Snapchat CEO on Facebook Copying Stories: They Should ‘Copy Our Data Protection Practices Also’

Recode’s annual Code Conference is underway in Rancho Palos Verdes, California this week, and on Tuesday Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel took the stage to discuss the ephemeral app’s controversial update, Facebook’s copying, and the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Specifically, Spiegel is said to have “poured salt on the wound” during his 40-minute interview with Kara Swisher as he called out Facebook and its ongoing struggles with user privacy. Referencing Facebook’s decision to copy Snapchat stories in the Facebook app, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, Spiegel said, “We would really appreciate it if they copied our data protection practices also.”

Photo taken by Asa Mathat via Recode
Snapchat is built around the idea that messages and photos that users send on the platform all disappear after a pre-set amount of time, providing some sense of security within the iOS and Android app. Facebook, on the other hand, is “just a bunch of features” — now including ephemeral stories — placed within an app without an underlying philosophy of user privacy, Spiegel argued.

Spiegel said Facebook — whose name he repeatedly declined to utter — has failed to sufficiently overhaul its user privacy protections after the Cambridge Analytica scandal exploded earlier this spring.

“Fundamentally, I think the changes have to go beyond window dressing to real changes to the ways that these platforms work,” he said.

Spiegel ultimately said that he thinks Snapchat will survive competitors copying the app, because while other platforms are forcing people to “compete with their friends for ‘Likes’”, Snapchat is focused on communicating with close friends. So, while Facebook imitates its features, the CEO remained confident that Snapchat’s “values are hard to copy.”

Snapchat hasn’t been without its own data leak scandals, however, and Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos took to Twitter to point that out. Stamos said that “poor API security” has been a factor that led to mass leaks of compromising user photos. “So no, I don’t think copying Snapchat would be a smart move” for Facebook, he finished.

Many companies have voiced their opinions on the Facebook data scandal, including Apple and CEO Tim Cook, who said he “wouldn’t be in this situation” when asked what he would do if he was Mark Zuckerberg.

Tags: Facebook, Snapchat
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Watch Virgin Galactic’s second powered test flight of its tourist spaceplane

Whether it’s Branson or Bezos who gets their first, the fact is that commercial suborbital space tourism flights may well be just around the corner. For those with the cash to splash, at least.

In a stunning display of its technology over California’s Mojave Desert on Tuesday, Branson’s Virgin Galactic team completed its second successful rocket-powered test flight of VSS Unity, the two-crew, six-passenger aircraft that will one day take moneyed folks to the edge of space, 62 miles above Earth.

As planned, Unity’s rocket motor burned for 31 seconds during the test flight, propelling it to a speed of Mach 1.9 and an altitude of 114,500 feet (34,900 meters).

The focus of this latest flight was to help the team increase its understanding of the spaceplane’s “supersonic handling characteristics and control system’s performance with vehicle parameters that were closer to the ultimate commercial configuration,” Virgin Galactic said on its website.

The entire outing was captured in a slickly edited video that opens with images of the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft shortly before it took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. There’s a quick shot of Branson signing autographs before we see the two pilots, Dave Mackay and Mark “Forger” Stucky, making their way to Unity. Watch as WhiteKnightTwo, with Unity attached to its underside, takes off and climbs to an altitude of nearly 50,000 feet, at which point the carrier releases the spaceplane. As Unity begins to drop, we see its rocket engine fire up, causing the aircraft to launch into a spectacular climb. Unity landed safely a short time later.

Branson, who himself is planning to be on Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight when operations commence possibly in the next 12 months, said afterwards: “It was great to see our beautiful spaceship back in the air and to share the moment with the talented team who are taking us, step by step, to space.”

The British billionaire added, “Seeing Unity soar upwards at supersonic speeds is inspiring and absolutely breathtaking — we are getting ever closer to realizing our goals.”

Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin?

Virgin Galactic considers its main competitor in the suborbital space tourism race to be Blue Origin, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard rocket has so far completed eight successful test launches since its first one in 2015.

