Google Home vs. Google Home Mini: Which should you buy?

It’s a harder decision than you think.

Big in importance but small in stature, the Home Mini was overshadowed by the Pixel 2 announcement at Google’s recent hardware event. But it’s an important addition to the company’s hardware canon.

At just $49, the rounded plastic puck, covered in fabric, is an inexpensive entry into Google’s burgeoning smart home ecosystem. It offers a speaker that while lacking in bass is adequate for most voice-based tasks. As it sits, its microphones listen for the “OK Google” hotword and, offers a growing number of commands through the Google Assistant, a cloud-based AI that hooks deep into Google’s Knowledge Graph — the same back-end that powers the company’s ubiquitous search engine.

For many people, the $49 price is right, and will likely prove to be an excellent holiday gift. But is it worth springing the extra $80 (when not on sale) for the larger, better-sounding Google Home? Let’s discuss.

Capabilities

Google Home is the company’s flagship smart speaker (for now, until the $399 Home Max comes out) and it was built with Google Assistant in mind. It has two far-field microphones that are designed to pick up one’s voice even when there is ambient noise around it. It has a touch-sensitive top area with four colored LEDs that light up and dance when activated. It’s powered by a proprietary DC power connection and a has a mute button on the back for times you don’t want the microphone to listen.

For some reason, Google chose Micro-USB instead of the more-versatile USB-C to charge the Home Mini.

The Home Mini is significantly smaller and doesn’t have the same number of features — for obvious reasons. It lacks the top touch controls of the Google Home (which turned out to be a critical design flaw in the hardware itself, forcing Google to permanently disable the feature), and has neither the absolute volume nor the microphone sensitivity of its larger counterpart.

It also charges with Micro-USB instead of a more power-hungry DC plug, and the mute function is a switch, not a button. Finally, changing the volume on the Home Mini involves tapping on the left or right edge of the front instead of the more tactile and, ultimately, functional way of moving one’s finger over the Home’s top touch panel.

At the same time, the units are functionally identical where it counts: Google Assistant. Each improvement made to Assistant — from supporting new smart home products to being better able to answer direct questions using the “OK Google” hotword — is rolled out to every unit. Both the Home and Home Mini will grow and improve in abilities over time, and neither should benefit disproportionately from software improvements made over time.

Sound quality

The main difference between the two speakers isn’t functionality but sound quality. Google Home has a 2-inch driver and dual 2-inch passive radiators, which drive a tremendous amount of low-end for a speaker of this size. It’s certainly better than the first-generation Amazon Echo, and very enjoyable to listen to when jamming to hip-hop, rock, or even jazz.

The Google Home Mini is a circumaural (or 360-degree) speaker, and lacks the size for a bass-generating woofer. As you can see in the video below, both sound good, but the larger Home definitely has a wider range and emphatic low-end.

Still, the Home Mini holds its own, and does so in a form factor that is less than a quarter the size of the Google Home itself. And if the sound quality from the Home Mini isn’t good enough, it supports outputting music to a Chromecast Audio-connected speaker system.

Which should you buy?

At $49, you can buy two Home Minis for the price of a single Home, with money to spare. Given that Google’s Home ecosystem supports multi-speaker groupings, for people with a large house it may be a better idea to purchase a duo of Home Minis over a single Home, especially if they’re going to work in conjunction with a Chromecast Audio-enabled speaker.

See Home Mini at Google Store

But for a smaller apartment, or the sake of simplicity, a Google Home is the right answer. It has the perfect balance of volume, sound fidelity, and bass for a small to medium-sized room, and its microphones are scary-accurate, even when music is blaring or the room is full of other sounds.

See Home at Google Store

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• Google Wifi review
• Google Home review
• Chromecast Ultra: all you need to know
• Which Chromecast should you buy?

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How to set up your Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Max

Whether your Google Home is Mini, Max, or the original, setting it up is a breeze.

The Google Home line has grown, and even as it keeps expanding, setting one up remains the same easy process. From the cute little Google Home Mini to the roof-raising Google Home Max to the classic Google Home and even third-party Google Assistant smart speakers like the TicHome Mini, setting one up uses the same simple app and the same simple process. Without a screen, Google Home is reliant on a smartphone or computer to set it up, the aptly-named Google Home app.

