OnePlus 3T review: Three cheers for the best mid-price phone

What do you do when you have an already-great smartphone and access to parts that can improve it? If you’re a traditional smartphone maker, you’ll more than likely wait around 12 months before putting those upgraded parts into a slightly newer chassis.

If you’re not and you like to think a little differently to the mainstream manufacturers, then you use them to make a great smartphone even better. Which is exactly what OnePlus has done with the OnePlus 3T – the slightly pricier, yet even more awesome, mid-price phone that’s good enough to take on the flagships.

How is the OnePlus 3T different to the OnePlus 3?

• New Gunmetal grey colour
• Camera is now protected by sapphire glass

From an aesthetic standpoint, there are no visual changes to the styling and design of the phone: the OnePlus 3T looks identical to the OnePlus 3.

OnePlus’ smartphone is carved from a single piece of high-end aluminium alloy. Its back has a comfortable and purposeful curved finish, with gently rounded edges to match. It feels both solid and comfortable in the hand, just as the OnePlus 3 does.

Pocket-lint

While the main body’s build and materials are identical, the glass covering the camera has been upgraded. We now have sapphire glass, which is harder and far better at resisting scratches.

The textured notification priority slider sits on the left edge, near the top, about a thumb’s width above the slim volume rocker. On the opposite side, the power button is joined by the dual SIM tray which, sadly, still doesn’t have the option of slipping in a microSD card to expand the storage.

One thing that must be applauded is the attention to how these buttons feel when they’re pressed. They have a solid click, giving great feedback in use.

Pocket-lint

There’s a Type-C port, speaker grille, microphone and 3.5mm jack all in a row on the bottom edge, while the top edge is completely port-free.

While the phone looks exactly the same as the OnePlus 3, the company did create a new Gunmetal Grey finish – which is noticeably darker than the OnePlus 3 in Graphite finish.

How large is the OnePlus 3T?

• 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED display
• Covered in Corning Gorilla Glass 4

On the front is a 5.5-inch 1080p full HD display, providing a window to all your games, videos and apps. Like its lesser-powered sibling, it’s OnePlus’ Optic AMOLED display. That means you get the same vibrant colours and really deep blacks.

To really see the strength of this AMOLED panel, it’s worth using the system-wide dark theme which changes the settings menu’s background to be completely black, offset with contrasting colours which are more pastel than the highlighter-neon found in the older software. It’ll probably help the battery life too.

Pocket-lint

Being Full HD (1920 x 1080) rather than Quad HD (1440 x 2560) does mean you don’t quite get the same level of detail as you would on some other flagship phones, like the Pixel XL. From arm’s length, everything on the 3T looks sharp and clear enough though.

Bringing it a little closer to your face reveals that rounded icon edges and curves in fine text aren’t quite as smooth as you’d find on a higher-resolution screen, of course. Still, things are smooth enough when using the phone normally, not pressed right up against your nose.

Being Optic AMOLED, the 3T also has the same dual polarising layers built in to help make it more visible in daylight. For the most part, this works well. The screen is relatively easy to see in most lighting conditions.

All this means that, for the average day made up of video watching, mobile gaming and watching all your friends doing the mannequin challenge on Snapchat, the screen holds up well. It’s a great canvas for all kinds of media, especially if what you’re viewing is colourful.

What software does OnePlus 3T run?

• OxygenOS based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• Enhanced Doze mode for better battery life
• New Shelf is cleaner and more refined
• Android Nougat is coming (before 2017)

OxygenOS is back yet again in a version of the software which OnePlus says is more refined. Building on the success of previous iterations, it retains its lightweight and fluid properties while maintaining the customisation choices.

The Shelf – OnePlus’ screen used to give you handy access to your favourite contacts, apps and widgets – has been updated with a cleaner look. The font at the top of the screen has been tidied up, and the cards showing various widgets are now all white for a more uniform look. You can still add all your most used apps and widgets here as you could before, it just looks a little tidier.

