Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review – CNET
The Good The Galaxy Note 7 is a beautiful, capable Android phone that showcases Samsung’s best in design, battery life, speed and features. The 64GB base model leaves you plenty of space for photos, videos and games, and it’s a real improvement over 2015’s Note 5.
The Bad It’s pricier than almost every other Android phone, and a little heavy. After seven iterations, there are still minor problems writing with the S Pen stylus. Fine particles, like beach sand, can wedge the stylus in its holder.
The Bottom Line The Galaxy Note 7 is the best no-compromise, big-screen phone you can buy if price is no object. All but the most devoted stylus lovers, however, will do just as well with the cheaper S7 models.
The 5.7-inch, stylus-slinging Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a damn fine phone. Its sexy wraparound glass, precise S Pen and brilliant screen would impress anyone, but it’s ideal for artists, architects and people who would rather write with their own hand than type on a screen.
It has a gorgeous, symmetrical design that looks particularly stunning in Coral Blue. It takes great photos and has both the water resistance and expandable memory slot that last year’s Galaxy Note 5 lacked (oh yeah, there is no Note 6). Battery life goes on and on — but not as long as the Galaxy S7 Edge — and you can charge up wirelessly.
This is Samsung’s ultimate phone, with all the Edge’s curved-screen goodies and more: 64GB of storage instead of the Edge’s 32GB. An iris scanner for unlocking the phone with your eyes. A good, refreshed take on Android. A USB-C charger port that also charges up your other devices (you should buy a USB 3.1 cable for faster data speeds). New pen tricks to magnify, translate languages and make an animated GIF. A nighttime filter you can schedule to automatically give your weary, screen-staring eyes a break.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 looks awesome in…
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The question you have to ask yourself is how much all this is worth to you. Because the Note 7 is one of the most expensive phones you can buy. It’s comparable to Apple’s large-screen iPhone 6S Plus (the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are right around the corner), but costs more than the already pricey Edge, and twice the OnePlus 3, a CNET Editor’s Choice winner for its excellence as an all-round midprice phone. In the US, promotions that bundle a free memory card or Samsung wearable help soothe the sting.
The Note 7 will let you leave the laptop at your desk more often.
Josh Miller/CNET
As much as I loved my time with the compelling, beautiful, functional Note 7 — and I really did — I hesitate to recommend it to anyone who isn’t serious about using that digital S Pen to draw, write and navigate on the phone. The S Pen has some minor issues, too. It isn’t perfect at everything. Sometimes wielding the stylus feels natural; other times tapping and typing make more sense. (Though it does make really great annotated photos, Snapchat snaps and social media GIFs.)
At the end of the day, most people can easily live without the Note 7, especially with the capable S7 Edge a near doppelganger. If you’re ready to move on from the Note 4, switching to the Note 7 gets you more storage and power, an upgradable Android version and a far better S Pen. If you’re happy with the Note 5, wait a year. If not, you get waterproofing, expandable storage and software shortcuts on those curved edges. With its elevated features and fee, the Note 7 is for rarified buyers who delight in details. Buy it and you get an excellent phone — but if you aren’t going to use that pen, forget it.
- Here’s how the Note 7 compares to the S7 Edge, Motorola Moto Z, iPhone 6S and OnePlus 3
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 pricing and availability
| August 19 | $834-$880 (varies by carrier) | Blue, black and silver |
| September 2 | £580-£630* | Blue, black and silver |
| August 19 | AU$1,349 | Black, silver and gold |
* = based on conversion
Using the new S Pen stylus: Smooth, precise, tricked-out
Without the S Pen, the Note 7 is just a refined S7 Edge with steeper curved sides. This year’s digital stylus has a fine, precise point and senses 4,096 levels of pressure, double last year’s model. I wrote countless notes and a haiku, doodled all over, even handed the phone to CNET’s art director for his professional assessment. And? It’s very good. But, compared to a 10-inch tablet, the screen is a small for creating fine art, though it handles notes and more casual drawings very well.
You can sketch some really cool things with the Note 7. CNET’s art director, Marc Mendell, put my doodles to shame.
