Vivo NEX is official with super-thin bezels, pop-up front camera and top-end specs

Vivo solves the notch problem with a retractable front camera and neat sensor solutions.

Vivo showed off a concept phone back at MWC with ultra-thin bezels and a pop-up front camera, and the company has formally unveiled the product in China. The Vivo NEX comes with a 6.59-inch FHD+ 19.3:9 Super AMOLED display that offers a 91.2% screen-to-body ratio, with the company noting that it took several “industry-first” technologies to maximize the screen real estate.

Vivo ditched the standard earpiece in lieu of Screen SoundCasting Technology, which turns the entire screen into a speaker. The tech is similar to what you’d find in bone conduction headsets, and Vivo says it offers more powerful bass and smoother treble, all while enabling the brand to shrink the top bezel.

Vivo NEX hands-on: One step closer to a bezel-less future

Speaking of bezels, the top bezel is just 2.16 mm thick, with the bottom bezel coming in at 5.08 mm and the side bezels at 1.71 mm. The NEX also features a third-generation in-display fingerprint sensor, with the brand stating that the new sensor is 50% better at recognition accuracy with a broader detection area and 10% faster unlock speed.

While the front of the phone gets all the attention, the back isn’t all that bad either. The glass back is coated with what Vivo calls “Holographic Diffraction Dynamic Color” illusion technology, which sees thousands of “diffraction units” laser engraved onto the back of the device to create a “dreamlike sci-fi effect.”

The phone’s pièce de résistance is the retractable 8MP front camera. The module is hidden away in everyday use, and pops up whenever you activate the front camera to take a selfie. It takes just over a second for the module to pop up, and Vivo says that the micro-drive system along with the independent drive ICs allow the camera to elevate with “absolute precision.”

The motor can push up to 500 g, withstand a thrust force of 45KG, and can be raised and lowered over 50,000 times. Vivo is basically saying that the module won’t break should the phone take a tumble when it is activated.

Under the hood, the NEX is powered by a Snapdragon 845 chipset, and it comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage as standard, and you can also pick up a variant with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There’s also a 4000mAh battery, dual 12MP + 5MP cameras at the back (with 4-axis OIS), and the phone runs Funtouch OS 4.0 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. And unlike the Mi Mix 2, the Vivo NEX has a headphone jack.

Vivo is also selling a base variant of the NEX with a Snapdragon 710 along with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which will be available for ¥3,898 ($610).

Vivo NEX specs

Vivo is touting the AI capabilities of the NEX, with the phone offering AI-assisted scene recognition, HDR, filters, and photo composition. Vivo is also rolling out updates to its China-specific Jovi voice assistant, which can now launch apps and identify objects on a user’s screen, à la Bixby Vision.

Vivo’s solution for the notch is certainly intriguing (and it looks really cool), but it remains to be seen if the retractable camera works seamlessly in day-to-day usage.

For now, the Vivo NEX is limited to the Chinese market, where the phone will go on sale for the equivalent of $610. The variant with the Snapdragon 845 will retail for ¥4,498 ($700), and the version with 256GB of storage will set customers back ¥4,998 ($780). There’s no indication that the device will make its way to global markets, but we’ll let you know should that change.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the Vivo NEX?

Vivo NEX hands-on: One step closer to a bezel-less future

How to fix common Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL problems

Having trouble with your Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL? Here’s where you start.

No phone is perfect. And even though the Pixel 2 and 2 XL seem to be pretty solid devices, there are some issues that have cropped up over time as thousands and thousands of them made their way out into the wild. Some of the problems are inherent in all smartphones, others appear in rare cases and a couple are simply unavoidable in the Pixel 2 and 2 XL in particular.

If you’re having trouble with any aspect of your Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL, this is a great place to start. We’ve gathered up some of the most common issues owners are having, and accompany them with some possible remedies.

Pixel 2 XL is slow to wake up following June 2018 security patch

One of the upsides to Google’s Pixel phones is that you’re first in line for big firmware upgrades and monthly security patches. The June 2018 security patch fixed a handful of small bugs, but shortly after users started to download it, complaints started popping up about the larger Pixel 2 XL being considerably slower to wake up.

Instead of the screen powering up in less than a second, multiple owners of the Pixel 2 XL are reporting that it now takes between two and three seconds. There are a few threads on Reddit highlighting the issue, as well as a report on Google’s Issue Tracker.

Shortly after complaints about this bug started popping up, a Googler on Reddit said that the company’s aware of it and that a fix will be rolling out “in the coming weeks.”