Other changes include the ability to customise which quick-access icons you want in your drop-down quick settings shade. You can also setup some apps to be private and only accessible by password or fingerprint scan – which is particularly useful if you don’t like kids checking through your personal messages, or if your work emails and calendar need to be kept private.

In an upcoming software update, OnePlus is going to include the ability to take longer screenshots. Just like some of Samsung’s latest phones, you’ll be able to snap a screenshot and then keep scrolling to get as much of an image, web page or text as you need. There are also updates to the voice over and weather apps.

A lot of what makes OxygenOS so great is its customisability, and that stays in the latest version. You can change many aspects of the phone’s appearance, and even download custom icon packs.

One small feature we enjoyed was that the software automatically normalises app icon sizes so that they’re all the same size, even if they’re not all the same shape. Although you can change them all to be round or square using the built-in icon packs.

While it’s disappointing that Android Nougat (version 7 and up) hasn’t been included in a phone launched so long after Google released the software, there is some relief in knowing that OnePlus has committed to pushing out the update by the end of 2016.

Does the OnePlus 3T perform better than a flagship?

• 2.35GHz quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor
• 64GB or 128GB storage options
• 6GB RAM

On the hardware side, OnePlus has ramped things up a notch in the 3T by replacing the 2.15GHz Snapdragon 820 processor of the OnePlus 3 with an even more powerful 2.35GHz Snapdragon 821 chip.

More importantly, it means that – from a hardware perspective – OnePlus’ latest device could be capable of running Google’s Daydream VR system. Sadly, it doesn’t seem that implementing Google’s VR compatibility is high on the company’s agenda – that’s what we concluded after an interview with OnePlus’ co-founder Carl Pei.

Pocket-lint

The SD821 processor sits alongside 6GB RAM, which is more than enough to handle multiple tasks on a smartphone of any kind. It’s worth noting that this RAM isn’t all used for multi-tasking apps. A third of it (2GB) is reserved for a dedicated camera function which shoots multiple shots at once and chooses the best one whenever you snap a picture.

Overall, the OnePlus 3T is zippy and can load even the most graphically intense games without much trouble. While it’s hard to notice a huge difference between the OnePlus 3 and 3T in terms of speed, there does appear to be a slight increase in responsiveness and decrease in load times. Neither improvement is ground-breaking, though, and certainly not worth considering the switch for that reason alone.

How long does the OnePlus 3T last per charge?

• 3,400mAh battery
• Dash Charge

One notable improvement comes in form of a beef-up battery. Rather than stick with the same 3,000mAh capacity cell found in the regular OnePlus 3, the 3T has a more capacious 3,400mAh battery. In real-life use, that means the new flagship killer lasts even longer. Always welcome.

While the regular Google Doze mode – which puts apps to sleep when not in use for a given period of time, as launched in Android Marshmallow – was great at preserving battery when a phone was sat still and in standby mode, the new enhanced Doze mode performs the same function while the phone is in your pocket, purse, or wherever you happen to store it. The phone doesn’t have to be sat still. As long as it’s in standby, Doze does its thing and stops your phone from draining the battery when it’s not in use.

Pocket-lint

We found with light use the OnePlus 3T made it to bed time with just under 50 per cent of its capacity remaining. With more moderate use (including a couple of hours worth of gaming), it had around 30 per cent left at the end of a day. It’s not quite a two day battery, but it’s close, and its Dash Charge capability means super quick top-ups at the plug.

OnePlus’ Dash Charge tech – which bears a striking resemblance to the VOOC charging offered by Oppo – can give you a full day’s battery from a 30 minute charge. Or, at least, that’s the marketing spiel from OnePlus. In real life, plugging it in for 30 minutes can easily get the battery from the dreaded 15 per cent level to around 70 per cent charge.

This kind of charging completely changes charging behaviour. Rather than plug the phone in over night, you can leave it off charge and then plug it in when you wake up, go for a shower, have breakfast, then take it off charge on your way out and be confident it should last you the day.

