing money with printed circuit boards.

These mines aren’t holes in the ground, of course, but rather server rooms where shelves full of highly specialized computers with Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) work round the clock to mine bitcoin. They do this by solving extremely difficult math problems, and all that work tends to make them get really, really hot. The solution, of course, is to supply them with a steady supply of cold air to prevent them from overheating. Meaning bitcoin mines are very specialized environments with crucial heating and cooling needs, specialized computers, and very unusual environments. We toured one in northern Washington state recently; it was like stepping into a sauna.

But that’s hardly the only Bitcoin mine, nor the weirdest of the bunch. Here we dig in to some of the biggest and most profitable Bitcoin mining farms and pools in the world. (Need a quick refresher before you dive in? Start here.)

BitMain / Antpool

Bitmain was founded in 2013 by Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan after the two met following Zhan’s translation of Satoshi Nakamoto’s seminal “Bitcoin White Paper,” a document that spells out the core fundamentals Bitcoin is based upon. Jihan approached Zhan for help in developing a new chip that would be capable of mining Bitcoin, thus Bitmain was created.

Bitmain is also one of the few crypto companies that touts an actual farm, or warehouse full of “mining rigs,” that is maintained by a 24/7 staff of engineers. Having made three to four billion in 2017, they were definitely hauling in their fair share of the catch.

While cryptomining is definitely at the forefront of Bitmain’s business, the company broadened its development projects after its explosive rise in 2017 to include chips and processors that focused on “deep learning” — and in November of that year launched a new line of AI-focused hardware.

Bitfury

Having been around a bit longer than BitMain, Bitfury was founded in 2011 by Valery Vavilov. Unlike BitMain, Bitfury is more in the business of supporting groups who wish to use the Blockchain to move and create assets. So while not necessarily a farm, Bitfury is a leading name in the cryptocurrency world.

With offices across the globe, Bitfury is manned by professionals from all kinds of fields and all kinds of places, all working together to preserve the accessibility and transparency of the Blockchain, as well as creating tools to streamline its use.

In layman’s terms, Bitfury lets big businesses, governments, and other organization transfer assets across the Blockchain. So if you’re a high roller that wants to take advantage of the new cryptocurrency highway, Bitfury may be your first stop.

DiscusFish/F2Pool

Opened in May of 2013, DiscusFish is a public mining pool that also shares its origins in China. The name refers to a time before the pool had an English interface; “Discus Fish” is the name of one of their original operators.

F2Pool also supports a wide variety of cryptomining, catering to most of the larger and trending cryptocurrencies in current circulation — Ethereum, Ripple, and so on — as well as a daily automatic pay out.

BTCC / BTC China

The second largest public mining pool as of 2012, BTCC has been around just about as long as Bitcoin has. Operating as a “Bitcoin exchange,” the BTCC is arguably one of the largest and more aggressive names in the crypto world.

With a continued faith in Bitcoin that hasn’t failed them yet, the BTCC has successfully ridden the everchanging current that is the crypto world, continuously meeting the demand that the craze currency creates during the “Bitcoin bubble!” phases.

Eligius

As one of the most open and easy-to-get- into mining pools, Eligius has become a loud name in the Crypto mining world. Operated since 2011, it also boasts being one of the older mining pools.

With a no-nonsense attitude, no registration, no fees, and immediate share-sharing, Eligius is probably the most user friendly you can get with pool mining.

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Acer Spin 5 vs. Lenovo Yoga 730

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

There was a time when you needed to spend $1,000 or more to guarantee a good notebook experience. Budget and midrange machines tended to be poorly built, underpowered, and to offer terrible battery life. It’s safe to say that the pendulum has swung in the other direction, and today some great notebook options come in for less than a grand.

Even better, that includes convertible 2-in-1s, which let you swivel the display around from clamshell to tablet modes, with a couple of useful modes in between. Two good examples are the new Acer Spin 5 and the Lenovo Yoga 730, with both offering Intel’s 8th-generation Core processors and Full HD 13.3-inch displays. Acer has a trick up its sleeve, though, shipping the Spin 5 with Alexa enabled out of the box. Is that enough to give it an edge over the Yoga 730?