In the meantime, you can temporarily fix this by enabling the Always On Display mode. To do so, head to Settings -> Display -> Advanced -> Ambient Display -> Always On.

Pixel 2 XL has issues with the proximity sensor

Way back in December 2017, Pixel 2 XL owners started complaining about issues with the proximity sensor following the Android 8.1 update. Screen protectors would cause Always On Display to turn off, turning the screen back on proved to be a challenge while on a call, and more.

All of this seemed to revolve around strange behavior with the proximity sensor, but thanks to the June 2018 security patch, it’s been fixed. As noted in the Android Security Bulletin:

• A-68114567 & A-74058011 Display Improve consistency of Always On Display Pixel 2 XL
• A-70282393 Performance Improve proximity sensor behavior Pixel 2 XL

MMS messages aren’t being received properly

As popular as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services are, it’s still hard to beat the universal use of good-old texting. Unfortunately for Pixel 2 and 2 XL users, MMS messages aren’t working as they should.

When receiving an MMS file, such as a picture or video, it just shows up as “Message not found.” Google said that it fixed this bug back on March 31, but even so, a lot of users weren’t seeing any resolution. On April 10, Google then noted that:

Although text message issues should already be resolved for some of you, we’ve heard the feedback that this is still a problem for some of you. We’re still investigating this issue with AT&T for those affected, and we’ll post updates here when we know more.

If you’re still experiencing trouble here, it’s reported that the issue is fixed by going to Settings -> Network & Internet -> Mobile Network -> Advanced and then toggling off Enhanced 4G LTE Mode.

Fingerprint sensor is slower (Android P beta only)

There’s a lot to unpack in Android P, but if you choose to dive into the open beta, be aware that your fingerprint sensor might work a bit slower than you’re used to.

A few members on the Android Central forums have reported that the fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 2 XL doesn’t unlock the phone as fast as it did when running Oreo.

Some users have reported that the sensor is now “ultra slow” with others not noticing any difference at all. Although not yet confirmed, I’d expect we see this patched with the next update to the beta.

Adaptive Battery turns off by itself (Android P beta only)

If you downloaded the Android P beta on your Pixel 2, one of the new features you’ve likely been eager to check out is Adaptive Battery — a tool that learns your habits and then limits CPU usage accordingly to extend your battery life even longer.

Turning the feature on is as easy as jumping into settings and tapping on a toggle, but some of our forum users are reporting that Adaptive Battery tends to turn itself off with no prior warning.

To check and see if Adaptive Battery is still turned on, go to Settings -> Battery -> Adaptive Battery. If the toggle is turned off, just tap Use Adaptive Battery to turn it back on. There’s not a fix for this quite yet, but here’s to hoping it’ll be patched in the next beta update.

Screen color is ‘wrong’

How you feel about the color and saturation of your phone display is a very personal decision, and everyone has different thoughts on what looks “right.” But the Pixel 2 XL in particular has taken heat for not having the most colorful or saturated display out there, to the point of looking dull to some. If you’re not a fan of how your Pixel 2 or 2 XL’s screen looks, you have some options.

Go into your Settings, then Display and tap on Colors and choose between the three options. “Natural” will be the most neutral and simple, “Boosted” will be natural still but with a little extra punch, and “Saturated” will go more over the top with colors. Most people will be happiest with Boosted, but those coming from other OLED phones that are often tuned to offer deeper colors will want to switch to Saturated to keep things familiar.

Noticing screen burn-in

Perhaps the biggest hullabaloo surrounding the Pixel 2 XL has been early reports of image retention and full-on burn-in on the screen. The former isn’t much more than an annoyance — sometimes things that have been shown on the screen for a long time stay there faintly for a bit after switching away. The latter is more of an issue — burn-in seems the same as image retention at first, but the effects are permanent and typically seen for core interface elements like the navigation and status bars.

Don’t go hunting for screen burn-in, but if you see it early you should get a replacement.

The most important thing to say here is that you probably shouldn’t go hunting for signs of screen burn-in on your phone. If you don’t notice it in the regular use of the phone, you shouldn’t have any issue with it — and at the same time, every phone today with an OLED-based screen will have some level of burn-in over time. It’s just a characteristic of the display technology at this point.

But if you’re noticing screen burn-in on your Pixel 2 or 2 XL early on, such as within the first few weeks, you shouldn’t hesitate to contact Google support and get a replacement device. While burn-in is relatively common, it doesn’t typically set in on phones so rapidly — and seeing a considerable amount right from the start isn’t a great sign for how that display will look a year on. Google will offer you at least a two week return period, and you should take advantage of it. For serious cases, Google has also extended its manufacturer defect warranty to a full two years.