Is the OnePlus 3T’s camera good?

• 16MP front and rear cameras
• Upgraded EIS on rear snapper
• Manual controls and RAW support

On the camera side, only the front camera has had a notable upgrade. OnePlus boosted the selfie cam’s sensor to 16-megapixels and introduced what it calls “Intelligent Pixel Technology”. In essence, when shooting in low-light conditions with the front camera, pixels join forces to bring in more light and give you a selfie with less image noise and more brightness.

What we’ve found with the selfies is that – and like so many other front-facing cameras – there’s a tendency to soften skin to excess and leave faces devoid of any detail. In low-light conditions, it does well at capturing as much light as possible, but that can mean some areas can become overexposed and washed out. 

On the back, it’s the same 16-megapixel sensor as before, but with some useful improvements.

First off, the stabilisation has been upgraded. Videos now seem more stable, thanks to the enhanced EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation) algorithm. With OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) and PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus), OnePlus claims you can capture crystal clear images in just 0.2 seconds.

In use, the camera is very fast and takes shots almost instantaneously, although results aren’t quite as detailed, vibrant or balanced as those from the Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S7 or Apple iPhone 7 families.

That’s not to say the OnePlus 3T is not good, it’s still a very capable camera – especially considering the price of the handset. It does a fairly good job in low light, particularly when manual settings are chosen. In automatic mode, you will find some shots are a little blurry in these situations. 

Like the OnePlus 3, there are a handful of smart capture technologies built-in to the OnePlus 3T. Dynamic De-noise helps to reduce image noise in low-light shots by smoothing it out, while HQ Mode enhances details by sharpening lines. Auto HDR (high dynamic range) kicks in when the conditions call for it, and Smile Capture takes pictures automatically when it detects a smile.

Those who take mobile photography seriously will be pleased to know that the phone still supports Raw files. This means if you want to edit them on more professional software after taking them, digging deeper into the available adjustments without loss, then you now can.

The camera app also has a small selection of manual controls to adjust elements like the ISO sensitivity, white balance, focus type and shutter speed. Amazingly, the last of those can be set to be open for up to 30 seconds, which is enough to make night time almost look like day.

Verdict

Like its predecessor, the OnePlus 3T is a brilliant smartphone, regardless of the bump in price. Its build quality and design is up there with the best of them, it has a vibrant and punchy display and a battery that can last practically all day on a 30 minute charge. There’s very little to criticise.

If we were paying £600-£800 for a 3T, then we would be critical of its Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution display, or the camera not quite performing at the same level as some flagship phones. But the OnePlus 3T isn’t even £400 and, frankly, it’d still be a great buy at £500 or more.

It’s unavoidable that OnePlus will receive criticism from some for charging £60 for what is a marginally upgraded version of the OnePlus 3. But the 3T is a better, faster phone with an improved battery and front camera.

The OnePlus 3T retains OnePlus’ crown of offering the best mid-priced phone with flagship performance that money can buy.

OnePlus 3T: The alternatives to consider

Pocket-lint

OnePlus 3

• £329

Don’t want to pay more? The original OnePlus 3 has everything you need, but for less cash. The battery isn’t quite as good, but it’s still a great buy overall while you can still buy it. It won’t be available for much longer, so act fast if you really want one. 

Pocket-lint

Vodafone Smart Platinum 7

• £299

If £400 is pushing to the limite of your budget, but you still want as good an Android experience as you can get on a budget, the £300 Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 is a great choice. Its screen is as big as the OnePlus, but with Quad HD resolution. It is only available on Vodafone though and isn’t quite as powerful as the 3T. 

Pocket-lint

Google Pixel XL

• £719

If money is no object and all you’re interested in is the latest and absolute best Android experience around, you’ll struggle to get anything better than a Pixel or Pixel XL. They’re loaded with the brand new version of Android Nougat, have fantastic cameras and smooth snappy performance. 