How to set up your Google Home

Plug the power cord into the base of your Google Home.

Plug the power adapter into an outlet. The unit will automatically boot up, introducing itself and directing you to the Google Home app to finish setup.

Open the Google Home app.
Tap Set up in the card for your new Google Home. It should be the first one on the screen.

Once the app has found your Google Home, tap Yes to set it up.

Once connected, Google Home will play a test sound to ensure its connected and connected to the right unit. If you hear the tone made by your Google Home, tap Yes.
Tap the room your Google Home is going to live in.
Tap Next.
Name your Google Home. It will automatically take a name based off the room it is in, but you can give it any name you want.

Tap Next.

Tap the Wi-Fi network you want connect your Google Home to.
Tap Next.
Google Home can automatically get the Wi-Fi password from your phone. Tap OK to proceed with the Wi-Fi setup.

With Wi-Fi set up, an introduction page for Google Assistant appears. Tap Next to proceed with Google Assistant setup.

Voice Match helps Google distinguish your voice from everyone else in your life. To set it up, tap I agree.
Speak the four prompts that Google Assistant prompts you with to supply a voice sample.

With Voice Match enabled Google Assistant asks if you want to turn on personal results so that it can give you calendar events, reminders, and other personal data from your account. Tap I agree to enable this.

Enter your address. This will be used for weather, traffic, and other responses.
Tap Confirm address.
You can link music accounts to Google Assistant to have it play Music for you. Tap the plus icon if you have any music accounts to add.
Tap Next.
Tap your default music service.

Tap Next.

You can link video accounts to Google Assistant to have it play TV and movies for you. Tap the plus icon if you have any video accounts to add.
Tap Next.
Verify your information so far. If you want to designate a TV for casting videos to, tap Choose a TV.
Tap the Chromecast or Android TV you want as your Google Home’s default TV.

Tap Save.

Tap Continue.
Your setup is almost complete. Tap Continue to proceed to a demo.

Scroll down through the sample commands for your Google Home and tap Finish setup.

Now that your Google Home is set up, it’s time to actually use it — but on what? Will you cast your music, or let Google take you on a audio adventure? Will you use it to whip up something in the kitchen, or use it to just order in for the night? Do you plan to use Google Home to control your home, or do you just want it to tell you when you need to leave for your meeting? There’s a million uses for Google Home, so tell us what yours is.

Updated May 2018: I’ve updated this article to reflect expansions in the Google Home and updates to the Google Home app’s setup process.

Google Home

• 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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Are you okay with the OnePlus 6 having a notch?

Yes, no, maybe so?

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that the OnePlus 6 will have a notch. This is a design move we’ve seen more and more ever since the Essential Phone and iPhone X debuted last year, and OnePlus will soon be the latest to launch a phone with a cutout in its screen.

Some people love the notch, others hate it, and there are folks that really don’t care either way.

A few of our forum users recently started talking about whether or not they’re excited for the notch on the OnePlus 6, and this is what they had to say.

newcollector
03-23-2018 08:20 AM

“

We really don’t get an option on this, do we. What is will be. Either people will buy it or they won’t. My guess is if it sells well then they will continue to use the notch going forward.

If it flies like a lead balloon, they may reconsider the dreaded notch. Doesn’t matter either way for me.

Reply

sleepnclass
03-22-2018 02:52 AM

“

Not really. Still has a bottom bezel. Looks meh. But I’ll probably check it out anyway.

Reply

worldsoutro
03-25-2018 12:29 AM

“

I think it looks pretty nice. As long as applications play nice with it, its no big deal

Reply

Morty2264
04-07-2018 08:54 AM

“

I guess it looks nice but I’m getting frustrated with every manufacturer (it seems, anyway – LG, OP and Huawei have done this thus far, off the top of my head) incorporating a notch into their designs… Hopefully this is a trend that will stop. But with so many manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon, it probably won’t. It may be the new “thing” of 2018.

Reply

What about you? Are you looking forward to the OnePlus 6’s notch?

Join the conversation in the forums!

What does an “Always Listening” smart speaker really mean?