Josh Miller/CNET
A few things bothered me with execution. Including the Note Edge, this is the seventh Note phone ever made, so all S Pen maneuvers should be flawless by now. But I still found it hard to paint an entire canvas without on-screen buttons getting in the way (they’ll move if you get it right). It’s easy to accidentally exit or press unintended controls that mysteriously shift the layout into something you don’t want. That’s frustrating, especially when you can’t get figure out how to resume the original canvas.
Here’s what’s good about the new S Pen:
- Navigating with the pen keeps the screen cleaner and reduces repetitive-stress finger strain.
- There’s now just one Notes app for all your writing, not five separate apps.
- You can jot a note from the lock screen, and pin it there.
- The stylus won’t get stuck in its holder if you put it in upside down (it might actually spring across the room).
- The S Pen worked after we dunked the entire phone in 2.5 feet of water for 28 minutes (it’s rated for 30 minutes in about 5 feet of water).
Here’s what’s not so good:
Using the S Pen helps keep gross, oily prints off the screen.
Sarah Tew/CNET
- You can type faster with your fingers than you can handwrite, keyboard-trace or touch-type with the S Pen. Handwriting mode, where you write with the pen in a specific text field, created many errors, especially if you write quickly.
- You can only see the note you pin to the lock screen when you tap an icon…with your finger. It won’t respond to the S Pen. (Oh, the irony.) It’d be better to see the note ghosted onto the Always On display.
- A few times I worried I’d lose the stylus. Magnetic sides would make it a more loyal sidekick when the S Pen is outside its holder.
- At the beach, grains of sand wedged in between the pen and its holder, and wouldn’t dislodge with fingernails, a slim knife blade or a flat set of Swiss Army Knife tweezers. It’s forever stuck. An outlier case, but it could happen to you, too.
Streamlined Android software, new iris scanner and waterproofing
The Note 7 runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but will upgrade to Android Nougat down the line. Samsung’s refreshed custom layer is a more colorful, trimmed down take on its TouchWiz software interface, and feels cleaner and easier to read. If you don’t like digging around, simply search the app tray and settings menu for what you need.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review: Sleeker, simpler, better than ever
Samsung has come a long way. When the very first Galaxy Note launched in 2011, it felt like a quirky anachronism — wasn’t the age of the stylus over? The answer, as evidenced by the Note line’s continued existence, is a resounding “no.” In fact, somewhere along the way, the Note transformed from a curiosity into a premium device that can (and does) outshine the Galaxy S line on which it was based. This year’s attempt — the $850+ Galaxy Note 7 — builds off what Samsung learned making the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, and you know what? The company wound up making its best phone yet in the process.
Hardware
Every year, Samsung tweaks its design language for its new Galaxy S phones and applies it to whatever Note device it releases later that year. It’s no surprise, then, that the Note 7 has more in common with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge than last year’s Note 5. Since these smartphones share so much, it’s no surprise that the subtle differences are what make the Note 7 shine.
Consider its curves, for instance. Samsung built the Note 7 with a symmetrically curved front and back; that is, the metal-and-glass body is curved the same way on both sides. As a result, there’s more of an edge for your thumb to rest on so your hand is less likely to accidentally tap something on-screen. I couldn’t count the number of times that happened to me with the S7 Edge, and it eventually got so annoying that I gave up on the phone entirely. Here’s hoping Samsung applies this knowledge to next year’s Edge. The added benefit is that these curves make the Note 7 really, really nice to hold. This symmetry of design, coupled with the phone’s light weight and lack of bezels around its 5.7-inch screen mean this is easily the nicest Galaxy Note to actually carry around and use. It’s a big phone that doesn’t feel like one.
Samsung also opted for a USB Type-C port for power and data transfer instead of the micro-USB seen on the S7. It was only a matter of time before Samsung made the switch, but I’m just a little surprised the company didn’t wait until next year. And then there’s the storage situation: The Note 7 ships with 64GB of storage, up from 32GB on both US versions of the Galaxy S7. It’s a welcome move, but maybe not a surprising one since the Note series phones were always billed as more premium devices.