Bad battery life

“I’m seeing bad battery life” is the holy grail of problems that are nearly impossible to diagnose. But here are some good basic principles to follow when trying to improve battery life:

• Check for power-hungry apps: One badly coded app can be a nuisance; a handful of badly coded apps can destroy your battery. At the end of the day, go into your battery settings, scroll down and see what percentage of your day’s battery life was consumed by which apps. If a single app is using more than 5%, think about if it really needs to be using that much — investigate to see if you can get it to calm down.
• Uninstall unused apps: A bad app can’t drain your battery if it isn’t installed. If you started up your new Pixel 2 and just installed all 100 apps from your last phone, chances are there are dozens on there you don’t actually need. Uninstall the useless ones — you can always install them later if you decide you need them.
• Turn off always-on display: It doesn’t have a huge effect, but any time the screen is even partially illuminated it’s using battery. Go into the Display settings and turn off “Always-on” — a nice compromise is keeping “Lift to check phone” turned on to have it illuminate when you grab your phone.
• Reduce display sleep time: In the same vein, you can set your display to go to sleep quickly when it isn’t being interacted with. By default the phone is at 1 minute, but you can set it as low as 15 seconds if you’d prefer to save the battery instead of the convenience of having the screen stay awake.
• Use a static wallpaper: Out of the box the phones use a great “living wallpaper” that subtly animates. It looks cool, but also uses up battery. Switch to a static wallpaper, and you’ll save some precious juice.

One thing to consider at some point, particularly on the Pixel 2 with its 2700mAh battery capacity, is that you just won’t be able to get more battery life out of your phone no matter what you do. Even if you follow all of the above steps, you have to use your phone at some point — and if you use it hard, it’s going to drain the battery quickly.

Slow performance

Chances are your Pixel 2 or 2 XL is still zippy, but perhaps 6 or 12 months into owning it you’ll notice it slow down a bit. This is normal, but it’s also preventable! It’s no coincidence that some of the fixes for bad battery life noted above are also applicable to issues with bad performance. The best thing you can do is figure out if there is an app (or multiple apps) running rogue in the background and sapping your processor power or memory.

The best thing you can do is check on misbehaving apps and clear up your storage.

First, go to your battery settings and see if an app is draining an an usual amount of your battery over the course of the day — if it is, there’s a good chance it’s also using up other system resources. While you’re thinking about apps, also consider uninstalling old apps you haven’t used in a while — there’s no need to keep them around, potentially running in the background, if you have no intention of using them.

Next, go into Settings and then Storage to see if you have enough free space on your phone. Chances are if you’re at a critically low storage level you’ll have a notification bothering you about it, but if you’re pushing up past 90% full storage you may run into other performance issues. The Storage settings give you a readout of what’s using up storage, and an option to automatically free up space.

LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS problems

Dealing with wireless radios is so often referred to as a sort of dark art — something that’s difficult to understand but so often extremely frustrating to deal with. But on phones, we rely on mobile networks, Wi-FI, Bluetooth and GPS on a daily basis. If you’re having troubles with any of the set, here are a few tips to consider trying:

• Turn the radio off and back on again. Yes, really — just toggle on airplane (flight) mode, and turn it back off about 15 seconds later. Give your various radios a few minutes to reconnect to everything, and see if that fixes your issues.
• At the same time, power cycle the device on the other end. There’s a good chance the cheap pair of Bluetooth headphones, or the wireless router at home, is what’s having an issue. Turn it off and start over.
• Forget the network or device you’re having trouble with. Whether it’s a Bluetooth speaker or a Wi-Fi network, go into the network/device list and forget it — start back from scratch and see if it fixes it.
• Reset network settings by going into Settings, Reset options and “Reset WI-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth.” Confirm you want to reset, and it will return all of these areas back to their defaults. Now you can start fresh and reconnect to each device one at a time to determine where the issue may be.

There are so many potential issues here that it’s tough to get into the details. But start here — and hopefully you get on the right path to troubleshooting where the issues are and how to fix them.

Clicking noise in Pixel 2 earpiece

One of the more peculiar issues on the Pixel 2 in particular is a reported “clicking” or “hissing” noise heard in the earpiece when making a call. It wasn’t present on all calls or all phones, but it’s happening on enough phones that Google has addressed the problem. According to Google it has rolled out a fix for the clicking sound.

Previously, Google had indicating that turning off NFC would fix the problem temporarily, and though some have reported that this doesn’t work, it may be worth a shot if you’re still waiting for that November update. If the problem persists beyond that update, that points to a potential hardware problem and you may want to contact Google support and look for a replacement device if you’re still within your return window.