Your home assistant isn’t spying on you unless you tell it to.

Voice-activated home assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant are some of the most exciting “new” tech to appear in a very long time. It’s not what they can do, but how they do it that makes them so very different than anything that came before them. Saying “Hey Google do that thing” is reminiscent of 1980’s sci-fi where people talked to their home and magical things were done and as they become more useful they will also become more popular. This technology isn’t just a fad.

There’s also a growing concern about a single phrase you’ll often hear when discussing the tech, regardless of which company is using it: Always Listening. Reactions range from “I don’t care I’m not doing anything wrong” to “Can that thing hear me poop?” and confusion follows because the companies that make use of this tech don’t really bother to explain what Always Listening really means. Let’s talk about what an Echo or Google Home can hear, when it can hear it and what we should do about it.

The hotword

Your Echo or Google Home was designed to do three things: look good, house a microphone, and be able to provide feedback. Those are listed in order of importance, too. If it doesn’t look good you won’t have it sitting on the counter or end table, if the mic isn’t positioned so it can pick up your voice it won’t be able to do anything, and you need to be able to see or hear the results of any request.

What they aren’t designed to do is crunch a lot of data. There are no miniature super-computers hidden inside your home assistant and unicorns are too big to fit so actual magic can’t be happening in there. Instead it can forward your request along to a place that does have super-computers (but not unicorns) and it knows to do this because there’s enough processing power to react to a hotword.

The words “OK Google” or “Alexa” act as a switch as far as your home assistant is concerned.

The microphone in an Echo or Google Home is always active unless you physically turn it off. That means it’s constantly processing the things it can hear, but it doesn’t do anything until it catches the hotword because it can’t. It has no idea what to do when it hears anything else. These microphones are pretty sensitive, too. If you have a home assistant try seeing how far away it can catch you saying the hotword or how easy it is to say a thing that sounds enough like the hotword to cause it to react. Your Google home or Echo can hear you in the bathroom or the bedroom even if it’s not there keeping you company while doing bathroom and bedroom things.

When it hears the trigger phrase the rest of the unit wakes up to make something happen. But it’s not making anything happen itself and instead records what comes next so it can send the information off to the cloud as an actual audio file. Once it receives it, a server that has the brains to understand then does whatever it needs to do to make that request happen. If you wanted to know about an upcoming appointment it will query your calendar. If you wanted to know Elvis’ birthday it does a Google search. If you wanted to hear some smooth Barry White tunes it taps the music service you set as the default.

A unicorn won’t fit inside an Echo Dot, so the real magic happens in the cloud.

The answer to your request is then sent back and played over the speaker, or sent to a Chromecast, or sent out to a Philips Hue hub or wherever else it needs to go to make the thing happen. The home versions Alexa and Google Assistant are pretty dumb and can only send and receive data from the smart version of Alexa and Assistant that live in the cloud. There have been glitches where a home assistant got all crazy and recorded everything, but the smart cloud version simply rejected it all because your home unit didn’t ask it to do anything with those voice files. It’s sort of like voicemail — we only do anything when we listen to a message if it’s something we need or want to do and we ignore the silly scammers who claim to be from Microsoft or the IRS.

Your permanent record

We don’t have to be too concerned that Alexa and Assistant can hear us even when we don’t need or want them to. But it’s important to know that the recordings it makes when it’s triggered to do its thing live in the cloud until you delete them. We’re talking actual recordings of you asking your assistant to do things that you can play back and listen to, so potentially someone else could listen to them, too. Thankfully it’s simple to erase them.

Delete voice recordings from Alexa

• Open the Alexa app on a phone that’s connected to the same Amazon account as Alexa
• Open the settings and scroll down to History
• Look at what’s saved and delete as needed

Delete voice recordings from Google Assistant

• Open a browser and go to your My Activity page at Google
• Choose Delete activity by in the left menu and a new page will open
• In the drop down selector choose Assistant and set a date range of what to delete
• Tap or click the Delete link and read the pop up

It’s important to remember that neither Amazon or Google is sending your voice files off to anyone else, but they may be using them internally to improve voice recognition and refine results. It’s equally important to remember that all models of Google Home or Amazon Echo also have a mute button just in case you don’t want your home assistant listening to whatever it is your doing.