Branson said recently that his team is “neck and neck” with Blue Origin to launch a service for tourists, a trip that comes with mind-blowing vistas of Earth and beyond, as well as several minutes of weightlessness.

But mindful of the disaster that hit Virgin Galactic four years ago when one of its pilots died in a failed test flight, the Virgin boss said, “Ultimately, we have to do it safely. It’s more a race with ourselves to make sure we have the craft that are safe to put people up there.”

Virgin Galactic grounded its aircraft for two years after the accident, recommencing operations in 2016 with the first glide test of its then-new spaceplane, VSS Unity.

In April it took a significant step forward with its first jet-powered test of Unity, with the successful outing leading to Tuesday’s second powered flight.

Virgin Galactic has already taken around 700 bookings for its suborbital tourist flights, each one costing $250,000.

How to sign up for YouTube Music

Get started with the new YouTube Music in just a few taps.

The YouTube Music app has technically been around since 2015, but it was only recently that Google shifted its focus from Play Music and made YouTube Music its own proper streaming service.

YouTube Music is showing a lot of promise with its new direction, and now that it’s got a brand-new desktop site and redesigned Android app, it’s absolutely worth checking out.

To do so, here’s what you’ll need to do.

Download YouTube Music

Before you can sign up for YouTube Music, you’ll need to first download the app. Doing so is just a few taps away, and the process is as follows:

Open the Google Play Store.
Search for YouTube Music and tap on the first result.

Tap the green Install button.

Once the app is done downloading, you can launch it by tapping the green Open button or by finding and tapping on the new YouTube Music icon in your app drawer.

Sign up for YouTube Music

With YouTube Music successfully downloaded, it’s time to actually sign up for the service.

Upon opening the app, tap the blue Sign In button.
Tap the Google account you want to use with YouTube Music.

Tap on your profile icon at the very top right of the app.

With that done, you’ll now be on your Account page. From here:

Tap the large Get YouTube Red banner at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the blue Try It Free button.
Enter your payment details.

Once the payment goes through, tap the red Let’s Go button.

That’s it! You’ve officially signed up for YouTube Music!

Have any further questions? Drop a line in the comments below.

YouTube Music review: A mixtape full of promise

How to Watch Apple’s WWDC 2018 Keynote Live on Monday, June 4

WWDC 2018 starts on Monday, June 4, and as with previous years, Apple is kicking off the conference with a keynote on the first day, offering a look at some upcoming products and providing the first details on new operating systems.

Rumors have suggested we could potentially see new iPad Pro models and perhaps a new iPhone SE, and several Macs are due for a refresh, including the MacBook Pro, iMac, and 12-inch MacBook. We’re also expecting a first-look at next-generation versions of macOS, iOS, and tvOS.

You can watch Apple’s WWDC18 Keynote live as it happens using one of the methods described below. Note that the livestream for the event starts at 10:00am Pacific Time at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. For reference, here’s when the event will begin based on other time zones in the United States and around the world:

• Honolulu, Hawaii — 7:00 a.m. HAST
• Anchorage, Alaska — 9:00 a.m. AKDT
• Cupertino, California — 10:00 a.m. PDT
• Phoenix, Arizona — 10:00 a.m. MST
• Vancouver, Canada — 10:00 a.m. PDT
• Denver, Colorado — 11:00 a.m. MDT
• Dallas, Texas — 12:00 noon CDT
• New York, New York — 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Raleigh, North Carolina — 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Toronto, Canada — 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Halifax, Canada — 2:00 p.m. ADT
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — 2:00 p.m. BRT
• London, United Kingdom — 6:00 p.m. BST
• Berlin, Germany — 7:00 p.m. CEST
• Paris, France — 7:00 p.m. CEST
• Cape Town, South Africa — 7:00 p.m. SAST
• Moscow, Russia — 8:00 p.m. MSK
• Helsinki, Finland — 8:00 p.m. EEST
• Istanbul, Turkey — 8:00 p.m. TRT
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates — 9:00 p.m. GST
• Delhi, India — 10:30 p.m. IST
• Jakarta, Indonesia — 12:00 a.m. WIB next day
• Shanghai, China — 1:00 a.m. CST next day
• Singapore — 1:00 a.m. SGT next day
• Perth, Australia — 1:00 a.m. AWST next day
• Hong Kong — 1:00 a.m. HKT next day
• Seoul, South Korea — 2:00 a.m. KST next day
• Tokyo, Japan — 2:00 a.m. JST next day
• Adelaide, Australia — 2:30 a.m. ACST next day
• Sydney, Australia — 3:00 a.m. AEST next day
• Auckland, New Zealand — 5:00 a.m. NZST next day