How to factory reset the Pixel 2 or 2 XL

For the software-related issues noted here, if the step by step processes to try and fix them don’t work sometimes the only way to go is a full-on factory reset of the phone.

Before going any further, make sure you’ve backed up any data you want to save. Make sure Google Photos is synced, and you have any other important data offloaded to a service like Google Drive or Dropbox. Then, proceed.

Go into Settings and scroll down to select System.
Tap on Reset options and then Erase all data (factory reset).
Scroll down to acknowledge and tap Reset at the bottom.
Confirm your PIN or passcode, and proceed.

After a brief period and a reboot of the phone, it will come back exactly as it did the first day you took it out of the box. Use this opportunity to start anew — don’t necessarily just reinstall all of the same things you had before, because that may be how you had troubles in the first place!

Updated June 12, 2018: Updated the Pixel 2 XL slow wake section with a statement from Google.

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

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• Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: The new standard
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• Google Pixel 2 vs. Pixel 2 XL: What’s the difference?
• Join our Pixel 2 forums

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Vivo NEX specs: 6.59-inch display, Snapdragon 845, 4000mAh battery

Here’s what you get in this crazy-looking flagship.

Vivo’s new NEX phone is pretty crazy looking — at least if you didn’t get a glimpse of these features with the Vivo Apex concept phone. But now that the NEX is here and fully announced, we also know the kind of specs that Vivo is able to get into a phone with this crazy hardware design — just about the highest-end components, it turns out.

Here’s the complete Vivo NEX spec sheet.

Silk White OnePlus 6 hands-on: Kiss from a rose (gold)

The same great phone in a gorgeous new color scheme.

The OnePlus 6 is the epitome of bang for your buck. For just $529, you can nab a phone with a Snapdragon 845, 6GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage — not to mention excellent dual cameras and a clean build of Android 8.1. At that price, you’ll end up with the Mirror Black finish, a high-gloss look that’s reminiscent of Apple’s Jet Black.

For another $50, though, you can get OnePlus’s new Silk White finish, along with upgraded internals at 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

The Silk White OnePlus 6 is striking, to say the least. Despite still having a glass backing, it doesn’t feel like glass. The matte coating makes the OnePlus 6 feel almost identical to the aluminum backing of last year’s OnePlus 5T. Around the metal sides and accents of the phone, including the fingerprint scanner and logo, there’s a new rose gold finishing, which looks pink in some lights and gold in others.

Which color OnePlus 6 should you buy?

Around the front, the display glass is thankfully still all black, which is especially important given the notch up top and OnePlus’s need to be able to hide it if the user so chooses. You can still see the rose gold accenting form the front along the chamfered edges of the phone, which I’m quite fond of. I’m not typically a fan of white phones, but this Silk White finish has become one of my favorites in recent history.

If you want to pick up a Silk White OnePlus 6 for yourself, you’ll have to be vigilant and quick. It’s a limited edition finish, and when it first launched last week, it sold out in less than 24 hours. Luckily, it’s going back on sale today at 10 AM EST (June 12), so you’ll have a second chance to snag this flashy finish for $579.

There’s no guarantee it’ll be around all day, but in the worst case scenario, you can still always pick up the Mirror Black model if you’re too late for the Silk White.

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OnePlus 6

• OnePlus 6 review
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• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5: Should you upgrade?
• These are the official OnePlus 6 cases
• The OnePlus 6 doesn’t work on Verizon or Sprint
• Join the discussion in the forums

Huawei MediaPad M5 now available in the U.S. for $319 and up

You can buy it at Amazon and Newegg.

Android tablets are an ugly duck in 2018, with most OEMs leaving them in the dust to focus on bigger and better things. Huawei is one of the few companies that continues to kick out Android-powered tabs, and its latest series — the MediaPad M5 — is now available in the United States.

We got an early look at the MediaPad M5 during MWC in February, and it’s available in 8.4-inch and 10.8-inch flavors. No matter which screen size you choose, the M5 tablets are powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 960 processor and 4GB RAM with 64GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card).

You’ll also find a 13MP camera on the back of the tablets, an 8MP front-facing one, and Android 8.0 Oreo with EMUI 8.0.

Both models also share the same resolution of 2560 x 1600 despite their different screen sizes, but the 10.8-inch model has a much larger battery at 7,500 mAh compared to the 8.4-inch one’s 5,100 mAh unit.