Carl Pei: Smartphone’s big disruptor talks OnePlus 3T, Daydream VR and focus

Having recently announced the OnePlus 3T at a relatively private briefing in London, the company’s co-founder Carl Pei sat down with us to talk. In our interview we cover the device itself, the reasons for it and what the future holds for one of the most talked-about smartphone makers in the world. 

What were the reasons behind releasing the upgraded OnePlus 3, and increasing the price?

Like I said during the presentation, we made a lot of changes on the software. But you cannot keep just improving software, because some of the changes have to come from hardware.

We have some new things in place like the sapphire glass, because we monitor a lot of metrics like failure rates, customer support etc. And although it’s [OnePlus camera glass cover] within acceptable range, we still felt like the back camera needed to be strengthened. So we wanted to upgrade that.

We had a higher density battery that we wanted to use, and we didn’t want to wait all the way until next year to release these features.

Looking at the OnePlus 3, it is our best product by far, by MPS [customer satisfaction/likelihood to recommend] and basically we only look at MPS, or MPS is the most important thing to look at.

• OnePlus 3T review: Three cheers for the best mid-price phone

It was pretty easy, the logic was just to take the best we have and improve it.

In terms of the pricing, here in the UK I think, our users might have seen the steepest difference. A lot of it is actually due to currency. So look at the dollar price, it’s not a huge difference compared to before.

But I think the reason why we increased in other markets as well as the US is we added improvements that actually cost us more money. The sapphire glass costs a few dollars more than the regular glass and the higher density battery costs more.

With the new price I really think it’s a very competitive product. Look at what’s available now, in late 2016 in this range, there’s not a lot of products that come close to it. So we’re still pretty confident.

In terms of the upgraded model and increased price, how do you think current OnePlus 3 users are going to feel? Do you think there will be many that upgrade or is that not what you’re aiming for?

If you were working at a traditional company, you wouldn’t expect your users to upgrade. And I spend a lot of time on Reddit, on the Android sub reddit and the OnePlus subreddit and I’ve seen a lot of people actually ready to upgrade.

Some people just – in Europe although we stopped sales and resumed sales – after we resumed sales still took a month to deliver. Some people have waited one month for delivery, and they’ve had the phone for a month before the OnePlus 3T, and a lot of people are actually selling their phones on second hand markets and various sites.

The only regret – if there was any regret – is the fact that some users had to wait too long to receive their phone. But if you looked at what options we had available, it’s either stopping sales or selling with a longer shipping time. I think the latter is slightly better.

The demand was larger than we anticipated. Seems like we’re saying that every year.

So that’s fine with OnePlus fans, they will buy it because they’re fans. How do you think it goes down with average consumers?

I think for most average consumers, to be honest, especially here in the UK, the OnePlus 3T will be the first product [of ours] they see.

Is that because it’s from O2, or do you think your brand is strong enough on its own now?

O2 is just a small part of it, or it’s a part of it. Starting from next week we’ll start our campaign in London Underground, then newspapers will come out. We’re also preparing a much larger push.

The way we think about it is, we sell to a lot of regions, but we’re not big in any region. So why can’t we pool the funds we have? If we make money in other regions, then we can focus on one region, and make it grow. So that’s what we’re experimenting in the UK. You’ll see a more aggressive campaign coming soon.

You’re growing as a company. People are starting to hear about you a bit more – because of the quality of your phones and how well-priced they are – do you ever find yourself thinking about adding to the range? Like with the OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X, do you see yourself going down the avenue of a small and a big phone again, like the iPhone and Pixel?

We talk about it a lot. And this is how we think: As an example I can give you – erm – a category example.

Some companies they start with a smartphone, and they struggle with a smartphone, so they will try and diversify. Thinking “I’ll make a whatever product where the risk is not as high.”

We think in the opposite way. If we’re not even successful with the smartphone, then how can we be successful in more than one category? Because our time is limited.