MacRumors will also provide a live blog both here on MacRumors.com and on our MacRumorsLive Twitter account, along with detailed coverage of everything Apple announces during the week.

Watch the Keynote on Mac, iPhone or iPad

You can watch the WWDC keynote live on any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using Apple’s native Safari browser. Bear in mind, to meet the stream’s requirements, iOS devices must be running iOS 10 or later, while Macs need to be running macOS Sierra 10.12 or later.

Launch Safari from your chosen device and follow this link to the WWDC18 Livestream.

Watch the Keynote on Apple TV

You can watch the WWDC keynote live on an Apple TV. Fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV owners will need to download the Apple Events app from the tvOS App Store (see the steps below). Owners of earlier generation devices should see the Apple Events button automatically appear in their Home screen menu. (Second-generation Apple TV or later can also AirPlay the stream from another Apple device running Safari, as described above.)
Open the App Store from the Home screen.
Scroll down to the News category and select Apple Events. Alternatively, input “Apple Events” into the Search field and select it from the results.
Click the Get button to download the app.

Wait for the button to change to Open, and click it again. Alternatively, select the Apple Events app on your Home screen.
The app will tell you to tune in at your local time on June 4 to watch the event live (18:00 BST in our example), so clicking on the WWDC18 keynote button won’t do much until then. Meantime, you do have the option to watch the previous three Apple Events while you wait, including last year’s WWDC keynote.

Watch the Keynote on a Windows PC

If you don’t have an Apple device handy, you can still watch the WWDC18 keynote on a PC running Windows 10. Open Microsoft Edge browser and follow this link to the WWDC18 Livestream.

While Apple offers no guarantees, other platforms may also be able to access the WWDC18 livestream using recent versions of Chrome or Firefox (MSE, H.264, and AAC codecs/extensions must be installed).

Tag: WWDC 2018
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High-tech search for Malaysia Airlines passenger plane ends in disappointment

The mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 endures.

The latest privately funded search for the missing aircraft came to an end this week after more than four months scouring an area of interest in the southern Indian Ocean.

MH370 disappeared with 239 passengers and crew during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The cause of the Boeing 777’s disappearance is still unknown, and while several parts of the aircraft have shown up on several shorelines in the intervening years, the main section of the aircraft remains missing despite search efforts.

Ocean Infinity search

Keen for answers to the mystery, and to recover the bodies of the passengers and crew, the Malaysian government struck a deal with U.S. seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity at the start of 2018 to embark on a new exploration effort using its powerful search technology.

The onset of winter weather has brought the search to an end, with the company saying on Tuesday that it had failed to find any sign of the aircraft.

During the course of the operation, Ocean Infinity searched more than 43,000 square miles (112,000 square km) of ocean floor using high-definition (HD) cameras.

“Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected,” Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said in a statement. “It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim.”

The CEO added that there “has not been a subsea search on this scale carried out as efficiently or as effectively ever before.”

Seabed search

Operating from its main multi-purpose ship, Ocean Infinity used a number of autonomous vehicles for its underwater searches, including six machines capable of operating at a depth of 6,000 meters while collecting HD imagery from even further down.

Six unmanned surface vehicles worked with the submersibles to help the team maintain precise positioning and constant communication during the meticulous seabed search.