If you’re interested, The MediaPad M5 8.4-inch costs $319 while the 10.8-inch model goes for $359. Huawei’s also selling a Pro variant of the 10.8-inch M5 ($449) that comes with the Huawei M Pen Stylus and a keyboard dock that enables a custom desktop UI to help you stay as productive as can be.

The MediaPad M5 is available now from Amazon and Newegg.

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Vivo NEX hands-on preview: One step closer to a bezel-less future

Here’s a look at the next evolution of smartphone hardware.

Vivo isn’t a name we hear about in Western markets, but it’s a huge force in India and China — and most of us were introduced to the brand when it showed off a crazy concept phone at MWC 2018. It had tiny bezels, an in-display fingerprint sensor, a pop-up camera and all sorts of futuristic tech. We thought there was no way this would make it to market in any form.

Less than four months later, here we are — Vivo has just announced the NEX, which is effectively a refined and improved version of the Apex concept phone, but this time it’s a real product.

In a world of increasingly homogenous high-end smartphone design where every company seems to have settled on the same metal-and-glass look, Vivo is trying some crazy stuff to differentiate the NEX. It all starts with the display: Vivo claims it’s “truly bezel-less,” but in reality that’s kind of a misnomer — not because Vivo is being deceptive, but because there will always be a bezel of some size where the display meets the frame. And there’s a bezel here, it’s just absolutely tiny.

This is as close to bezel-less as we’re going to get for a while.

Bezels of 2.16 mm on top, 5.0 mm on the bottom and 1.71 mm on the sides push the screen-to-body ratio over 91%, meaning Vivo could get this 6.59-inch display into a phone that’s large but not too oversized. Compare that ratio to something like the Essential Phone, which sits at 85%, or the Galaxy S9+ at 84%. Although it passes the eye test, the numbers back it up as well — the NEX really does have absolutely tiny screen bezels. You also won’t find a display notch here, which is something Vivo is also happy to point out.

So how does Vivo do it? Well, it starts with three technologies: a pop-up front-facing camera, sensors embedded in the display, and removing the traditional earpiece speaker.

The pop-up camera, or “elevating front camera” as Vivo calls it, is still the coolest trick I’ve seen in a smartphone in a long time. As soon as you switch to the front-facing camera, the module holding an 8MP sensor swiftly pops up from the top of the phone. The action is smooth and quick, completing in about a second, and Vivo rates the component for at least 50,000 actions. The micro-step motor inside is capable of lifting 500 grams of weight, so there’s no need to worry about it giving out if you happen to bump it while it’s extended.

All you get is screen — no notch, no sensors or anything else.

Instead of a rear- or side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Vivo has once again stuck with the differentiating feature of an in-display sensor. This is the third generation of the sensor technology, which Vivo says is both faster and more accurate than the one it rolled out earlier this year. Recognition accuracy is up 50% thanks to a wider recognition area, and overall unlocking time has improved by 10%. And that’s a good thing, because these optical sensors under the display panel have consistently been much slower than the lightning-quick capacitive sensors we’re all used to in modern phones.

Vivo has a handful of tricks for hiding the rest of the sensors that are traditionally found on the top bezel or in a display notch. The proximity sensor has been integrated into the display panel, and is nestled in the 2.16 mm top bezel.

There’s no traditional earpiece speaker here either — that’s been replaced by a bone conduction-style tech that uses the entire display to transmit sound to your ear. That’s technology we’ve seen before in various executions, typically in rugged phones that want to reduce points of ingress. And speaking of ingress, there’s no water resistance rating here — with that pop-up camera, it’s going to be extremely difficult to keep liquids out.

Now, how about the rest of the phone that isn’t display? This is hardly a boring device to look at. There’s a super-glossy coated metal frame that’s rounded off to a near-seamless transition to a 3D curved glass back that’s gorgeous to look at. Depending on the angle and lighting the color shifts from blue to black to purple to grey, and there’s a tiny geometric pattern that creates refractions of rainbows at various angles. The only break in that delightful patterned back is the camera arrangement, which highly reminiscent of both the iPhone X and Huawei P20 Pro.

While it looks textured, it isn’t — and to that point it’s just as fingerprinty as any other glass-backed phone. There’s a soft touch-coated hard case in the box, though, which I suspect many owners will make use of just to get a good handle on the NEX — even though it covers up a delightfully designed exterior.

Despite the huge display and awesome pop-up camera, there are very few oddities to the layout of the NEX. Buttons are placed where you expect and work just fine, the USB-C port is dead center on the bottom, there’s a traditional loudspeaker, and you even get a regular 3.5 mm headphone jack on the top.

Vivo NEX specs

High-end specs aplenty — except for water resistance.