WhatsApp founder leaves the company after privacy disputes with Facebook

Koum says it’s “time for me to move on.”

Jan Koum, the Co-Founder and CEO of WhatsApp, is officially leaving the company, reportedly as a result of various clashes and disagreements with Facebook.

The Washington Post:

Conflicts soon arose over how WhatsApp would make money. Facebook scrapped the 99-cent annual charge, and Koum and Acton continued to oppose the advertising model. […] The founders also clashed with Facebook over building a mobile payments system on WhatsApp in India.

Encryption was also said to be an issue:

Facebook executives wanted to make it easier for businesses to use its tools, and WhatsApp executives believed that doing so would require some weakening of its encryption.

It also sounds like the problems extend beyond Koum:

Ultimately, Koum was worn down by the differences in approach, the people said. Other WhatsApp employees are demoralized and plan to leave in November, four years and a month after the Facebook acquisition, when they are allowed to exercise all their stock options under the terms of the Facebook deal, according to the people.

Koum posted on his personal Facebook confirming his departure, but not stating any reasons other than it being time to move on:

It’s been almost a decade since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it’s been an amazing journey with some of the best people. But it is time for me to move on. I’ve been blessed to work with such an incredibly small team and see how a crazy amount of focus can produce an app used by so many people all over the world.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented on Koum’s post:

I will miss working so closely with you. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done to help connect the world, and for everything you’ve taught me, including about encryption and its ability to take power from centralized systems and put it back in people’s hands. Those values will always be at the heart of WhatsApp.

It’s unclear who will be replacing Koum’s shoes as CEO of WhatsApp, and over the coming months, it’ll be interesting to see if his absence has any impact on WhatsApp’s features or policies.

If you’re a WhatsApp user, what are your thoughts on this?

Download: WhatsApp Messenger (free)

I give in: I’m finally a case person

I understand why expensive cases made of premium materials aren’t for everybody, but I’ve been really enjoying them lately.

For the longest time, I’ve been that guy who refuses to put a case on my phone. “They put a lot of work into designing a beautiful phone,” I’d always say. “I want to be able to see and feel the premium materials!” Of course, everyone would always tell me that, as nice of a thought as that may be, it only holds up until you drop and shatter your fancy phone.

I’m not a terribly clumsy person, but that’s not to say I’ve never dropped my phone before. So far the worst that’s ever come of that has been the occasional scratch or scuff, which I can live with, so long as it’s not on the screen — but if I keep carrying phones without any kind of protection, my luck has to eventually run out. So what’s the middle ground between protecting your investment without ruining the premium feel?

For me, the answer lately has been premium cases. Cases like Samsung’s Alcantara case for the Galaxy S9 — which I’ve been using for about a month now. The S9 has a gorgeous and futuristic design, but the curved glass is notoriously fragile. The Alcantara case adds some protection to the edges, and feels great as a bonus; it’s the same suede-like material used in high-end cars, and while it requires a bit of upkeep it’s been a joy to use so far.

Best Galaxy S9 cases

I don’t just carry one phone these days, though. In addition to an Android phone, I like to keep an iPhone X handy for those things that iOS just handles better — superfluous, I know. One of my favorite parts of the iPhone X is Apple’s outstanding build quality, so slapping on a cheap plastic case from Amazon didn’t sound too appealing to me. After all, why buy a $1000 phone just to make it feel like a $100 one?

A premium design deserves a case with premium materials.

Just like with my Galaxy S9, I’ve turned to a premium case, specifically Apple’s leather case. There’s just something about the smell of leather when you take the case out of the packaging, you know? The leather case feels as good as it looks, and keeps the incredibly glossy rear panel of my iPhone X safe from scratches — and the fingerprints that are otherwise impossible to avoid. Right now I’m using first-party cases exclusively, but there’s no real rhyme or reason to that — there are plenty of other great leather cases for the iPhone.

Best cases for iPhone X

Sure, there are more protective cases out there than a thin piece of shell of leather or Alcantara — full coverage cases from the likes of Otterbox and Lifeproof being a prime example — but I could never get behind the added bulk from those cases, or the cheap, loose feeling from built-in plastic screen protectors.

