HP Omen X VR PC Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Besides finding a powerful enough computer, buying an expensive VR headset, and setting up sensors or base stations, playing virtual-reality PC games also means a serious chance of tripping over the dangling wires that tether the headset to its bulky desktop PC base.
HP is one of several companies working on a solution to that problem, via a VR backpack that lets you bring the entire computer with you, battery power and all. Dell, MSI and other PC makers are working on similar configurations.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Having seen it previously only in photo mockups, we’ve now had a chance to experience the HP Omen X VR PC in person, during a public HP gaming event held in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The device is best described as a portable gaming desktop, reconfigured as a wearable backpack.
The VR headset is still tethered to the computer, but in this case, the computer is strapped to your back, so it moves with you. This is primarily designed for use with the HTC Vive, but the Oculus Rift should work just as well, especially when the Rift adds motion controllers later this year.
The unit we tried was not connected to a working VR headset, but the components inside the backpack were complete, so it gave a good sense of the final product’s weight and size. The backpack PC is surprisingly small in person, and weighs around 10 pounds. The massive backpack straps and bulky battery pockets make it feel more unwieldy than just the PC itself, but when also wearing a Vive headset, it’s just one more thing strapped to you, so I could see this being a very usable way to play VR games.
One of the two removable battery packs.
Sarah Tew/CNET
For power, the current prototype uses a battery belt pack that contains two batteries and connects to the backpack via a cable. The estimated play time on a full charge is about one hour, but VR is meant to be played in short bursts. The batteries are hot-swappable, so you’ll be able to keep the system going while swapping one of the batteries out for a fresh one, but I also can’t imagine staying strapped into all that equipment for more than an hour at a time.
But before you get too excited about untethered virtual reality, keep in mind this is still a proof-of-concept prototype, and may or may not ever become a shipping product.
MyScript Nebo review – CNET
The Good MyScript Nebo does some unique tricks, such as reflowing handwriting, mixed text/handwriting operation and equation recognition. And when it’s good, it’s very, very good.
The Bad It requires one of the pricier tablets and like many digital note-taking systems, it can be finicky to the point where you may not think it’s worth the effort.
The Bottom Line If you own a tablet with a good active stylus and you take a lot of notes, it’s definitely worth giving MyScript Nebo a shot while it’s free. But your mileage may vary.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
The latest candidate in my continuing search for the best way to take notes comes from MyScript, the company formerly known as Vision Objects, which renamed itself to match its MyScript Notes Mobile app launched in 2012. Named “Nebo” (I think it should have stuck with “MyScript Notes”) the app extends its capabilities with the company’s updated recognition engine and new Interactive Ink technology. It works pretty well, but still doesn’t provide the seamless experience I’d hoped for.
It currently works on some iPad and Windows 10 devices — Android is forthcoming — but not all of them. It requires devices that support active pens, like the Apple Pencil or Surface Pen. And the company stresses it needs to be a good one. Passive styluses work by pretending to be your finger and lack the precision necessary to capture all the necessary stroke data.
The app, which normally costs $9 but is free for the moment, tries to simulate the real writing-in-a-notebook experience, albeit with some useful and unique capabilities like mixed font/handwriting editing and handwriting reflow, equation recognition (from its calculator app) and solving (like its calculator) and conversion of drawn shapes to digital vector objects.
Like all note-taking apps, Nebo uses notebooks and pages as its organizing metaphor; unlike a real notebook or many other note-taking apps, which basically offer freehand pages, you have to create blocks for nontext content: local images, camera shots, drawings, diagrams and equations. That can slow you down. The trade-off is that because it “knows” what the type of content it’s looking at, it can convert equations to text as well as solve them and turn basic shapes into objects for diagrams. It supports the same operations as other good apps, such as cross-notebook searches.
As the text flows
My biggest issue with handwriting recognition is, well, software finds my scrunchy, squiggly handwriting pretty tough to recognize. That’s unsurprising: Even I can barely read it. But it ultimately makes cleaning up my “recognized” notes more of a chore than just retyping them from a hard copy. Interactive Ink lets you make corrections to recognized text by writing with the stylus rather than having to jump to a keyboard.
Nebo can convert basic shapes in diagrams. If you want to leave objects like arrows as they are, you flag it as a doodle.
Screenshot by Lori Grunin/CNET
Nebo does the best job of recognizing my handwriting that I’ve seen to date. But, as we saw with optical character recognition software, you have to reach a tipping point where the number of corrections you need to make is small enough to counter the hassle of making them. So OCR software usually preserves the original scan for reference. With Nebo, once you’ve converted to text, the handwritten version is gone (or at least not displayable); it’s not even there while you’re making corrections. In many cases, some incorrect characters aren’t a problem. And in the preview it can autosuggest corrections.
Jabra Sport Pulse Special Edition Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Jabra’s original Sport Coach and Sport Pulse in-ear wireless sports headphones were close to being excellent but fell a little short in a couple of areas, most notably their fit and sound quality.
Now Jabra’s announced the next generation of those models, labeling them “special editions,” with ship dates sometime in September.
On the outside, they look essentially the same as the originals, but Jabra’s made a few changes on the inside and now bundles in added ear tip options. The company says both models are more durable and the Pulse, which is equipped with an integrated heart rate monitor — it gets a pulse reading through your ear — has added a new feature: it can calculate your Vo2 Max level and automatically measure your fitness level.
Jabra bills its Sport Pulse Special Edition as the world’s first sports headphones with automatic fitness testing.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Sport Pulse Special Edition lists for $160 while the Coach Special Edition lists for $120 (Best Buy has the original Sport Coach on sale for $100). No word yet on UK or Australian pricing, but the current Sport Pulse lists for £200 and the Sport Coach for £120, though both sell for less significantly less online.
Also new: Jabra is offering an extended three-year warranty against sweat (you do have to register the headphones), which is unusual. Most headphones offer one- or two-year warranties.