Internally the NEX has all of the typical high-end specs: a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage. A 4000mAh battery inside is above-average in size for this segment, and there’s even a headphone jack. Charging happens over USB-C, and not wireless charging despite the glass back.

In the rear camera department, we’re looking at a 12MP dual pixel sensor with OIS and an f/1.8 aperture lens. There’s a secondary 5MP sensor with f/2.4 lens used primarily for portrait mode effects. I obviously haven’t had time to do any testing, but all of the right hardware is here for good photos — and hopefully the quality is there considering how great the high-end competition is.

This is my first time really looking at Vivo’s software, which carries the cringe-inducing name of “Funtouch OS 4.0” and isn’t demonstrably changed on the NEX from its other recent phone offerings. Like every other company Vivo is touting a whole bunch of AI features, including the “Jovi Smart” assistant and tons of other smarts throughout the system. Remember that because this phone is launching in mainland China it doesn’t have any Google apps or services, so the inclusion of its own smart assistive features make sense for Vivo. Now if this phone were to launch outside of China, such as in Hong Kong or India, perhaps it wouldn’t be received in the same way.

The NEX is also launching on Android 8.1 Oreo (and the June 1 security patch), which is a big move for Vivo considering how many of its phones have launched (and remained) on extremely old versions of Android. How much of that fresh software continues into the future of course remains to be seen, because getting platform updates out the door has also not been a strong suit for the company.

This is also the most faithful recreation of iOS I’ve seen, blowing away Huawei’s and Xiaomi’s attempts. The launcher, buttons, font, animations, colors … it’s a dead ringer for iOS 11. Every single app looks the same, there’s no app drawer in the launcher, there’s a control center accessed from the bottom of the screen — it’s downright shameless. I’m not at all a fan of this approach to software design, but the least I can say is this is a dedicated and extremely well-executed interface. I’m sure this software sells phones in China, but it wouldn’t fly in many markets around the world.

Vivo’s launching the NEX in China, and at this point doesn’t have anything to say about Western markets. And even with all of this crazy hardware, the NEX is going on sale for ¥5,000 (about $780). There will also be a slightly cheaper ¥4,498 ($700) model with only 128GB of storage, and a more mid-range version with the new Snapdragon 710 processor for ¥3,898 ($610) — this isn’t some unattainable phone that nobody can afford.

But despite its limited release to a single (albeit massive) market, I’m excited to see some actual interesting hardware innovation coming out of this company. Just having good-looking and well-made hardware isn’t enough anymore, you need to do something unique — and Vivo has certainly raised the bar in that respect.

Google Home can now handle up to three commands at once

More natural phrasing for commands is live, too.

In late-November last year, Google made it much easier to issue multiple commands/questions to your Google Home by allowing you to perform two actions at once. Now, that functionality is expanding even more with support for up to three commands.

Google made this announcement on its Made By Google Twitter page, and at the time of publication, it’s rolling out to users across the United States. Now, you can ask about the weather, check your calendar, and turn on the kitchen lights while only saying “Ok, Google” once.

Additionally, as noted by Android Police, it would appear that the Multiple Actions feature is live, too. Announced at I/O this past May, Multiple Actions allows you to issue multiple commands in a much more natural way. For example, instead of saying “Ok, Google, what’s the weather in New York and what’s the weather in San Francisco?”, you can simply say “Ok, Google, what’s the weather in New York and San Francisco?”.

These two new features, while small on their own, should make talking to your Google Home a lot more natural. Support for three commands and Multiple Actions are both live on my regular Home and Home Mini, but if they’re not working for you yet, be sure to keep trying over the next couple days.

What’s new in Google Home and Assistant at Google I/O 2018

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• Google Home review
• Google Home Mini: Everything you need to know!
• Google Home Max review
• These services work with Google Home
• Google Home vs. Amazon Echo
• Join our Google Home forums!

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How to get started with Android Things

Android Things can help bring out your inner Maker. Here’s how to get started.

Android Things just might be one of Google’s best projects ever. Designed to help build small embedded smart “things” by being simple and consistent, it’s a great way to get started with any type of small connected project even if you’ve never done any type of programming before.

It can run on low cost hardware and has great support material to point you in the right direction no matter what your dreaming of building. I have been looking at it for a few weeks and think it’s where everyone with any interest in building cool tech and not just using it needs to start.

Maybe the best part is that at its core it is just Android. The same Android that runs on over a billion phones, countless tablets, watches, televisions and most any other small smart thing you can imagine. Learn by doing with Android Things’ great tutorials and you will be well on your way to understand how writing apps for Android is done. You don’t need to have dreams of being a successful Android app developer — it’s a great way to learn even if you just want to learn. Best of all, getting started takes just a few simple steps.