This was the first time for Ocean Infinity to try to find a missing plane, though its experience in using its deep-sea technology for operations such as seabed mapping and imaging, marine geological surveys, and environmental monitoring provided it with valuable knowledge for its most ambitious project to date.

Previous efforts to track down the plane included a multinational search carried out by Malaysia, China, and Australia, but it was called off at the start of 2017 after failing to make any significant finds.

Such was Ocean Infinity’s confidence, it agreed to conduct its mission on a “no find, no fee” basis. It was set to receive as much as $70 million if it found MH370, but the Texas-based firm will now have to cover all of its costs.

But Plunkett hasn’t entirely given up on the idea of one day resuming the hunt for the missing plane, saying, “We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in [the] future.”

Relatives of those on board the fateful flight are continuing to press the Malaysian government to resume the search when better weather returns later in the year, though at the current time there are no plans to do so.

Amazon delivery drone may use lights and music when it shows up at your home

If you didn’t already know it, Amazon really wants to deliver stuff to your door using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos unveiled a prototype of the Prime Air delivery drone in 2013, and several redesigns later, the company is surely coming close to a platform that it hopes will transform its delivery operation. Of course, it first has to convince the Federal Aviation Administration that such an aerial-based delivery system is safe, so a full-fledged, autonomous delivery service could still be a ways off.

But that hasn’t stopped Amazon investing huge amounts of money in developing and testing a system that it believes will one day drive its drone-based delivery operation.

Part of that work includes filing numerous patents that may or may not one day become part of the final platform, though each one offers insight into some of the team’s thought processes as it tackles various challenges.

The latest patent, granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office this week and spotted by GeekWire, explores the various methods by which Amazon’s drone could signal its arrival at a delivery address, and how it might interact with the customer as they step outside their home.

For some people, parts of the patent are likely to conjure up images from Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the alien spaceship lands on Earth, lights blazing as it plays a catchy ditty together with colorful flashing lights. Though Amazon’s drone won’t be quite as big.

Alarm and confusion?

Noting how a customer “may be alarmed or confused” when a noisy drone approaches their property, Amazon’s filing goes on to list a number of ways that its flying machine could signal its intentions or interact with them.

It describes the kind of procedures you might expect, such as sending texts to the customer to update them on the drone’s whereabouts, with its real-time location shown on a map.

But it also talks about how lights and speakers could activate as the drone approaches the customer’s property. It might announce its arrival “by emitting a warning sound, a pleasant tune, or other audio,” the patent says.

The drone may even incorporate a projector capable of displaying a landing or drop zone, or even a message that it projects onto a wall or the ground. That message might tell the customer to clear away an object — anything from a piece of furniture to the pet dog — for a safe delivery, or the projector could beam light directly onto the obstacle, signaling to the customer to take action.

Of course, for the full Close Encounters effect, which would have a good chance of scaring the bejeezus out of unwitting neighbors with little knowledge of Amazon’s drone operations, the deliveries and subsequent light show would have to take place at night, though the company’s patent says the projectors could still function effectively in the evening or in shaded areas.

Other Amazon patents for its planned airborne delivery service include ideas for using the tops of street lights, cell towers, and church steeples as drone recharging stations to enable long-distance deliveries; beehive-like drone towers located in or close to urban areas for deliveries to city addresses; and even giant floating warehouses that the drones buzz to and from during delivery runs. No, we can’t imagine that last one happening anytime soon, either.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Amazon drone deliveries may involve lots of shouting and frantic arm-waving
• Switzerland’s new air traffic control system to put drones, planes in same skies
• Amazon Home Assistants is a new service that offers house cleaning
• Halo Drone Pro review
• Intel drones offer high-tech help to restore the Great Wall of China

Camera+ 2 for iOS Brings New Interface, Photo Library Integration, Raw and Depth Editing, and More

Camera+ 2 was released for iPhone and iPad today, a complete rewrite of the popular photography app of the same name that appeared almost eight years ago and sold over 14 million copies in that time. The successor app features a completely redesigned interface for accessing manual controls, raw shooting and editing, depth capture, and more.