And it’s the same when it comes to the product sizing. Now we have one size. We’re at zero or half a per cent of the UK market, once we’re 10 per cent, then we can consider expanding our product line. But it’s not time yet. If we can’t even sell this one well, why make another one? That’s the way we think about it.

Does that mean that the OnePlus X didn’t sell very well?

The OnePlus X didn’t sell according to our expectations. The way we thought about it before was that the OnePlus X is a slightly cheaper product. And being slightly cheaper you should sell a lot more. But what we found was that given our current size, or our current company, is that most of our users are like tech enthusiasts and they want to get the best flagship products.

So I think if another company had sold the OnePlus X, they would have done a much better job, because they can reach out to more mainstream consumers. We’re learning, we’re trying to learn this time, but it wasn’t the right timing for us.

Looking at the OnePlus 3T, you’ve got the Snapdragon 821 now, which is obviously a better version of the processor, but also it’s Daydream VR compatible. Was that any part of your thinking, in terms of making it compatible with Daydream VR from Google? Is that something you’re considering?

So to be very honest, you can even quote me on this, I don’t even know what Daydream actually is. I know it’s like this reference composite design, and we were paying a lot of attention to it before the OnePlus 3. But what we found was our intuition – and our gut – told us was that no one’s really going to use their smartphone strapped to their head for VR.

We’ve seen it as well; a lot of people were asking us if it was going to be Daydream compatible when we launched the OnePlus 3. But nowadays, no one is asking the same question.

So it’s not big enough that you consider it important?

One of our core values is integrity. And integrity is not the regular meaning like being trustworthy, and stuff like that. It’s defined by the core reason or core truth. So we wanted to remove all the distractions, like remove all the people nagging for Daydream, sit down and really think about it. Is it really useful right now?

That’s how we make a lot of our decisions. Not only when it comes to products, but also about our markets, our product lines and categories. So integrity in thinking maybe, would be a good way [to describe it]? But I don’t think Daydream today, in late 2016, is going to make or break our product.

Then what was the reason behind the VR thing earlier in the year, the Loop VR headset? Was that purely for the [OnePlus 3] launch, or was it something you cared about?Basically, one of my – I don’t know if it’s a vision or if it’s just one of my ideas – so after we released the OnePlus One we had a lot of fans that were really excited about the invite system. And I thought , what if we could – because our fans are so geographically spread – what if we could have a launch event where you go to a launch event in VR and other fans are sitting next to you. That would be really cool. But the tech is not really there yet so we simplified it, and that’s why we had the VR experience to make it a more fair way to be involved.

This time we’re trying a Facebook Live experience, so let’s see how that will work. But that’s more of a launch. A launch is more part of the marketing. So we can’t let marketing beat the product, product needs to be above everything else within our company. And that’s the way we decided, product is always number one.

You probably won’t tell me anything here, but – when you’re looking at the OnePlus 3T and you’re looking ahead to the OnePlus 4 – what do you see now already that you think “I can improve there, I can make that in to a better product for the next model of the handset”?

So I cannot say too much about this topic, but, one part is outward looking. We have this team that’s just focussed on researching the latest technologies, contact all the vendors, meeting all the vendors to see what’s available.

Another part of what’s really important is to be inward looking. Looking at what the feedback is from our users, then using that to improve. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but on our packaging it says “created together with our fans”.

It’s not something that we’ve just added as part of a marketing phrase, I do think now that Oxygen OS is actually made together with our fans. Even things that are not quickly iterating, like hardware, we actually look at a lot of feedback.

Then what are they telling you they want in the OnePlus 4?

(Smiles) We have to release the OnePlus 3T first, then see what they say.

Do you think it’s always going to be an O2 exclusive or will you become more like a traditional manufacturer and have deals with multiple carriers?

This goes back to what I was saying about focus. In India, we’re only working with Amazon, and it’s been more than two years. Everyone else that was exclusive is no longer exclusive with anyone else.