Android Things: Everything you need to know about Google’s plan to disrupt IoT

What you need: Hardware

You don’t need a Christmas dog blanket to work with Android Things, but it doesn’t hurt anything if you have one.

To get to work at development with Android Things you need a few basic pieces of hardware. For starters, you’re going to need a computer. It doesn’t have to be a fancy computer, only powerful enough to run Android Studio. Any modern Windows PC or laptop will be fine, as will any Intel Mac or a Linux PC.

Many years ago, I started fooling with Android development on a small Acer Netbook I had lying around, and it was more than enough on the hardware side. Of course, a powerful PC will cut down on the time it takes to compile your creations, but you don’t need one.

You don’t need a lot of expensive hardware to get started.

At the other end, you’ll need some hardware that can run Android Things.

If you’re familiar with small single-board-computers and tinkering around, you can get started with a stand-alone PICO-IMX7-AT board or a Raspberry Pi 3. I love the Raspberry Pi because it has such broad support and is adaptable to do almost anything, but if you’re more serious about building smart embedded projects the Pico is a better choice because it also has Alexa development support.

An even better choice is to spend $200 and buy a complete Android Things developer kit. You’ll not only get the Pico board, but also a 5-inch multitouch display, an HD camera, a Pimoroni Rainbow HAT and all the cables and fasteners to put it together. These are the same kits Google gave to attendees at Google I/O 2018, and they’re great. It’s worth spending a bit more to get everything you need as well as have the exact hardware used in all the demos and tutorials.

What you need: Software

Every piece of software you need to develop for Android Things is free. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, only that the developers of it want you to be able to use it and aren’t charging anything.

It consists of three parts: the Android Things image for your development hardware, Android Studio for your computer, and an Android companion app to get your system up and running and connected to Wi-Fi if you’re using the kit from Google.

All the software you need to develop for Android Things is free.

Android Studio is the very same Android Studio that app developers for Android phones use. It has a few basic requirements, and you already have those installed if you’re using Windows or macOS.

If you’re installing on Linux you’ll need a few basic dependencies that you probably already are using. You can download Android Studio from the Google Developers website, and it installs like any other program. You’ll also find full instructions about setting up your development environment after the installer walks you through getting set up.

Android Things is available as a pre-built image from Google at the Android Things portal. Google provides updates and patches you can install so using the pre-built image is a good idea. If you purchased a developer kit, you already have the software you need to get started installed to the board. You’ll also want to sign up for your own Android Things dev console to help fetch and send data through the Google Cloud. If you didn’t buy a kit, the dev console has the tool you need to flash the latest build of Android Things to your board.

It’s also a great idea to install the Android Things companion app to your phone. If you bought a kit, you’ll need it to get set up and connected to a network. You can find it at Google Play.

Next stop: Anywhere

Believe it or not, that is everything you need to develop for the Android Things platform. If you’re familiar with software development, you have a good idea of where to go next, but most people aren’t familiar. That’s OK because Android Things was designed to be the thing that will teach you.

Google provides a complete tutorial to get started once everything is put together.

This is why I love the Android Things platform. You have a handful of hardware that can tell you the temperature, but no idea where to go next once you have everything connected. Google has an awesome tutorial that takes you through the basics (making an LED light up) to advanced techniques in its Android Things training docs.

You can use these tutorials with any development hardware so if you didn’t get a kit you can still learn whats what and how to make it all happen. You’re walked through the I/O pins and what each is used for (and even what they are if you are starting from scratch!) and told exactly how to connect any hardware and have complete code examples available.

Completing the Android Things training Google Provides gives you everything you need to know to get started building apps as well as familiarity with embedded computing and how other peripheral hardware works. It’s wonderful no matter what your skill level is.

I know most people are more interested in using cool gadgets than they are making them. But if you have even a passing interest in IoT / mobile application development or embedded hardware, Android Things is a great way to learn more and something you should have a look at.

Pre-order your favorite games from E3 and get 20% off with Amazon Prime

Play all the games!

As more companies share E3 announcements, one thing we know for sure: this year’s E3 is all about games. We’ve seen plenty of games announced already, from indie projects to hundred-million-dollar AAA blockbusters. Sony revealed more of the beautiful and amazing The Last of Us: Part II and a sequel to the action role-playing game Nioh among other games. Although those two are still a ways off, there are plenty of other PlayStation E3 games you can pre-order on Amazon. If you’re an Amazon Prime member you can get a 20% discount for pre-ordering as well, even without knowing the official release date. The pre-order bonus only works on standard versions of the game, bringing the prices down to $47.99 from the normal $60.