Design

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The Yoga 730 utilizes Lenovo’s recent conservative, businesslike design aesthetic, with a silver-gray chassis that’s attractive but doesn’t attract attention. If you can accept its fade-into-the-background demeanor, then you’ll be rewarded with solid build quality, a functional convertible hinge, and a thin (0.62 inches) and light (2.47 pounds) chassis. And if you want to avoid stares at your favorite cafe, then the Yoga 730 is for you.

Acer’s Spin 5 matches this conservative design philosophy. It sports a dark gray color with minimal adornment, with some fine metallic hatching on the lid and some chrome trim adding just a touch of flair. The Spin 5 is also built well, with minimal bending and flexing and with a hinge that does its job of holding the display in the right position. Its downfall: some huge bezels that look comical next to the Yoga 730’s slimmer versions. That makes the Spin 5 wider, deeper, and heavier (3.31 pounds), although it’s close to the same thickness at 0.63 inches.

We’ll note here that both Lenovo and Acer are offering Amazon Alexa support on some of their newer notebooks. The Yoga 730 and Spin 5 both qualify, but only the latter has Alexa enabled out of the box. If you’re a big Alexa user and you want to start utilizing her services on your PC sooner rather than later, then the Spin 5 gains a small advantage.

Had Acer built in smaller bezels and thus minimized the Spin 5’s dimensions, then it would be in a close tie with the Yoga 730 when it comes to the design.

Performance

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

As is the case with the vast majority of thin and light notebooks today, both the Spin 5 and the Yoga 730 utilized Intel’s quad-core 8th-generation CPUs. That promises excellent productivity performance, on demand, balanced against some impressive efficiency. Unsurprisingly, these two 2-in-1s are very similar performers with regard to their processors. In terms of storage speeds, the Yoga 730 wins out thanks to its faster PCIe solid-state disk (SSD) compared to the Spin 5’s SATA version.

There are also some slight differences regarding their displays. They each offer Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 or 166 PPI) 13.3-inch IPS panels, both of which are a bit dim at less than 300 nits. The Spin 5, though, offers higher contrast (but still less than we’d like to see), a wider color gamut, better color accuracy, and a perfect gamma (so video is neither too light nor too dark). That beats out the Yoga 730 on all counts, making the Spin 5’s display a more pleasant overall experience.

Neither Acer nor Lenovo offer 4K UHD display options, which is a shame. Full HD at this screen size is okay, but pixel-peepers and Netflix watchers would benefit from a higher resolution alternative.

Portability

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

As we’ve already covered, the Yoga 730 is smaller than the Spin 5 thanks to its modern bezels, and it’s also lighter. That makes Lenovo’s 2-in-1 easier to carry around, although the Spin 5 is almost as thin and so doesn’t take up too much space in a backpack. You’ll be more comfortable using the Yoga 730 in tablet mode, and so consider if that’s important to you.

At the same time, Acer packed a larger battery into the Spin 5 (54 watts versus 48 watts), and managed to optimize things to overcome the Core i7-8550U as compared to the Core i5-8250U in our Yoga 730 review unit. We found the Spin 5 to last longer in all of our battery tests, from running a CPU-intensive web benchmark, to browsing a variety of web sites, to looping a local video. In fact, the Spin 5 lasted more than an hour longer in all but the most intensive test, meaning that it will keep you working for longer away from a charge than the Yoga 730 when getting work done.

The Yoga 730 is slightly smaller and lighter than the Spin 5, but its lesser battery life mitigates that advantage.

Acer’s Spin 5 wins out

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The Lenovo Yoga 730 costs $850 for a Core i5-8250U, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB PCIe SSD. That compares to $900 for the Spin 5’s Core i7-8550U, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SATA SSD. In other words, they’re close enough in price that it’s a wash.

But the Spin 5 wins out, primarily because it offers better battery life to go with its great performance. Having Alexa enabled out of the box isn’t a huge advantage, but it might sway things as well for fans of Amazon’s digital assistant.

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