The way we see it is if we can’t make Amazon successful, we only have one partner, if we can’t make that successful, then why go to more partners?

So, if we can become 10 per cent [of the UK market] some day with O2, then we can consider our next step. So it’s kinda like turning it upside down, but I think it makes sense.

With O2, there’s no carrier branding and no extra software?

No modifications on hardware or software.

If you went to another network provider, like EE or Vodafone, do you think the pressure would be there to add that?

Maybe, or maybe not. The thing is, with O2, they really understood us from the beginning. They were like, “if we do this [add branding and software], OnePlus fans will revolt against us. We should not do this”.

But to be honest, there wasn’t a whole lot of interest when we started approaching carriers in the UK. Because, that was before the OnePlus X, that was quite a long time ago. That’s why we’re really grateful that Magnus [O2 chief] believed in us, that’s why we’re not going to give up on our partnership that easily.

After we launched with O2, then everyone else wants to launch it. That’s always the case.

And now you’re just telling them, you can’t physically do it? Due to the size of your team etc.?

Yeah, but that’s a good feeling. It’s like validation. They didn’t believe in you and now they want you.

Would you say that all the competitors have approached you now?

In the UK, I think most of them.

The big ones?

Yeah. But it doesn’t mean anything unless we can really grow together with O2. If we went to O2 and we’re still the same size as now, then in a few years, no one’s going to care about us.

O2 have had exclusives on other phones that haven’t turned out so well. I mean, thinking a long time ago, the Palm Pre range and the Amazon Fire phone…

They did the iPhone…They did the iPhone, which is obviously the biggest success story…And I think it’s our responsibility to make it work. We need to do the offline sales reps’ sales training, we need to start reaching out to more mainstream consumers.

So introspection is also important to us, it’s one of our core values. No matter who’s blame it is, just take the blame and try to fix yourself. So I think it’s our responsibility – no matter what – to make this work. We’re trying with marketing, offline retail management, and hopefully it’ll work.

Would you say that it’s working now so far?

I’ve been actually, around a few O2 stores speaking with the sales people, and the Gurus. They said that the demand is really, really good, but it’s always out of stock, and the all have a long waiting list.

So it’s inventory management that’s the issue, still?

Yeah, because O2 are launching a new product, they’re not sure how popular it’s going to be and don’t want to order too much. And if they change the order too fast, we can’t accommodate that change that fast.

We’re working it out. I think for the OnePlus 3T it’s going to be a lot better already.

The best white noise machine

By Doug Mahoney

This post was done in partnership with The Sweethome, a buyer’s guide to the best homewares. When readers choose to buy The Sweethome’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.

After 20 hours of research and testing, including interviews with one sleep researcher, two audiologists, and a sound engineer, we’re confident the LectroFan by ASTI is the white noise machine you’ll want to fall asleep with. Thanks to its electronically generated, nonrepeating white noise options—which sound a bit like soft static—it worked as well as or better than the five other tested machines at masking squalling cats, barking dogs, and snoring roommates. Its simple controls are easy to use (even in the dark), its range of volume is wider than that of other devices we tested, and its small size is convenient for travel and won’t dominate your nightstand.

Who is this for

If your bedroom isn’t as quiet as it could be, and you think the noise is affecting your sleep, you may want to try a white noise machine. Medical studies have shown that white noise machines can help people stay asleep in noisy environments. If you already use a sleep machine with prerecorded sounds such as waves or rain, consider one of our picks, which produce random, constant white noise. Such invariant white noise is better at blocking sounds and is less likely to itself disturb your sleep.

How we picked and tested

We tested six white noise machines (from left to right): the Marpac Dohm DS, Homedics Deep Sleep II, ASTI LectroFan, Sleep Easy Sound Conditioner, Marpac Hushh, and Marpac Rohm. Photo: Michael Hession

The best type of white noise machines for sleep create noise that is random and meaningless and will block disturbing noises without itself creating noticeable sounds that could wake you. For that reason, we stuck to machines whose primary sound offering was random white noise, dismissing machines that offer recordings of birdsong, rainfall, crashing waves, or other natural sounds.