If you’re a My Best Buy member instead, slide over to Best Buy where you can get a $10 gift card with any pre-orders available.

I don’t always recommend pre-ordering E3 video games, and that’s a sentiment shared with a lot of sites like Polygon, Wired, and Kotaku. Partially because many of these games are a year or two away from even being released and partially because what you’re seeing at E3 isn’t necessarily what the final product will even look like. There are a few other reasons, too, but if you’re really interested in some of these games there are definitely a few that can’t miss. With pre-ordering you’re guaranteed the price you pay, even if something changes between now and release, and of course you can cancel at any time.

Some games just fall into that category of “too big to fail” because they’re genre-defining and made by huge companies. Fallout 76 (PC/PS4/Xbox) and Kingdom Hearts III (PS4/Xbox) are can’t miss options. If you’re interested in those IPs, you know the games are going to be worth playing. Plus, pre-ordering Fallout 76 gets you access to the multiplayer beta.

Other games like the Resident Evil 2 remake and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (PS4/Xbox) are known entities. They are games that you know and love from franchises you understand. Chances are if you are already into Resident Evil, you’ll play the new one when it releases, so you might as well save money now.

Then there are a few games like Rage 2 (PC/PS4/Xbox) and Just Cause 4 (PS4/Xbox) where it doesn’t really matter if they’re bad or not because they’ll be a crap-ton of fun regardless.

You need a Prime membership to take advantage of the pre-order bonus, but you can sign up for the free 30-day trial and use it if you want to.

Check out all the other games you can pre-order right now. E3 continues throughout the week and Amazon will certainly add more as they are announced.

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Cyberpunk 2077 for PlayStation 4: Everything we know so far

If you want to know all there is to know about Cyberpunk 2077, then this is the place to be!

High fantasy has long maintained a stranglehold on the world or RPGs. As a die-hard fan of science fiction, I have always wanted more deep sci-fi experiences in my video games. Don’t get me wrong, I play the heck out of some fantasy, but every time a major title gets announced in a sci-fi world, I get excited.

When at E3 this year, we got a nice solid look at Cyberpunk 2077, my sensors went wild. If you’re like me and you can’t wait to find out more about Cyberpunk 2077, then you can check it all out here.

What is Cyberpunk 2077?

Cyberpunk 2077 is being developed by CD Projekt Red. This is the same group of folks that absolutely knocked it out of the park with The Witcher 3. As development wound down on the various Witcher expansions, the team’s considerable talents were turned toward the dystopian sci-fi title. If CD Projekt Red uses the same care and attention they did with The Witcher 3 and puts it into Cyberpunk 2077, then we could be in store for one heck of a game.

A little background

Cyberpunk 2077 is based on a pen and paper roleplaying game created by Mike Pondsmith in 1988. When the original pen and paper game was released it was called Cyberpunk 2020 and it borrowed heavily from 60’s sci-fi writers like Philip K Dick and Harlan Ellison. However, much of the vibe was gleaned from the works of William Gibson, who many point to as a founding father of the genre.

As far as Cyberpunk 2077 goes, we are fortunate that CD Projekt Red dumped a single frame easter egg into the trailer, which gives us some tantalizing tidbits about the forthcoming game. First of all, they call it a “true single player, story-driven RPG”. When it comes to DLC, it seems that we can expect it to be free as we can, “expect nothing less than you got with Witcher 3”. They are not yet willing to divulge map size but they won’t start talking about pre-orders or asking anything of us until they can tell us the size. Finally, Red takes a swipe at microtransaction culture when they say, “In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”

The story so far

We are looking at a classic dystopian cyberpunk future. Think Bladerunner with a lot more mohawks. This sci-fi world will be set in Night City, California where massive mega-corporations have taken control of everyone’s lives.

Life on the street of Night City is marked by every illegal activity imaginable and a whole lot that can only be thought up in the mind of a sci-fi writer. There are so many stories from which to glean ideas and color that it would be hard to imagine that they should ever be at a loss when it comes to making this kind of world feel real.

When will Cyberpunk 2077 be released?

Despite the fact that we have seen a lot more and know a bit more it seems that we are going to have to continue to play the waiting game. CD Projekt Red only asserts that they will, “release the game when it’s ready”.

I am not going to hold my breath because I would never live to see this game released, but I will be keeping my sensors set to listen mode.

As more comes out about this game we will be sure to keep you in the loop and update you here.

PlayStation 4

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

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