The Note 7’s partner, the S Pen, has also benefitted from some thoughtful little changes. It now has a smaller, 0.7mm nib — the same size as a typical ballpoint pen — for more natural writing. You can’t stick the S Pen into its slot backward either, because Samsung really didn’t need another year’s worth of embarrassment. On the flip side, though, this year’s S Pen is slightly slimmer than the last one, which makes it just a little less comfortable to grip. Samsung couldn’t please everyone.
Some changes, however, are hardly what you’d call subtle. There’s an iris scanner above the screen for hands-free unlocking, and it works better in some situations than others. If you don’t need corrective lenses, well, congratulations: Assuming you line your eyes up properly, the Note 7 will unlock itself in less than a second. Folks who wear contacts (like I do sometimes) fall into this category too. If you wear glasses, though, expect the phone to take much longer… if it works at all.
Now, about those similarities. There are, uh, a lot of them. Most notable is the silicon, running the show, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. All three phones also share the same 12-megapixel, DualPixel camera setups — that’s just as well since that particular sensor is arguably at the front of the Android smartphone camera pack. (The 5-megapixel front-facing camera is the same too, but that’s way less interesting.)
Now, about those similarities. There are, uh, a lot of them. Most notable is the silicon, running the show, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, 4GB of RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. All three phones also share the same 12-megapixel, DualPixel camera setups — that’s just as well since that particular sensor is arguably at the front of the Android smartphone camera pack. (The 5-megapixel front-facing camera is the same too, but that’s way less interesting.)
There’s also a spot for a microSD card in the SIM tray, just like with the S7 line, and the phone is also IP68-rated waterproof, a first for the Note line. Meanwhile, I wish Samsung could have transplanted the 3,600mAh battery from the S7 Edge into the Note 7, but it seems Samsung could only fit a 3,500mAh cell into the Note 7’s curved body. Thankfully, the difference in longevity is minimal (as you’ll see later on).
Display and sound
As mentioned, the Note 7 sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display running at 2,560 x 1,440 (or Quad HD, or 2K, or whatever you want to call it). And wouldn’t you know it, this screen is just fantastic, replete with great viewing angles and the vivid, sumptuous colors that Samsung’s AMOLED panels are known for. (If the default color temperature is a little lurid, you can always change display modes in the settings menu.)
The screen’s bigger size means its pixel density (518 pixels per inch) is lower than that of the S7 and S7’s displays, but really, the difference is nigh-impossible to pick out; text and photos are rendered with excellent crispness. It’s a summertime champ too: With the brightness cranked to max, I had no trouble sifting through tweets and agonizing over potential Instagram filters under the sweltering August sun. If all of this sounds familiar, well, sorry. Samsung’s screens are typically first-rate, but the Note 7’s is especially pleasant (particularly since the weird, pulsating effect I noticed on last year’s Note 5 is nowhere in sight).
As you might expect, the Note 7 inherited the S7’s always-on display mode, and it’s as handy as eve. Samsung updated it with new designs, though: There are three more designs for the persistent clock and one new image (of constellations) that should wind up on the company’s earlier flagships before long. And while we’re on the subject of minor additions, there’s also a blue light filter mode that’s meant to reduce eye-strain and preserve the sanctity of your sleep cycle. These display modes are popping up all over the place, and whether they actually help is up for debate, but it’s a welcome touch as I write this review in the middle of the night.
As usual, though, the quality of the Note’s speaker setup lags behind that of the display. There’s a single grille etched into the phone’s bottom between the Type-C port and the S Pen’s hiding place, and it’s capable of churning out loud (if somewhat lifeless) audio. Things get better when you plug in a pair of headphones, at least: Samsung’s high-quality audio upscaler adds just a little more oomph to your tracks, with options for simulated surround sound, tube amp effects and concert hall reverb. I didn’t really love these effects when they first showed up on the S7s, but they grew on me — spacey, vocal-centric songs can benefit a lot from that faux surround sound, for example. Still, if you hated these effects the first time around, don’t expect to change your mind.