I did notice that the protective carrying pouch that’s included with the special-edition models isn’t as protective, but it does the job.
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Jabra Sport Pulse: A wireless headphone with a built-in heart-rate monitor
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Smart sports features
Jabra has sought to differentiate its headphones with its integrated fitness app, Jabra Sport Life.
With the Sport Pulse, you can do timed runs, and the app will track your current heart rate as well as your average heart rate over the the course of a workout. It saves your history, updates your distance and pace (GPS must be activated on your phone) with intermittent voice prompts, and includes some built-in tests and a music player that taps into your music library.
Alternatively you can use a music service such as Spotify while the Jabra app is running (the voice “coach” prompts will lower the volume of your music but not pause it). You can also use the headphones with other fitness apps like Endomondo and RunKeeper. The heart rate monitor works with a lot of fitness apps but not necessarily all of them. As I said, the VO2 Max data generation is new and Jabra bills the Sport Pulse Special Edition as the “The world’s first sports headphone without automatic fitness testing.”
Jabra’s Sport Life app.
The Sport Coach Special Edition doesn’t have the integrated heart rate monitor but it has a TrackFit Motion Sensor that now automatically counts your reps. You can follow a set of simple workouts integrated into the app that you can do in your home that mixes exercises such as high-knee running (in place), push-ups, squats, planks and stomach crunches.
Important note for owners of the original Sport Coach and Sport Pulse Wireless: Jabra says automatic fitness testing (for the Pulse) and automatic rep counting (for the Coach) will be available as free upgrade features via a software upgrade.
More ear tip options
Jabra talks about the headphones having “enhanced sound,” but I’m not sure it’s done anything to enhance the sound except to try to create a better fit by including a set of Comply foam tips along with the usual set of ear gels and ear wings, which do a good job locking the bud in your ear.
With in-ear headphones, getting a tight seal is crucial to getting better sound and the foam tips do help. I still wouldn’t call these fantastic-sounding headphones, but for in-ear Bluetooth headphones they sound quite decent, and if you can achieve a tight seal, bass response improves dramatically. I also thought the headphones worked quite well as a headset for making cell phone calls. That’s not surprising considering Jabra’s background in headsets.
The included tips, ear wings, cord shortener and carrying pouch (folded on the right).
Sarah Tew/CNET
It’s worth mentioning that these earphones are designed to seal out the ambient noise (they’re noise-isolating), so you won’t be able to hear traffic if you’re biking or running outside and are playing your music at modest to high volumes. That may be a safety issue, which is why a lot of runners prefer open headphones like Bose’s SoundSport Wireless (Bose also has a SoundSport Pulse coming out in September that has an integrated heart monitor).
While it’s good that Jabra has included the Comply foam tips, those can get dirty and break down over time. I’d personally would like to see Jabra redesign its gel ear tips, particularly the larger size, which is too flat and rounded (it should be more conical).
Jabra bills its Sport Coach Special Edition as the worlds’ first sports headphones with automatic rep counting.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Anyway, I’m going to take a few weeks to test the review samples I received before I render a final verdict, but my initial impression is that Sport Coach and Sport Pulse have indeed been improved and when you factor in the three-year warranties, they’re compelling wireless sports headphones that give Jaybird and other competitors a run for the money.
Here’s a look at their specs, courtesy of Jabra.
Jabra Sport Pulse Special Edition — $160, €160 (EU):
- New automatic (continuous) VO2 Max fitness testing
- In-ear biometric heart rate monitoring
- Advanced planning and tracking based on heart rate
- Resting and orthostatic heart rate tests
- Smart in-ear audio coaching
- Dust- and water-resistant (IP55)
- Lightweight (16 grams)
- Up to 5 hours of talk/music time
- Up to 10 days of stand-by time
- New Comply foam tips included
- New three-year extended warranty against sweat
- Ships in September 2016
Jabra Sport Coach Special Edition ($120, €160 (EU):
- NEW Automatic repetition counting with TrackFit motion sensor
- Smart in-ear audio coaching
- Dust- and water-resistant (IP55)
- Lightweight (16 grams)
- Up to 5 hours of talk/music time
- Up to 10 days of stand-by time
- New Comply foam tips included
- New three-year extended warranty against sweat
- Ships in September 2016
Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer review – CNET
The Good The Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer has attractive modern styling and intuitive controls that are easy to operate. The appliance also removes moisture from fabric quickly, has a large 9-cubic-foot capacity along with 14 separate dryer modes plus steam abilities.
The Bad Unlike other appliances that use an attached water line, the Kenmore Elite 81072 obtains the water for its steam modes from a small reservoir you must fill by hand. The Elite 81072’s lightweight door feels flimsy and can’t be slammed shut.
The Bottom Line Though you have to fill its steam feeder with water by hand, the Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer’s excellent performance, huge 9-cubic-foot capacity and included drying rack make this laundry appliance very enticing to big families.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
There aren’t many dryers for sale that can swallow 9 cubic feet worth of wet laundry at once, but the $1,400 Kenmore Elite 81072 can do just that. Thanks to its massive drum size and speedy cycle times, the Elite 81072 is a good fit for large families who need to power through hefty laundry loads often and quickly. The Kenmore Elite 81072 has other alluring attributes, too, including straightforward controls, plus numerous specialty drying modes and steam functions.
Saddled with a cantankerous door and manually fed water supply for making steam, however, this dryer isn’t perfect. If your weekly routine demands frequent laundering of monster-size bedding or handling enough dirty clothing to outfit a small army, the Elite 81072 will serve you better than sleeker but smaller units like the $1,500 LG DLEX 5000 and $1,099 Electrolux EFME617S Perfect Steam.
Kenmore’s Elite 81072 dryer is huge, fast…
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Design and features
Standing a full 40.8 inches tall, 29 inches wide and 33.9 inches deep, the Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer is positively massive. While roughly the same size as the also gargantuan 8-cubic-foot capacity GE GFDS260EFWW, this machine takes up more space than both the LG DLEX 5000 and Electrolux EFME617S Perfect Steam, which measure 7.4 and 8 cubic feet, respectively.