As a universal app, Camera+ 2 promises a consistent experience across iPhone and iPad, with multitasking support for the latter baked in. Unlike its predecessor, the app also comes with all features, one-touch filters, and tools included as-is – no in-app purchases required.

In shooting modes, the manual onscreen wheels and controls include traditional settings like shutter speed, ISO, White Balance, and Macro, with wide-angle and telephoto options available on dual-lens devices. These functions can also be hidden during casual shooting.

With depth capture enabled in Camera+ 2, the depth information is saved alongside the image, and the adjustments in The Lab section of the editor can be selectively applied to distant or close subjects. A collection of filters are also available, with options to adjust their strength and layer them to customize the aesthetic.

A new Smile mode enables Camera+ 2 to detect smiles and shoot automatically, while a Stabilizer mode shoots only when the iPhone is steady enough to produce a sharp picture. The Slow Shutter mode meanwhile brings the ability to take long exposures, even in daylight, with additional Burst and Timer modes also included.

Elsewhere, in a much-requested change, Camera+ now has full Photo Library integration with editing support, with the added ability to switch between the Photo Library and the Lightbox with the tap of a button. Drag and drop gestures on the iPad are supported for copying or sharing photos, while Files and iTunes integration are also available for transferring pictures to a computer or other apps.

Camera+ 2 is available to download on the App Store for $2.99 and requires iOS 11 or later. [Direct Link]

Tag: photography
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Household robots could learn skills in a virtual world where chores never end

Before robots can really help out around the home, they may have to train in a virtual world. That’s the aim of a new research project in which a Sims-like system called “VirtualHome” helps artificial intelligence (A.I.) characters perform everyday activities, one step at a time.

For us, VirtualHome looks like a Lynchian nightmare, where chores never end. For robots, it’s something of a training ground.

Humans have a talent for inference, and we take that for granted. If you were told to vacuum the rug, you’d presumably have no problem completing the task without having to break it down into each of its individual steps — like walk to the closet, open the closet, grab the vacuum, move the vacuum, plug it in, etc. Machines, on the other hand, need to process each one of these subtasks to get the job done.

The goal of VirtualHome is to help robots learn tasks by first experiencing them in a virtual system. In the current system, an avatar can perform 1,000 separate actions in eight different settings, including a living room, kitchen, and home office. The project is led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.

“We were trying to find a way to model complex activities to better understand the steps needed to do them, so that we could better identify them in video and potentially teach robots to perform them,” Xavier Puig, a CSAIL doctoral student who led the research, told Digital Trends. “There are very few datasets that have videos of people or agents doing step-by-step household activities.”

Puig and his colleagues created programs that laid out each step of a specific task in skeletal detail. For example, the task of watching TV involves five subtasks: Walk to the TV, turn on the TV, walk to the sofa, sit on the sofa, and watch the TV.

The researchers gave these program instructions to the VirtualHome system, which had the character act out these tasks. Videos of the agent performing these chores would be used to further train robots, by giving a visual example of what these actions look like.

In a recent paper, the researchers demonstrated that, by reviewing instructions or a video demo, their virtual agents could reconstruct the steps and perform the task. They hope that such a system could help train household robots and build up a database of tasks that can be easily communicated between humans and machines, through natural language processing.

The findings will be presented this month at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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• The best iRobot Roomba deals to make cleaning your home a breeze

Android P on the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S: Everything you need to know

It’s what Xiaomi fans have been asking for years: pure Android on a high-end Xiaomi phone.

With Android P, Google has opened up the beta build to third-party phones for the first time, with seven manufacturers included in the program. Xiaomi is one of those brands, and the Android P beta build is available for its latest flagship, the Mi Mix 2S. The Mix 2S is a refreshed variant of last year’s Mi Mix 2 with a Snapdragon 845 chipset and wireless charging.