A lot of people scoff at the idea of paying $50 or even more for a case with relatively little protection, but at the end of the day I just like having a little piece of mind without sacrificing the premium feeling of my phones. But enough from me — what do you think about premium cases, and more broadly, cases in general? Have you ever carried a phone without a case before? Let me know in the comments below!

LG V30S ThinQ now up for pre-order in the U.S. for $930

Buy this or wait a day for the G7 to be announced.

One of this year’s most interesting announcements from CES was the LG V30S ThinQ. The V30S is essentially the V30 with more RAM, additional colors, and improved photography features, and it’s now available for pre-order in the United States.

The V30S is currently available through B&H as an unlocked smartphone, and it’s unclear at this time if it’ll ever make its way to other retailers or carriers in the country. There are two colors to choose from (Glossy Moroccan Blue and Matte Moroccan Blue) and each one costs $929.99 with free expedited shipping.

B&H is selling the V30S and not the V30S+, meaning you’ll get 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage on top of the rest of the V30’s specs – including a 6-inch 2880 x 1440 display, Snapdragon 835, 3300 mAh battery, and dual-rear cameras (not to mention Android Oreo out of the box).

While it’s nice to see the V30S finally making its way to the States, it’ll likely be difficult for most people to justify that $930 price tag. The regular V30 with 64GB of storage and 4GB RAM can currently be purchased at B&H as well for just $670, and perhaps even more important, LG will be announcing the highly-anticipated G7 ThinQ tomorrow, May 2.

However, if money’s no object and you don’t have any interest in the G7, click/tap away at the button below to secure a V30S for yourself right now.

See at B&H

LG V30 + V30S ThinQ

• LG V30S hands-on: A 2017 phone with 2018’s buzzwords
• LG V30S specs
• LG V30 review: The no-BS flagship
• Top LG V30 camera features
• Full LG V30 specs
• Join our LG V30 forums

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Amazon Alexa: Everything you need to know about the heart of the Echo

You wouldn’t have the Amazon Echo (or Echo Dot, or Echo Show, or whatever) without Amazon Alexa. Here’s what you need to know about the two.

Latest News

April 18, 2018 — A new Call of Duty skill delivers personalized coaching, tips on objectives to complete, and more

We don’t blame you if you never thought of pairing Alexa with Activision’s Call of Duty: WWII, but someone apparently did and made a skill just for that.

The new Call of Duty Alexa Skill can connect to your Call of Duty account, and after doing so, you can ask your Echo about how to improve your game based on the last match you just played, get updates on new Contracts you should complete, see which friends are playing, and more. Activision says the skill allows for personalized responses to over 2,500 questions and can dish out 250,000 responses using a custom “solider” voice.

Although it’s still in beta, you can start using the skill right now by enabling it and then saying “Alexa, Ask Call of Duty ___”

What is Alexa?

Amazon Echo. Or Alexa. They’re one and the same, really. That is, an Amazon Echo without Alexa really isn’t any more than just a speaker. And Alexa without a speaker is just … Well, nothing.

Confused yet. I don’t blame you. Let’s explain the difference this way:

Echo is hardware, Alexa is software

Amazon Echo — and all of its permutations — is hardware. Alexa is software. She (and I have zero problem if you refer to Alexa as a she) is the brains behind the Echo, and all the things you can do with it. And because she’s software, she’s available on more than just Amazon’s own devices.

Anyone can put Alexa on anything. You can make your own Alexa speaker for just a few bucks and a little bit of nerdy know-how. There are third-party Alexa speakers that look like Amazon’s own Echo Dot. There are third-party Alexa speakers that look like speakers. You can get Alexa baked into a smart thermostat. She’s built into the HTC U11 smartphone.

The point is, Alexa can be built into pretty much anything these days.

But that’s just half of the story.

It’s all about the Alexa Skills, baby …

Alexa starts out by knowing what Amazon tells it. She already knows how to tell the time, and set alarms and timers, or answer general questions and read headlines. But Alexa also has the ability to learn more. A lot more.