The benefit to the Kenmore Elite’s extra girth is that its roomy dryer drum that offers 9 cubic feet of capacity. It’s enough to accept two large washer loads simultaneously from its companion appliance, the Kenmore Elite 41072 washing machine. Additionally, the Elite 81072 dryer’s big format helps it to process bulky items like comforters, blankets and bath mats with less stress than with compact dryers.
The Kenmore Elite 81072 dryer offers a big 9-cubic-foot capacity.
Chris Monroe/CNET
I found the Elite 81072’s controls a breeze to operate as well. A central knob swivels and clicks softly in increments to select the dryer cycle you desire. 14 options in all, choices range from treating specific garment types such as Bulky/Comforter, Khaki/Jeans or Workout Wear, just to name a few. The appliance comes with steam modes, too, with labels such as Sanitize, Touch Up or Steam Refresh.
All these controls plus the dryer’s other buttons are backlit by blue LED lights or sport indicators of the same hue. A matching blue LED screen lives on the control panel’s right-hand side and displays the remaining cycle time in minutes. While small, the screen is bright and clearly legible from various angles or from across the room.
The controls are intuitive and fun to use.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Honestly, the Kenmore Elite 81072’s interface felt eerily familiar, and as it turns out, there’s a good reason. Like its matching Kenmore Elite 41072 washer, this dryer is really an LG appliance in disguise — specifically, the LG DLEX 8100. The smaller LG DLEX 5000 I reviewed also has a similar control panel.
The Elite 81072 dryer relies on a tiny water reservoir to supply moisture for its steam modes. While the machine will flash a warning light when the tank is running low, it’s a drag to have to fill it by hand. For an appliance this expensive, I expect the convenience of a dedicated water line. And like the lid on the LG DLEX 5000, this dryer’s door feels disconcertingly lightweight. You can’t slam the door shut either — an action I find deeply satisfying — but must gently push it closed. It’s a minor quibble but an annoyance nonetheless.
Nokia Ozo Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Virtual reality isn’t going away. But it’s nothing without content.
That’s where cameras like the Nokia Ozo come into play.
Looking like something that stepped straight out of a sci-fi movie, this is a 360-degree stereoscopic camera ready for the VR revolution. We had hands-on time with the camera over several weeks, learning the ins-and-outs of creating 360-degree video with a professional setup worth US$45,000. (The camera was originally priced at US$60,000 when it was first announced back in December.)
Note that this isn’t a full rated review, but hands-on impressions of using the camera and what it’s like to navigate the Ozo workflow.
CNET
Let’s check the specs
Each of the camera’s eight lenses has a 195-degree field of view with a fixed aperture of f/2.4. Behind every lens is a 2K x 2K sensor. There is significant overlap from one lens to another which gives the user much more control at the stitching stage. The Ozo shoots at 30 frames per second, which is the “live video” standard rather than 24 frames you usually see with film.
The camera uses a global shutter as opposed to a rolling shutter, generally considered more accurate in representing motion. There are eight microphones dotted around the exterior to capture spatial audio synced to the video capture.
The eight eyes of Nokia’s Ozo VR camera (pictures)
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Apart from the camera unit itself, the Ozo needs additional components to complete the package. The first is a digital cartridge that contains both the battery and 500GB of storage. It holds around 45 minutes of footage and the entire cartridge slots neatly into the protrusion at the back of the camera. The second is a docking station that acts as a charging hub for the cartridge and as a transfer device to get footage to a computer.
All these components fit in a hard-shell rolling case that comes with the camera, which you’ll need because the unit weighs 9.3 pounds (4.2kg). The Ozo also has a removable cover that protects the lenses from the elements.
Ozo easy?
But wait, there’s more. On top of the camera and digital cartridge, you also need an SDI and Thunderbolt cable, a computer, plus a BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder to get things going. These components are not included with the Ozo.
The SDI cable sits in the back of the Ozo, feeding into the BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder. This BlackMagic box allows for real-time monitoring through the Ozo Remote app that can only run on a Mac Pro or a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro with discrete GPU. The best part about this configuration is that you can actually live monitor the shot before you hit record.
Once everything is plugged in and ready to go, load up the Ozo Remote app to set the exposure, check framing and start and stop recording. Adjustments can also be made to the shutter speed and color temperature, though the camera’s ISO is set at 400.
Viewing footage from all eight individual cameras.
Screenshot by Jason Pepper/CNET
Using the Ozo Remote software is straightforward. Once you set exposure for lighting conditions, you don’t need to keep the computer tethered. That being said, it would be incredibly useful for Nokia to release a mobile app that could do away with the computer when shooting in the field.
All this equipment and the setup process might seem like a lot of hassle, but other professional-grade 360 cameras on the market like the Freedom 360 spherical camera rig have their own quirks. With six GoPro cameras, that means six microSD cards, six record buttons to press and six resulting video files that need to be stitched together in post-processing. (GoPro’s own 6-camera rig, the GoPro Omni, looked promising in an early demo, but we haven’t yet tried it ourselves.)
Processing and crunching
The Ozo can produce both monoscopic and stereoscopic video, with the user being able to select shooting with either the four cameras around the center ring or all eight simultaneously.
Monoscopic video is created from a 360-degree image where both eyes are seeing the same file. Stereoscopic video is when two separate files are viewed with each eye. This creates the appearance of depth, otherwise known as 3D.
Once you have the video file from the Ozo, it gets imported into the Ozo Creator software. Like Ozo Remote, this requires specific hardware to run. A late-2013 Apple Mac Pro 6-Core CPU, and either Dual AMD D500 or Dual D700 FirePro GPUs running OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
Stitch lines can be manipulated on the fly.