Android P on the Mi Mix 2S is highly interesting for a variety of reasons. The beta build gets rid of MIUI in favor of pure Android, and Xiaomi’s involvement in the beta program suggests the manufacturer is finally getting serious about updates. This is what it’s like to use Android P on the Mi Mix 2S.

MIUI makes way for pure Android…

The Mi A1 showcased what it would be like to run pure Android on a Xiaomi phone, and the Android P beta on the Mi Mix 2S follows in the same vein. The current beta build doesn’t have any MIUI elements, and in its place, you get the Pixel Launcher.

Pure Android on a high-end Xiaomi phone is incredible.

Functionally, it is the exact same interface as the Android P build on the Pixels, and that’s great.

Pure Android on a high-end Xiaomi device is fantastic, and although this is an early beta build, I haven’t encountered many bugs. There are issues with Bluetooth streaming and occasional glitches, but for the most part, the Android P beta has been enjoyable.

Xiaomi has started offering gestures with MIUI 9.5, but those have also made way for the new gesture-driven navigation that’s coming to Android P.

But before you get too excited, know that the pure Android build is going to make way for Xiaomi’s custom ROM in the coming months.

… But that will change in the coming months

While it’s great that the current Android P beta build doesn’t have any MIUI customizations, that isn’t set to last. Xiaomi has confirmed that it will add more and more features from MIUI in the coming beta builds, and the stable Android P release will see MIUI in all its glory, just like on any other Xiaomi phone.

Stable Android P will see the reintroduction of MIUI.

That was always going to be the case, as Xiaomi sees a lot of value in the host of features it offers with MIUI. There is a case to be made here, as the Android P beta gets rid of Xiaomi’s camera interface and instead offers the Snapdragon Camera, which is sub-par, to say the least.

MIUI itself is set for an overhaul with the upcoming MIUI 10 release, so it’ll be interesting to see what direction Xiaomi takes with its custom ROM. MIUI has slowly been on a path that sees the global ROM diverging from the Chinese build, and MIUI 10 is likely going to build on that as Xiaomi starts selling its phones in Western markets.

Android P beta isn’t coming to other Xiaomi phones

If you’re looking to try out the Android P beta on a Xiaomi phone, your only recourse is the Mi Mix 2S. It doesn’t look like the beta program will make its way to other phones from Xiaomi, but with the Mi Mix 2S officially going on sale in European markets, it should be easy to get a hold of the device outside of China.

With the Android P beta program, Google wanted to expand availability to a wider audience, and that’s where brands like Xiaomi come in. It’s an elegant way for consumers to test new features and provide feedback, and for developers to build apps for the upcoming version of Android.

It’s a shame that Xiaomi isn’t gearing up to offer an Android One version of the Mi Mix 2S anytime soon, but the Android P beta at least gives us a glimpse of what that would look like.

Android P

• Android P: Everything you need to know
• Android P Beta hands-on: The best and worst features
• All the big Android announcements from Google I/O 2018
• Will my phone get Android P?
• How to manually update your Pixel to Android P
• Join the Discussion

Lenovo Yoga 730 13 vs. HP Spectre x360 13

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The convertible 2-in-1 market has grown into its own over the last several years, with a host of options ranging from well under $1,000 up to over $2,000. Intel’s 8th-generation Core processors have also made their way into more notebooks, and they’re becoming a powerful and efficient CPU staple that essentially guarantees a great mobile productivity experience.

In the midst of this continued improvement, Lenovo recently refreshed its solid midrange convertible 2-in-1 with the Yoga 730 13-inch. It goes up against some stiff competition, and so we pitted it against the best anywhere near its price range, HP’s Spectre x360 13-inch convertible. Does the Yoga 730 offer enough improvement to keep up?