Software
Like all the other flagships that launched this year, the Note 7 ships with Android 6.0.1 onboard — that means you’ve got those new permissions controls, Now on Tap’s handy info cards and all the other core Marshmallow features we’ve been enjoying for nearly a year now. More interesting is how Samsung’s approach to TouchWiz continues to evolve: What used to be a bloated, obnoxious punchline of an interface gradually became bearable, and then eventually pretty nice. Lots of us (including yours truly) will always prefer stock Android, but Samsung has spent the past few years cleaning up its act and that’s worthy of some praise.
At first glance, not much has changed since the days of the S7/Edge — Flipboard’s Briefing lives to the left of your homescreens, and Samsung’s Edge UX is back. Quick recap if you haven’t used an S7 Edge: Swiping the tab on the right side (by default) of the screen brings up panes with shortcuts to your chosen apps, contacts and “tasks” like composing messages and taking selfies. You can flesh out your list with third-party “edges” for Yahoo Sports and Finance, but we still can’t craft macro-like tasks the way we could on a full-blown computer. Once it’s set up, the Samsung Pay tab lives at the bottom of the screen too — a flick upward loads your payment method and preps it for either an NFC or a magnetic “swipe” transaction.
The differences will become more apparent as you start digging a little deeper, and you’ll wonder why some of these changes haven’t been in TouchWiz from the start. Pulling down the notification shade, for instance, reveals a search bar, brightness slider and a distinct lack of circular icons — Samsung ditched them for a cleaner grid of quick settings icons. The app launcher has a search bar sitting up top too, making it easier for find the app you’re looking for. That sure beats the clumsy search button on the S7 and S7 Edge. This streamlined approach carries over into the Note 7’s settings page, where Samsung excised the circular icons and trademark teal in favor of a much simpler list of options. (Don’t worry, the interface is still punctuated with blue here and there, in case you’re not great with change.) And if you hate those rounded white frames encasing your app icons, you can turn them off. One word: hallelujah.
Naturally, there’s more going here beyond the Note 7’s clean new look. Let’s say you’re trying to keep your Tinder habits on the down low — you have the option to download the app directly into Samsung’s new secure folder, keeping it perpetually hidden from prying eyes. But what if it’s already installed? Easy. You can add the app to the secure folder and then uninstall the original instance, leaving an independent, fully functional copy hidden from the rest of the world. You can lock down this digital storehouse with a PIN, password, a fingerprint or an iris scan, but the latter two require you to set up a password just in case your biometric signature doesn’t pass muster. What you use the secure folder for is your business, but regardless, Samsung’s implementation is both clever and useful.
Samsung’s browser is also more useful thanks to its support for extensions, including a QR code reader and an “Amazon assistant” that’s meant to “get instant product matches while you shop across the web.” I’d love to tell you more about how Amazon is removing barriers between you and your darkest buying impulses, but this extension wasn’t live as of this writing. Then there are the updated power saving modes. In addition to dialing down the screen’s brightness and throttling performance, they’ll also reduce the Note 7’s screen resolution (down to as low as 720p) to conserve even more juice. Huawei adopted this trick first, but it’s remarkably handy for keeping your Note 7 alive when its battery level gets grim.
Thankfully, there aren’t a ton of pointlessly pre-loaded apps. We have the usual slew of Google apps, plus Samsung’s email client, browser, file manager and S Health app, along with all the Note-specific stuff, which I’ll get to in a second. My review unit is a T-Mobile model, and Legere’s crew thankfully didn’t go too crazy with the bloatware. All told, this version of the Note 7 comes with eight carrier apps pre-installed, ranging from the pretty useful (SlingTV was handy for following the Olympics on the move) to the irritating (I can manage my security fine, Lookout, but thanks).
Another year, another S Pen
Weird as it sounds, the Note 7 is so well put together and pleasant to use that it’s sometimes easy to forget there’s a stylus hidden inside. This year’s S Pen doesn’t look dramatically different from the Note 5’s but the changes are there if you look closely enough. As mentioned earlier, the nib is smaller for more fluid writing and sketching, and the S Pen’s body is ever so slightly narrower and lighter. You wouldn’t think a change this minute would be apparent, but it sort of is — despite near-identical dimensions, this S Pen feels a little flimsier than the one we got last year. Funny how big a difference this stuff makes.