Or, more precisely, you have the ability to teach Alexa new things.

See all of Amazon’s Skills here

Amazon calls these things “Skills,” and there are hundreds of them.

Want to teach Alexa to turn on your smart lights, or open your garage door, or do anything she doesn’t already know how to do? You need a Skill. That’s where developers come in. Amazon has made it so that anyone can write an Alexa Skill, and companies and their developers have been doing so for years now.

Think about the things you do every day. Listen to satellite radio? There’s a Skill for that. Lock your house after you’re already at work? It’s a little daunting, actually. There are hundreds and hundreds of Skills, of varying degrees of usefulness. (Dog facts, uh, OK.)

How to enable and disable Alexa Skills

Support for Sonos speakers

Amazon Echo speakers are pretty decent, but Sonos speakers are better! The latest version of the Sonos One speaker has Alexa built right in, making it arguably the best sounding Alexa speaker you can buy.

If you’ve already got a bunch of Sonos speakers set up around your home, don’t fear — simply use the Sonos Skill and you’ll be able to control all the different speakers around your home. It’s not the greatest experience with some very mixed reviews from users, but it’s still the best way to connect your high-end smart speakers with Alexa.

Alexa Routines makes life easier — now with music!

One of the coolest parts of smart speakers is the ability to get the latest news, play music, and control your connected smart home devices all with your voice. With Alexa and your Amazon Echo products, you have the option to do so on an individual basis or group actions together using Routines.

Routines are built right into the Alexa app and are entirely customizable. You can create your own Alexa Routines right in the app which can be triggered by a phrase you say (ex: “Alexa, good morning”) or at a scheduled time.

Each Routine can trigger a combination of up to seven different action types, which are each customizable to some extent depending on what you need Alexa to do:

• Alexa Says: Mostly silly stuff. You can set Alexa to say a specific greeting, wish you a happy birthday, sing a song, or tell a story or joke.
• Music: The latest feature to be added to Routines, you can use an Alexa Routine to trigger music. For example, saying “Alexa, it’s party time” could automatically play your favorite party playlist on Spotify.
• News: Adding this to a routine will trigger Alexa to read out the latest Flash Briefing news reports.
• Smart Home: Get Alexa to toggle or control your connected smart home products. For example, I have a routine set up for when I say “Alexa, I’m leaving” that turns off all the smart lights in my house.
• Traffic: To add traffic updates to an Alexa routine, you’ll first need to dive into the Alexa settings and enter location information for your daily commute.
• Volume: You can set a routine to automatically adjust Alexa’s volume. For example, if you’re a really heavy sleeper you can have Alexa crank the volume when you say “good night”.
• Weather: Adds a weather update to your custom routine.

Alexa calling and messaging

All of that connected home stuff is great, and it’s important. But one of the more exciting avenues of potential lies in Alexa Calling and Messaging. As the name implies, it’s the ability to make calls and leave messages through Alexa. From the outset, it works with Echo devices and the Alexa app on phones and tablets. If you have an original Echo or Echo Dot, you can make voice calls. If you have an Echo Show, you can make video calls, or even “drop in” on a close acquaintance (they have to approve you first) without them having to hit a single button.

That’s where these $50 Echo Dots really make a lot of sense. Now Amazon has a means for you to communicate not just on that little Dot, but also on your phone. It’s two birds with one stone, and it’s really just the start of things. And it makes up for where Amazon failed in trying to make its own phone. Folks didn’t want a Fire Phone, but they do want an Echo — especially an inexpensive on — and in buying one they have to put the Alexa app on their phone.

It’s not quite a benevolent Trojan Horse, but it’s close.

Read: Amazon is getting close to being the king of all messaging

Update May 2018: Added sections on Sonos speaker support and Routines.

Amazon Alexa

• Which Amazon Echo should you buy?
• Get more Alexa Skills
• How to enable and disable Alexa Skills
• How to customize Flash Briefing
• How to get sports updates
• How to sync your calendar with Alexa
• How to shop with Alexa
• Send voice messages with Alexa

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BlackBerry KEY2 shown off in hands-on photo

Ladies and gentlemen – meet your (possible) KeyONE successor.