We eliminated machines that were too large to fit on a bedside table, or had bright displays that could compromise the darkness of the bedroom. After comparing reviews of white noise machines, we narrowed our list down to six machines to test. Using a sound-level meter, we measured the decibel range of each machine, from quietest to loudest. Next we set up recordings of common nighttime nuisances: barking dogs, fighting cats, and snoring. With the recordings playing in an adjacent room behind a closed door, we sat 18 inches behind the sound machine. Starting at the lowest volume setting, we slowly increased the loudness for the machine until we could no longer perceive the intruding noise, noting the decibel level required to block the sound.

Our pick

The LectroFan’s noise-masking abilities, simple interface, and small size make it the best machine we tested. Photo: Michael Hession

We think the LectroFan by ASTI is the white noise machine you’ll want on your nightstand. Our testing showed that the LectroFan’s random, nonrepeating white noise settings allowed it to mask intruding noises as well as or better than the other machines in the group. It’s the second-smallest machine we tested, too, so you can pack it for travel in addition to using it at home. The LectroFan is also one of the easiest models to use, with a simple three-button interface to toggle among 10 random, nonrepeating white noise offerings and 30 volume settings in one of the widest volume ranges we found.

The LectroFan’s 10 white noise settings, ranging from “dark noise” (low frequency) to “white noise” (high frequency), sounded like variations of low rumbles, rushing wind, or static—neither pleasant nor unpleasant, and definitely random and meaningless.

A machine that allows for fine volume control, like the LectroFan, can be at its lowest possible setting yet still block noise. By comparison, some of the other machines we tried had a narrower volume range that we found more difficult to adjust. To be clear, we didn’t notice a huge variation in the sound-blocking performance among the machines, and they were typically within a few decibels of one another for the minimum volume required to mask the offending noise.

With its minimalist, three-button interface, we found changing noise settings and volume on the LectroFan easier than on the other white noise machines. The LectroFan takes up little room on a nightstand, and can fit into your luggage for travel. It conveniently uses a USB cord and wall-power adapter, which you could swap for your USB wall charger to save more space when you’re packing. We do wish it had a built-in battery, which would be helpful for travel or if you don’t have an outlet nearby.

Runner-up

The Marpac Dohm DS features a fan encased in a smooth, domelike plastic housing with cutouts that you open and close to adjust the noise level. Photo: Michael Hession

The Marpac Dohm, which the company touts as the original white noise machine, has had a devoted following for more than 50 years. Relying on a fan to make noise, the Dohm DS (the two-speed version) produces a slightly more pleasant sound than the LectroFan, something akin to what you hear when you hold a shell over your ear, or to the sound of wind rushing through a field. In contrast, the LectroFan and other electronic white noise machines produce sound that is more like a soft static or “shhh.”

We found that the Dohm DS performed slightly poorer in our sound-masking tests than the white noise machines that generated noise electronically. We also noticed a slight whining undertone when running the Dohm DS on its high setting. Still, the Dohm has had many thousands of satisfied owners over the years, and it boasts an overall 4.5-star (out of five) rating across more than 9,000 reviews on Amazon.

Apps for occasional use

Although white noise apps aren’t a great choice for nightly use, because the sound quality isn’t as good, they can come in handy for travel or if you need to mask sounds only occasionally.

After testing four iPhone apps, we like myNoise (created by the sound engineer we spoke with for this guide, Stéphane Pigeon). In the “White Noise & Co” setting, you can use a color-coded slider to adjust white noise frequencies to create a customized white noise mix.

For Android, we’d go with Noisli. You can layer multiple white noise sounds and adjust their volumes to create a custom blend. Of the eight Android apps we tried, Noisli has the least-distracting and easiest-to-use interface.