Screenshot by Jason Pepper/CNET
Stitching also happens at this stage. The software creates a default stitch although you can adjust the lines and the overlap as necessary by moving around the seams across the image. When you’re happy with the stitch, you have a number of export options such as creating an MP4 image or a DPX file for a cinema experience.
Once the software crunches the footage into a 360-degree image — this will take several hours or overnight depending on how much you’ve shot — it can be imported into an editing suite like Adobe Premiere. Alternatively, you can complete the cut within Ozo Creator.
For our workflow, we imported the footage from Ozo Creator into Premiere, which allowed us to add titles, and effects and also sync audio taken with an external recorder. The latest update to Premiere lets you view 360-degree footage, although it’s not as fluid as using a third-party plug-in like Kolor Eyes that reflects edits in real time.
Sample footage
We took the Ozo on three very different shoots. The first, which you can see below, involved attaching the camera to the interior of a car for CNET’s sister site Roadshow. The exposure was set for the exterior rather than the interior of the car to avoid blowing out highlights. For this shoot we also mounted the Freedom 360 rig with GoPro cameras to the exterior for an alternate viewpoint.
The second was at the manufacturing plant for Green Toys in San Leandro, California. With overhead fluorescent lighting and little natural light, it was a good test to see how the camera coped with interior shots.
Lastly, you can explore a vista of San Francisco from Crissy Field in the sample below.
Bear in mind that YouTube compresses video so these samples are at a different quality to the file that comes straight out of the camera.
So by now you probably want to know if this camera worth the $45,000 asking price?
As VR continues to evolve, you can use it to do much more than just create 360-degree footage — which is how we primarily used the Ozo. This camera will let the producer, filmmaker or studio grow into it. Even in our time testing the camera, Nokia continued to push out new software and updates to add functionality.
Admittedly, the Ozo is not a camera that’s designed for the hobbyist consumer. It’s for professional video makers and Hollywood studios who want to experiment with an all-in-one VR capture experience.
It’s easy enough to use once you understand the quirks of the workflow, but it’s not as straightforward as plugging it in and going on a shoot.
On the less expensive end of the spectrum sits a multi-cam solution like the aforementioned GoPro Omni. It consists of six GoPro cameras in a rig that automatically syncs recordings. While we haven’t yet fully reviewed the Omni, on paper the editing and post-production process appears to be much simpler than the Ozo, with the software quickly creating a stitch and render within a few minutes for a short 1 minute 4K video.
The Ozo is an incredibly innovative camera system. Given Nokia’s track record of rolling out new functionality and improvements (as well as a significant price drop) it’s definitely going to make waves in the VR production field, but whether it becomes industry standard or not remains to be seen.
The Ozo is available in the US for US$45,000 and Europe for €40,000. It will be released in September in China with equivalent pricing announced soon.
Motorola Moto Z Force vs LG G5 – Modular or Mods?
It just might be the future of smartphones: modularity. Though there are a number of different ways to look at this new technological step, we have here the first two phones to bring the concept to users’ hands. In one case, it is an involved process of removing parts of the phone and rebuilding it into a more capable device.
- LG G5 review
- Moto Z and Z Force review
In the other, it is a matter of simply slapping the new features onto the magnetic back. Which one does mods better? We find out in this comparison between the Moto Z Force and the LG G5.
Design
Before we get started, we want to make it clear how we want to name these features. While modularity is definitely what you can call what the LG G5 does, it is a bit different in the Moto Z. For that reason, we will generally call the act of adding features to a phone ‘modding.’ When speaking specifically, ‘modularity’ will be used primarily when describing the LG G5.
Before we even get into the two different methods of modding, it’s important to remember that we are still dealing with two standalone smartphones, capable of plenty on their own. The LG G5 was a drastic change from previous flagships, putting aside the curved body and display that defined the G4, and instead employing a different design language.
While the power/wake button is still found on the back, it now has a fingerprint embedded into it, and the volume rocker is now in a more conventional spot on the side. The metallic body has a rather rounded shape, but a noticeable sharpness can be felt due to the slightly protruding metal skeleton.
A slight curve can be found at the top of the display, there to provide a little more comfort when actually talking on the phone. And, of course, there is the removable bottom portion that is the crux of the phone’s modularity. Overall it is a rather drastic change that longtime LG fans may have needed to get used to, perhaps alleviated by the new modular features.
The same can be said for the Moto Z Force, the more powerful device in the brand new Moto line. What made the Moto X line well received is here in a few tiny ways, including the wooden cover that slaps onto otherwise shiny and fingerprint prone backing. Taken alone, however, much has changed as this fully metal body almost looks like blank canvas with obvious cues to its capabilities.
The chamfer on the sides makes it clear this is the thicker device with the bigger battery, and all buttons are where they should be. A new fingerprint reader is denoted by the small square under the display, which can be an eyesore and confusing because it is not a button. A large bezel above and below the display adds to the overall size of what is already a 5.5 inch phone, though on the backside of these areas are the magnets and connector pins for Moto Mods. The main issue we had was with the very large camera hump, which protrudes out quite a lot – thankfully, the Moto Covers make it flush.
It’s clear that both phones had to take on pretty drastic changes in design language to make modding a reality – whether or not that is a sacrifice of what made previous phones so recognizable is up to the user.
Display
Power is not lacking in either case, however. Though the displays are slightly different in a few key ways, Quad HD is the resolution across the board. The LG phone is 5.3-inches in size and is an IPS panel, making it less saturated than the 5.5-inch AMOLED display found on the Moto Z.
Color output is a rather subjective matter, but we will say that there have been no problems with either of these phones when enjoying everything from sharp text to gaming. AMOLED is generally a little more pleasing to users’ eyes, so the Moto Z may be the way to go if you want the more punched up colors.
Performance
Underneath the hood, the stories are the same however, with both featuring the Snapdragon 820, the Adreno 530, and 4GB of RAM. There’s no questioning the speed of either device, as these are what flagships are supposed to sport, and it’s more a question of what the software feels like in this case, and a bit of streamlining on LG’s part helps the G5’s case.