The BlackBerry KeyONE turned out to be one of 2017’s most unique smartphones, and for some folks, remains as their go-to daily driver. It’s about time that we’re due for a successor to the device, and a new hands-on photo appears to reveal just that.

Shared in the CrackBerry Forums, the photo to the right showcases what’s apparently the KeyONE’s sequel. We can see that it retains the same general shape as last year’s phone, with the most notable changes including a matte finish for the keyboard, a new key whose functionality is currently unknown, and keys that have a larger and flatter look compared to the KeyONE.

The same image was also shared on Chinese social network Weibo, in addition to what’s likely a photo captured with the new phone with “BlackBerry KEY2” branding found near the bottom. The KEY2 name hasn’t been confirmed by BlackBerry, but this is one of the strongest contenders for what it’ll probably be called.

We still have no word on pricing or availability for the BlackBerry KEY2, but based on the current rumor mill for the phone, we shouldn’t be too far off from an official announcement.

Based on what we’re seeing here, are you excited for the phone?

Why I’m still using a BlackBerry KEYone in Spring 2018

BlackBerry KEYone

• BlackBerry KEYone review
• KEYone vs. Priv: Battle of the BlackBerry keyboards
• BlackBerry KEYone specs
• The latest KEYone news
• Join the discussion in the forums

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How to completely disable Bixby

Get rid of the Galaxy S9’s most disappointing feature.

Ever since Samsung announced the Galaxy S8 with its onboard assistant, Bixby, people have been asking for ways to disable it and forget the button ever existed in the first place. With the Galaxy S9, that chorus is even louder.

While the hardware’s not going anywhere, we can definitely do something about the software. Here’s how to get rid of Bixby Voice and, if you’re using Samsung’s launcher, Bixby Home.

Why do you want to disable Bixby?

One of the biggest frustrations with the Bixby button is its placement; the button is right under the volume keys and nearly directly opposite the power buttons. On larger phones like the Galaxy S9+ and Note 8, this often leads to accidental presses and unintended Bixby launches, especially when double-pressing the power button to launch the camera.

The Bixby button is also not mappable to another action; Samsung wants you to use it for Bixby, or not at all. This isn’t ideal, so many people will inevitably choose to just forget it exists and move on.

How to disable Bixby Voice

Bixby is divided into two distinct categories: Bixby Voice and Bixby Home. Voice is the feature that lets you get stuff done by holding down the Bixby button for a moment, walkie-talkie-style. It’s useful but can get frustrating when it doesn’t work, so you’re going to want to turn it off before you disable Bixby Home (which is accessed by short-pressing the Bixby button).

While on the Samsung home screen, swipe right until you get to Bixby Home.

• Alternatively, press the Bixby button on the left side of the phone, right under the volume rocker.

On the top menu bar, tap the three vertical dots.
Tap Settings.
Uncheck Bixby Voice.

That’s it! Now Bixby Voice won’t bug you when you accidentally hold down your finger on the Bixby button. Next, we have to prevent the Bixby button from accessing Bixby Home.

How to disable the Bixby button

Now that Bixby Voice has been disabled, we have to disable Bixby Home from popping up whenever we accidentally press the side button.

Press the Bixby button on the left side of the phone, right under the volume rocker.
In the top menu bar, tap the Settings button (looks like three cogs).
Uncheck Bixby Key.

That’s it! Now when you press the Bixby button once, it won’t open the Bixby Home

How to disable Bixby Home from the home screen

Now, the final step to disabling Bixby entirely is to disable Bixby Home access from the home screen which, by default, puts it on the left-most panel.

From the home screen, hold down on empty space until the menu appears.
Swipe to the right to reach the left home panel.
Disable Bixby Home.

That’s it! Now neither the Bixby button nor the Bixby Home screen will work and you can move on with your life, Bixby-free.

Should you want to access Bixby again, though, you’ll need to follow these steps in reverse, first enabling Bixby Home from the launcher and then the Bixby button from inside the menu.

Questions? Comments?

Got any questions about this process, or just want to share your sheer joy at being able to disable Bixby? Let us know in the comments below!

Update, May 1: This article has been updated with the latest information about how to disable Bixby.

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