The volume and clarity of the apps will depend on the quality of your smartphone’s speakers, and pairing your phone with a Bluetooth speaker will produce better results.

This guide may have been updated by The Sweethome. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Note from The Sweethome: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

President Obama doesn’t plan on pardoning Edward Snowden

With President Obama’s term nearly up, infamous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and his supporters have been campaigning for a presidential pardon. It sounds like that isn’t in the card, though. In an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel, Obama said that “I can’t pardon somebody who hasn’t gone before a court and presented themselves.” Even if Snowden had, though, it sounds like the president believes that whistleblowers can’t go rogue and expect not to face repercussions, even if what they reveal is substantive.

“I think that Mr. Snowden raised some legitimate concerns,” President Obama said. “How he did it was something that did not follow the procedures and practices of our intelligence community. If everybody took the approach that I make my own decisions about these issues, then it would be very hard to have an organized government or any kind of national security system.”

However, despite that potentially chaotic scenario, it doesn’t sound like the door would be entirely closed for some sort of leniency. “At the point at which Mr. Snowden wants to present himself before the legal authorities and make his arguments or have his lawyers make his arguments,’ Obama said, “then I think those issues come into play.”

It’s worth noting that Snowden’s decision not to present himself for trial doesn’t legally exclude him from being pardoned — The Verge points out that plenty of pardons have been handed down for people who were indicted but who didn’t stand trial. This even happened under Obama’s administration.

Unfortunately for Snowden, getting a pardon will get exponentially more difficult under the incoming administration. President-elect Trump has selected Mike Pompeo to run the CIA; Pompeo has called Snowden a traitor and said that he believes he should be executed for his crimes.

Via: The Verge

Source: Der Spiegel

Tesla’s SolarCity acquisition is a done deal

When compared to most major business mergers, the union of Tesla and SolarCity happened about as fast as a Tesla launching to 60MPH in Ludicrous Mode. The two companies announced their intent to merge back in August and got shareholder approval last week. This morning, they confirmed that the deal is complete, TechCrunch reports. The news comes just a few weeks after Tesla unveiled its solar roof and PowerWall 2 home battery.

Given that both companies are aiming for the same well-off, eco-conscious audience, it makes plenty of sense for them to merge. Tesla CEO Elon Musk helped start Solar City with his cousins, Peter and Lyndon Rive, and also served as chairman. Musk originally positioned the combined firm as an “end-to-end clean energy” solution, and later noted that SolarCity would add $1 billion to Tesla’s revenues next year. Naturally, Tesla expects the merger to also lead to savings in marketing, R&D and overhead costs.

Source: TechCrunch

Twelve South Debuts ‘HiRise Duet’ Charging Stand for iPhone and Apple Watch

Twelve South today introduced a new product in its HiRise line, called the HiRise Duet, which provides charging stations for an iPhone or iPad, as well as an Apple Watch. The stand supports the Apple Watch’s Night Stand Mode, which displays an alarm clock and turns the device’s Digital Crown into a snooze button.

The stand has a 3.75” square footprint and includes an integrated Lightning charger for iPhone and iPad, as well as a Magnetic Charging Disc for the Apple Watch, all of which are powered by a single AC cable. The bottom of the stand is lined with a layer of leather to protect the Apple Watch from scuffs.

Unlike plastic stands that get dragged across the nightstand from the weight of the power cord, the all metal HiRise Duet stays put. This mighty one pound, dual charging stand weighs as much as three iPhone 7’s. So when you reach for your iPhone in the middle of the night, or go for the snooze button in the morning, both devices will be right where you put them – atop HiRise Duet. You’ll also notice the curves on HiRise Duet mirror the beautiful design of iPhone and Watch.

The HiRise Duet is available from Twelve South for $119.99. The stand supports the iPad mini, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and any recent Lightning-enabled iPhone generation.

Tag: Twelve South
Discuss this article in our forums