Though a pretty stock-like experience in the Moto Z is bolstered by a number of Moto additions like the Moto Actions and Voice, there isn’t too much bogging down the system. On the other hand, the G5 still rocks a very familiar looking LG UI, but has shed a few features so that they’re not all up in one’s face. LG even opted for no app drawer in initial builds of the interface, but that can be rectified with a downloaded UI update.
Hardware
Hardware features keep things pretty simple, minus the mods, of course. The lone 32GB of onboard storage in the Moto Z Force goes up against the 32 or 64GB options for the G5, but no matter which phone you get, there is still microSD card support to bolster it all.
The Moto Z also sheds the microphone jack, opting for an adapter that requires insertion into the USB type C port. In either case, the USB-C ports provide fast charging, though Quick Charge 3.0 for the LG phone seems just a step behind Moto’s own solution. In either case, a short stint connected to the wall can mean all the difference between no power and half battery in about half an hour.
Speaking of the battery, the Moto Z Force has the advantage here, with it packing a larger 3,500 mAh battery, compared to the 2,800 mAh unit of the LG G5. Both will comfortably allow for a full day or day and a half of use with average usage. Of course, if battery life is a huge concern, the battery of the G5 is replaceable, giving you the option of carrying around a spare. And in the case of the Moto Z Force, Motorola’s solution is a 2,200 mAh battery mod that you can easily attach to the device.
Camera
The first thing worth mentioning when talking about the cameras of these two devices is the 8 MP wide angle lens on the back that is coupled with the primary shooter of the LG G5, giving you something extra without needing any mods to be tacked on. Along with this wide angle lens is a 16 MP rear camera, with a f/1.8 aperture and OIS, while the Moto Z Force features a 21 MP rear shooter, also with a f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization.
As we mentioned during the full G5 review, the wide angle lens of the LG G5 is an absolute joy to use. It may not offer the highest quality or the sharpest image, but it’s great to use when you want to do things like take interesting selfies, or footage for vlogging. You get a lot more of the scenery into the shot with the secondary camera of the G5, and is certainly better suited to taking a picture of a landscape.
The more conventional camera setup found with the Moto Z Force are pretty standard. It doesn’t particularly excel in any single aspect, but the camera certainly isn’t bad by any means, and works well as a daily companion. When comparing the two, we did notice that the shots taken with the Moto Z Force feature a warmer tone than those taken with the G5.
Looking at the respective camera applications, there are quite a few features LG has packed into the app of the LG G5, including a variety of modes, and also returning is a robust manual mode that we have praised in the past. The Moto Z Force comes with a good manual mode as well, but in both cases, the viewfinder can get cluttered and messy pretty quickly if you are looking to make adjustments to a lot of aspects.
LG G5 camera samples
One very nice feature of the Moto Z Force camera is that it can be launched really quickly by using a gesture that involves a double twist of your wrist.
Moto Z Force camera samples
Up front, the LG G5 comes with an 8 MP front-facing camera, while the Moto Z Force features a 5 MP unit. However, users may prefer the latter, with the Moto smartphone coming with a front-facing flash. It’s certainly a rarity to see this feature with smartphones, and the Moto Z is one of the few that is available with it.
Software
The standalone experiences end on the software, in which the LG phone got a welcome streamlining. The LG UI still retains the rather bloated and somewhat cartoonish look – with icons stretching when reaching the homescreen threshold – and the initial lack of an app drawer that expected users to put up with all these icons crowding the homescreens.
Thankfully users were given the option to put the app drawer back on, and in the same vein, much of what used to be way too in people’s faces has been toned down. QSlide doesn’t take up so much space in the notification shade, and there are far fewer prompts for features that people simply weren’t using in previous LG devices. The bottom line here is that if you were not a fan of LG’s UI in the past, there might not be enough change here to make you feel differently. That said, we notice and appreciate what was slimmed down, minus the app drawer (which, again, isn’t much of a problem anymore).
It might come as no surprise that the Moto Z software is an easier pill to swallow. Historically, the Moto line has used interfaces that are very close to stock Android, with quite a few extras that are mostly out of the way. That is definitely the case with the Moto Z, which might have a few miscues, but overall provides a familiar but powerful suite of features.
Putting aside the fact that the fingerprint reader looks like a home button, holding it down to lock the screen is a very nice touch. Moto Actions still bring useful gestures like chopping twice to turn on the flashlight and the double twist to open up the camera. Finally, sing a custom phrase to wake the phone straight into a Google Voice Search never gets old. Here at Android Authority we tend to gravitate toward feature sets that have more we would use rather than options we would never touch. In this case, the Moto Z line succeeds where the LG G5 falls just short of the mark.
Modularity vs Mods
Coincidentally, this is the same story when it comes to the mods. In a nutshell, the Moto Z line is simply a more accessible and easier way of doing mods than LG’s brand of modularity. If you want another one liner to describe this battle, you need look no further than how many mods we have for either phone.
Modularity on the LG G5 is a process. Basically, one has to press a small release button on the bottom left side of the phone so that the bottom portion can be pulled and slid out. Bear in mind that the phone should be turned off before doing this, much like clicking “Safely Remove Hardware” before pulling out a USB device in Windows. The battery that is quite literally clipped into the bottom piece then has to be snapped off in what can only be described as a precarious manner, so that it can be snapped into any of the LG Friends (the name they gave the mods).Then the phone needs to be powered on again.
These mods are a CAM Plus camera module that gives the phone more battery, and hardware buttons to use for picture and video taking, and a Hi-Fi audio DAC by Bang & Olfsen, that can enhance headphone listening experiences. The usefulness of either Friend can depend on the user, but in our experiences with the CAM Plus, we found that although the hardware buttons and grip made picture taking pretty comfy, the added bulk and odd shape quickly took away from its practicality.