Design

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The Yoga 730 maintains the Yoga 720’s conservative, businesslike demeanor, coming in a silver-gray chassis that doesn’t stand out in a crowded field. It looks fine, and if you’re willing to let it fade into the background, then you’ll be pleased with its aesthetic. You’ll also enjoy its solid build quality, functional convertible hinge, and thin (0.62 inches) and light (2.47 pounds) chassis. It won’t win any beauty contests, but it won’t let you down when you want to get to work.

The Spectre x360, on the other hand, wants to stand out. HP offers three different color schemes, including a bold Dark Ash Silver and lovely Rose Gold, to go with the more traditional Natural Silver. The aesthetic is angular and modern, with chrome accents that shine things up without making them ostentatious. And the Spectre 360 is just as solidly built, thinner at 0.54 inches, slightly heavier at 2.78 pounds, and also offers a robust convertible hinge.

When it comes to input options, we also preferred the Spectre x360’s keyboard for its greater travel and lighter, springier mechanism. The Yoga 730’s keyboard left us a bit flat, and it wasn’t nearly as comfortable for longer typing sessions. The touchpads are a different story, where HP’s continued decision to use Synaptic drivers and not Microsoft’s Precision Touchpad protocol gives the Yoga 730 the advantage. Both notebooks offer similar active pens, with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt support, and so that’s a draw.

There’s nothing wrong with the Yoga 730’s design, but the Spectre x360 simply cuts a more striking figure.

Performance

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Both the Yoga 730 and the Spectre x360 are equipped with Intel’s quad-core 8th-generation CPUs. As such, they’re similar performers all around, whether you’re running synthetic benchmarks or churning through video encoding projects. Simply put, you can’t go wrong with either when it comes to getting your productivity tasks done efficiently and without delay. Even the PCIe solid-state drives (SSDs) are equally fast, meaning boot times, loading apps, and working with large data sets will be fast on either machine.

There is some divergence when it comes to their displays, however. Both utilize 13.3-inch IPS panels and offer 1080p options, but the Spectre x360’s display is brighter, has better contrast, and enjoys a slightly wider color gamut with better accuracy. The Yoga 730’s display would have been excellent a couple of years ago, but the market has passed it up.

Perhaps more important, HP also offers a 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160) resolution display that offers significantly sharper text and high-quality video, along with a privacy screen that blocks things out from the left and the right for working in public on sensitive data. Both displays add a bit of a premium in terms of pricing, and the 4K display will have a real impact on battery life, but options are a good thing in our opinion.

Portability

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

We’ve already covered the physical dimensions of the Yoga 730 and Spectre x360, nothing that the former is slightly thicker but also lighter than the latter. Both are highly portable 2-in-1s, though, that are equally easy to toss into a bag and carry around. In addition, both can be comfortably used as tablets with their active pens thanks to their svelte designs.

However, the Spectre x360 has the upper hand when it comes to battery life. Even when equipped with a faster Core i7-8550U processor compared to the Core i5-8250U in our Yogo 730 review unit, the HP lasted for significantly longer on a single charge. It lasted anywhere from an hour longer on our most demanding battery test to a full four hours longer on our video looping benchmark. Simply put, the Spectre x360 is going to give you a much better chance of making it through a full workday without need to tap into A/C power.

We like highly portable notebooks, and both qualify nicely, but we like longer battery life just as much — and the Spectre x360 simply offers more.

Conclusion

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

You can save some money by opting for the Lenovo Yoga 730, spending as little as $850 for a Core i5-8250U, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB PCIe SSD. The same Spectre x360 configuration will cost you $1,120 — although that includes the pen, which will cost you an extra $70 from Lenovo. You can spend a lot more on the Spectre x360 as well, given the 4K display option and larger 2TB SSD.

But the HP is worth the money, in our opinion. It looks better, it has a better keyboard, and it lasts significantly longer on a charge. You get what you pay for, in other words, and you get a lot more with the Spectre x360.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Lenovo Yoga 730 13-inch review
• HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2017) Review
• Dell XPS 13 (2017) Review
• HP Spectre 13 (2017) review
• Asus ZenBook 13 vs. Dell XPS 13