Ultimately, the biggest issue with LG’s modularity is the process, but there is also the problem of Friend availability. Even though the G5 has been around for months, there are only two currently on sale with no news of any other ones even in development. The usefulness of LG’s modding way requires proofs of concept, and that simply is not the case for a phone that will become old news by the time the LG V20 arrives soon in less than month, or when the next G device comes around the time of the Mobile World Congress next year.
Proof of concept is probably the best way to describe how Moto presented modding. While it is not full modularity by nature, it is still a way to add features not already available on the standalone device. The procedure to add these Moto Mods is simple – almost too simple – and just requires a lining up of the connector pins and magnets. Easily snap the phone and the mod together and it works immediately.
The Moto Mods include the Moto Covers for further customization, Incipio battery pack mods for much more available power, the JBL SoundBoost speaker for better onboard audio, and a Moto projector mod that is surprisingly powerful and fun but ultimately impractical. A closer look at the different mods is available here on Android Authority, but here is the gist – the most useful of them is definitely the Incipio Power Pack, which adds much more available battery life to the normal capacity Moto Z and the large unit in the Moto Z Force.
Moto’s way of modding is the clear winner when it comes to convenience, because simply attaching the mod makes it work immediately, provided each unit is charged – yes, each Mod has its own batteries so they don’t just feed off of the phone’s own battery to work. There are three main types of Mods with the promise of more to come, but at the very least there are different colored and styled Covers and Power Pack Mods so the look of the Moto Z can be changed in multiple ways. Though all of the mods add a significant amount of heft to the phone, only the Power Pack Mod has to be handled on the phone – even then, it isn’t weirdly shaped so as to make it a pain to use.
See also: Moto Mods Review: Blast, Power and Project in a snap8
Though LG was the first one to bring modularity to the mainstream, it just wasn’t accessible enough for the masses. Moto’s version of modding is the clear winner, not just because it is a simple plug and play method, but also because every Mod has proven their usefulness, even if overall practicality is up to the end user.
As far as cost goes, the Moto Mods can range in price, with the Power Pack costing $60 and the Projector costing a whopping $299. In the other camp, the CAM Plus for the LG G5 can be bought for $70. So adding features via mods to these phones can cost a pretty penny, but when judging them by cost and value, the Power Pack Mod is rather nicely priced for its utility – the rest of the Mods and Friends, maybe not so much.
Specs comparison
| Display | 5.5-inch AMOLED display Quad HD resolution, 535 ppi |
5.3-inch IPS LCD display Quad HD resolution, 554 ppi |
| Processor | 2.15 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor Adreno 530 GPU |
2.15 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor Adreno 530 GPU |
| RAM | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Storage | 32/64 GB expandable via microSD up to 256 GB |
32 GB expandable via microSD up to 256 GB |
| Camera | 21 MP rear camera, f/1.8 aperture, dual LED flash 5 MP front-facing camera |
16 MP (f/1.8) + 8 MP (f/2.4) rear cameras, LED flash 8 MP front-facing camera |
| Battery | 3,500 mAh | 2,800 mAh |
| Software | Android 6.0 Marshmallow | Android 6.0 Marshmallow |
| Dimensions | 155.9 x 75.8 x 7 mm 163 grams |
149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7 mm 159 grams |
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Final thoughts
Taken alone, there is a lot to like about either of these devices. The Moto Z line has a new design language that may be different but it retains much of the DNA that made the Moto X line so well liked. It’s nice to have a powerful phone with the option to use the Mods and yet never truly need to.
On the other hand, quite literally, the LG G5 has some trouble convincing us to use its modularity. And not just us, either – I personally have come across a few people recently who were using the G5 without mods. Upon asking, these people said that they didn’t ever get a Friend or use the ones that may have come with their phones. What they did enjoy was the camera package, where the wide angle shooter totally added to their picture and video taking experiences. We tend to feel the same way, as the wide angle camera is the most fun we’ve had shooting with a smartphone in a while.
Is that enough to put the overall package of the LG G5 over the overall package of the Moto Z? Probably not, as nearly every other aspect favors the Moto Z – software, modding, and even customization.
- LG G5 review
- Moto Z and Z Force review
And so, there you have it – the Moto Z and the LG G5. The two main modularity or modding smartphones available right now. As we said in our full LG G5 review, we applaud LG for taking a chance and a crack at modularity, but Moto simply put a little more thought into its execution and accessibility. Taken alone as phones, there’s plenty to enjoy from either company’s brand of Android, and it is ultimately up to you to decide which one better suits your needs. Which one would you pick? Let us know in the comments below!
HP Omen X Desktop Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
HP is taking its Omen gaming brand very seriously, breaking out new, higher-end products as the Omen X. The flagship is the new Omen X Desktop, which is built into a giant black metal cube, complete with multicolored lights.
The cube sits perched on one edge, held in place by a small stand. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it just looks cool; second, it exposes more of the surface area of the case, allowing for better airflow and increasing the thermal efficiency of the system.
Sarah Tew/CNET
And with the ability to pack in nearly any high-end PC gaming component, cooling is something to take seriously. Despite the unusual design of the chassis, this is essentially a modular desktop, starting with a standard micro-ATX motherboard and supporting current-gen processors and either one or two desktop graphics cards.
Both Nvidia and AMD options will be offered, including the new Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 cards. Liquid cooling is also an option, and probably a good idea if you’re running dual GPUs. Naturally, most of the hardware configuration options will be VR-ready.
The Omen X Desktop should be available to order very shortly through HP’s website, and prebuilt configurations start at $1,799 in the US (no international price or release details are available yet).
HP’s new gaming cube, the Omen X Desktop
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But besides just ordering a finished configuration from HP, there are a couple of other options. If you’re a DIY type, HP will sell you just the empty case for $599 — no motherboard, no power supply, no components. Or, if you want a very extreme configuration, HP will send you to Maingear, a well-known boutique PC builder, and that company will start with HP’s empty chassis and build in whatever sky-high configuration you want, including rigid tube liquid cooling systems and custom automotive paint jobs.
2017 Jaguar F-Type review – Roadshow
Aug 2016
The Good The 2017 Jaguar F-Type Coupe’s beautiful exterior design covers a stiff, dedicated sports car with exceptional handling, enhanced by all-wheel-drive. Its supercharged 5-liter V-8 engine creates 550 horsepower and makes a ferocious growl.
The Bad The infotainment head unit relies on the driver’s phone for connected features and does not support Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Manual shifting with the eight-speed automatic transmission shows a little lag.
The Bottom Line With only two seats, the 2017 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe is a dedicated sports car, showing off remarkable exterior design coupled to impressive handling and power.
Few cars make you smile every time you see them. Today’s homogenous design makes it difficult to distinguish one car from another in mall parking lots, but the Jaguar F-Type is another story. It captures attention with its graceful, compact design.
Its nose may be shorter than an E-Type’s, but it works in proportion to the cab and the aggressive rear fenders. Nose and engine in front and cab at the rear makes for a classic sports car look with historic precedent.
The F-Type’s design makes it an exceptional car.
More exceptional are the performance dynamics of the 2017 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe I’m driving. Simply firing up the engine lets it sound off with an exhilarating growl. Set to Dynamic mode, this all-wheel-drive racer gives immediate power on throttle and scrambles through each turn like the big cat on its badge.
The Jaguar F-Type shows off exceptional sports car styling with its long nose and aggressive rear fenders.
Wayne Cunningham/Roadshow
Jaguar first launched the F-Type as a convertible in 2013, then followed up with the Coupe version. The sports car showed off a newly unleashed Jaguar design department following the company’s acquisition by India’s Tata Motors. Its base model comes with a 340-horsepower supercharged V-6 engine, but in R trim, its supercharged 5-liter V-8 makes 550 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque.
And it is quick: 3.9 seconds to 60 mph quick.
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The F-Type R Coupe is also a dedicated sports car, in that you won’t find any child-sized rear seats behind the front sport buckets. The rear track is almost 2 inches wider than the front, and an all-wheel-drive system, with a 63-to-37 rear to front torque split, comes standard.
The F-Type R Coupe is also a dedicated sports car, in that you won’t find any child-sized rear seats behind the front sport buckets.
Cruising down city streets, the powerful V-8 reacts well to the excessive stops and starts of low-speed traffic, with the eight-speed automatic transmission gearing towards smooth launches and economy. An idle-stop feature even steps in at stop lights to reduce fuel wastage, bringing the engine back online quick enough to avoid annoyance.
The smartly decked-out cabin helps mitigate a ride that, even with the F-Type R Coupe in comfort mode, proves a little too stiff for rough road surfaces. Low-profile tires do nothing to prevent curbing the 20-inch wheels.
Sitting in traffic, I get the occasional thumbs-up from other drivers, which I answer with a sport exhaust-enabled engine roar.
The Jaguar F-type’s all-wheel-drive system splits torque 63-to-37 rear to front.
Wayne Cunningham/Roadshow
Cruise control doesn’t include an adaptive function, so I’m on my own for braking, but a blind spot monitor system is a welcome addition, given the low roof. The dashboard holds an 8-inch touchscreen, not surprisingly standard in the upscale F-Type, but its navigation and entertainment software looks familiar from Jaguars of recent years. That means it’s a reasonably useful system, covering the basics, but it lacks a dedicated data connection for online services. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are also missing.
Madden NFL 17 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
EA
There are only two options for NFL fans each year who want to play along with the season: get the new Madden NFL 17, or stick with last year’s and download community roster updates.
Other options, like fantasy football or mobile games, aren’t for me. Good, old-fashioned NFL video gaming has been my therapy for decades.
(Full disclosure: as those who follow me on Twitter — @jetscott — know all too well, I’m a rabid, albeit frequently frustrated, New York Jet fan.)
The football season’s weird that way: a game, then a week to obsess over the next one. Plenty of time to read every article, study every stat, and run simulations. Madden may function as a competitive sport for some, but for me it’s basically a Jets pregame statistical engine, and a post-game way to vent out and win in an alternate universe.
You probably know the drill about EA’s Madden games. From year to year, it’s hard to notice what’s really changed. Madden 17 — which I’ve played for the past five days or so — feels similar in a lot of ways to Madden 16. But its most notable addition might help me analyze the present and future of my childhood-adopted team a lot more efficiently.
Madden’s new Franchise mode is one of the main additions to this year’s game. I played as — of course — the Jets. I remember playing as the Jets for 12 straight seasons years ago, every single game…which took me a long time. Franchise mode simulation now has a hybrid simulation/game mode that simulates most plays and then zaps you in to play the biggest moments, like NFL Red Zone. I played through four games this way, and lost every single one — mainly because the Jets simply aren’t rated very highly in my prerelease build, and their early opponents are all better. So, in simulated plays, I didn’t have a chance. But it was fun to fast-forward a bit and still feel like I had a hand in the outcome.
The rest of Madden’s main improvements come in actual gameplay. Madden promises a greater range of player-specific skills, and defenses with a smarter way of playing zones. The ball is also meant to have more realistic physics. So far, I’ve seen plays break in different ways than I’ve been used to in Madden 16.
What trying to block a kick looks like.
EA
EA is also trying to spice up the special teams game a bit with a new punt/kick control meter…which, to me, felt like older meters I’ve seen. But there’s also a way to try to block kicks now, which offers a tiny bit of hope that it’ll actually happen. I succeeded in practice, but never in any of the 12 or so games I played (again, as the New York Jets).
Fake punts and kicks, however, I had a lot more success with. There are more plays, and the execution of these moves feels more polished.
Madden has looked TV-perfect for several years now, with a presentation that from a distance can look like a real broadcast. This year’s tweaks also include a whole new broadcast booth. I still remember Phil Simms and Jim Nantz going back and forth with phrases I started to memorize. The new crew of Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis reminds me more of top-notch radio commentary…not a surprise, since Gaudin is an announcer for Westwood One. It sounds like audio commentators doing Madden…I hate to say it feels pretty similar, too, but there you have it. I’m sure I’ll memorize everything they say in a hundred or so games, too.
I notice that Madden now seems to be a better educator of formations and NFL strategy. Called “concepts” in this year’s version, I was advised and encouraged to practice for certain play types between games in the Franchise season, and it made me more aware of what was going on. I liked the Skills training mode that I played last year, which worked as a smart type of education-meets-practice mode. Madden 17 seems like it’s better able to help advise. In-game, there are suggestions for running zones to hit, or play adjustments to make. I didn’t always do such a good job understanding what was suggested. After years of being an NFL fan, the game still confuses me.
The real test for any football video game is how well it can ride alongside the actual season with updated rosters and enough season-relevant stuff to feel like a companion. I can’t tell that part yet, but I hope Madden 17 ends up surprising. I prefer this version to last year’s. I’d still buy it even if I didn’t, though, because I consider it a yearly subscription to my NFL therapy.
I’ve tried replaying the Jets’ first few games this season, and I keep losing every time.
Robomow RS612 review – CNET
The Good The $1,600 Robomow RS612 is a robot lawnmower that can automatically cut your yard without much interference.
The Bad It’s expensive and still requires some work on your part. You can’t use a Robomow if your yard has deep inclines or is larger than three quarters of an acre.
The Bottom Line If lawn care is the bane of your existence and you just don’t want to hire a gardener, the Robomow is a fun, efficient way to cut back on your summer yard work.
Mowing the lawn is a necessary evil if you own a home with a yard. It takes a lot of time and energy to keep your yard from being an embarrassment to your neighborhood. And when temperatures reach the triple digits and the humidity is so thick it feels like you’re swimming through the air, cutting the grass is high on the list of worst yard chores.
A company called Robomow aims to alleviate some of the pain of lawn care with a line of battery-powered, robot lawnmowers that do most of the work for you. One of these mowers, the $1,600 Robomow RS612, delivers on much of its promise to take care of your yard without much interference on your part. (Robomow doesn’t offer the RS612 in Australia or the UK, but that price works out to AU$2,079 and £1,226.) The Robomow excels in automatic mode, in which it ventures out on its own and keeps your grass cut to a uniform length. And its Bluetooth-connected app provides an easy way to adjust the Robomow’s settings and remote control the mower if there are some additional spots on your property that could use a trim.
Relax while the Robomow cuts your yard
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Despite its high level of autonomy, you still have to lend the Robomow a hand every once in awhile. You have to spend an afternoon setting up a perimeter wire that outlines the boundaries of your yard, similar to an electric dog fence, so the Robomow knows where it needs to go. You also have to occasionally clean out the undercarriage and wheels. And the Robomow isn’t great for every yard; it struggles with terrain that is overgrown or hilly.
Outsourcing lawn care
- A robot lawnmower or a gardener: Which is the better deal?
The Robomow does a good job keeping an average yard looking pretty pristine, and it slashes the amount of time you’ll need to spend on manual lawn care. At $1,600, this is going to cost you a lot more than hiring a professional to tend to your yard. But if you want to cut out the middle man and lounge a bit more during the summer, start saving your money.
Getting to know the Robomow
Technical editor Steve Conaway installs the perimeter wire around my front yard.
Chris Monroe/CNET
Robot lawnmowers are a relatively new and expensive category of smart lawn care that are the outdoor cousin of robot vacuums. Robomow, an Israel-based company founded in 1995, has five battery-powered robot lawnmowers starting at $1,000 that are designed to tackle different-sized lawns. The RS612 model is intended for yards that are a quarter of an acre or less. The most expensive model, the $2,100 RS630, handles the largest area — three-quarters of an acre.
Sound expensive? Robomow’s products are the more affordable options when you compare them to other robot lawnmowers. Models from Husqvarna’s Automower line cost $2,000 to $3,500 (about £1,533 AU$ 2,600 to £2,685/AU$4,550 ) depending on the size of the yards they are designed to cut. The LawnBott LB85EL, which covers half an acre of yard and is also app connected, costs $2,800 (£2,150/AU$3,640 ), and the LawnBott LB300EL from the same manufacturer covers one and a half acres and costs about $5,200 (£4,000/AU$6,750).
Setup is the most time-consuming part of having a Robomow. First, you have to give your yard one last cut with a traditional mower. You select a spot near the edge of your yard for the base station where the Robomow will charge between uses. It’s a little unsettling to leave such an expensive piece of equipment out on the edge of your lawn. To protect help protect against theft, the Robomow will begin to beep loudly if you try to remove it from the base station without entering a four-digit PIN. However, an annoying alarm that you can turn off by flipping the power switch under the Robomow’s hood doesn’t feel like the best protection against sticky, grass-covered fingers.
How we tested the Robomow
- Weather thwarts inaugural mow
- Robot lawnmower becomes conversation starter when it runs
- Taking a seat to see what the mower can do
- App turns lawn care into a video game
From the base station, you lay bright green wire around the perimeter of your yard and secure it to the ground with small plastic pegs that come with the Robomow. The company includes a helpful measuring stick to use for installation that shows the proper distance the Robomow should be from barriers like sidewalks and buildings. Grass eventually grows over the perimeter wire, and you won’t be able to see it after about a week.
Once you’ve finished installing the perimeter wire, you connect the base station to a power box that you plug in and mount onto a wall of your home. The power box includes indicators that show when the Robomow is mowing or docked at the base station.
The Robomow takes 24 hours to charge before it’s ready to mow. The default setting is automatic operation, which means it will leave the base station and begin cutting on its own. You can change how often you want the Robomow to cut your yard and select days and hours that you don’t want it to run on mower’s operation panel. You have to lift up the Robomow’s hood and use a manual dial to adjust the length to which you want the Robomow to cut your grass.
AIVAnet 