Still, the Note 7’s S Pen still has few clear advantages. For one, it’s water resistant just like the phone itself. Since the entire package is IP68-rated, you can actually write things on the Note 7’s screen while underwater, though I’m not sure when anyone would ever actually need to. (Getting phone numbers at the beach? Who knows.) Speaking of the screen, the Note 7’s can now recognize up to 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, or double what the Note 5 was capable of. It’s one of those differences that’s only really noticeable when you have the two devices side by side: light strokes that didn’t register on the Note 5’s display showed up just fine on the Note 7, making it a better choice for artsy types who value precision. If all you’re going to do is dash off notes and reminders, though, you probably won’t notice the change much.
While we’re talking about the screen, I’m pleased that one of the Note 5’s best features has made it over to the Note 7. Removing the S Pen while the display is off brings up a dark interface for (appropriately enough) screen-off memos. Here, you can draw or leave yourself a note, and then pin it to the always-on display for easy reference throughout the day. The inherent lack of friction in this process means anyone who picks up your phone can pin doodles to your display, which in my case led to lots of juvenile drawings all over my sleeping screen. Thanks, guys.
Samsung is all too aware that the S Pen isn’t for everyone, so it cooked up a few new Air Command features to make its stylus more versatile. My eyes are pretty terrible, so it was neat being able to magnify anything on the screen up to 300 percent when pinching-to-zoom wasn’t an option. Cool? Sure. Consistently useful? Eh.
You can now translate words on-screen from one language to another too, though the translations aren’t as elegant as I’d wanted. Here’s the thing: The feature only lets you translate one word at a time, rather than sentences or paragraphs. As such, it’s handy for picking up bits of a language you don’t know, and lousy for interpreting lots of information.
And then there are the GIFs. The “smart select” feature has been updated to let you choose parts of the screen with the pen, record them and turn them into GIFs. I didn’t have high hopes for this process since making GIFs on a regular computer is sort of a pain, but it turned out to be surprisingly elegant. Once the recording is done (you can capture up to 15 seconds), it’s simple enough to doodle on top of them, change how they loop and share them everywhere. Meanwhile, Samsung’s software cleaning spree continues with S Pen stuff: Four(!) separate S Pen-specific applications have been combined into a single one called Samsung Notes. This is where you’ll do most of your note taking and doodling, and it’s perfectly serviceable; it’s good enough that I didn’t miss any of the old standalone S Pen apps.
All of these tweaks are steps in the right direction, but I wonder whether they’ll actually change anyone’s mind about the S Pen. The fact that Samsung keeps churning these devices out must mean a lot of people out there dig using a stylus, but if you weren’t sold before, you probably won’t be now.
Camera
We can keep this part brief: Both of the Note 7’s cameras are identical to the ones in the S7 and S7 Edge, and are therefore really damned good. The photos I shot over the course of a week were almost uniformly well exposed, with lots of detail (they really pop on this AMOLED screen) and vibrant, accurate colors. It’s damned fast at focusing too, thanks to the camera’s DualPixel setup. If you’ll pardon the extremely unscientific explanation, every 1.4 µm pixel on that 12-megapixel sensor is split into two photodiodes that are used to gauge the distance between the camera and the subject. Since every single pixel is used to for these focus calculations, the Note 7 is super fast at locking onto whatever’s in front of it, even when the subject is a finicky, adorable toddler celebrating her second birthday.
It goes without saying that smartphone cameras tend to suck in the dark, but the Note 7 fares well thanks to the size of the pixels on its sensor. There’s surprisingly little noise, even in shots taken outside at night, and the always-there exposure controls help reduce the influence of extra light that could otherwise soften a shot’s sharpness. In short, the Note 7 is a very impressive all-around shooter, ranking alongside the S7 and S7 Edge as one of Android-powered cameras to beat. Meanwhile, the 5-megapixel camera up front takes respectable selfies with enough verve to please all the but the most terminally vain. I just wish Samsung had bumped up the resolution a bit this time around.
The camera sensors might not have changed, but the camera interface sure has. Remember all the different mode and settings icons that used to pepper the main view of the camera app? Many of them have been moved out of sight to give you a cleaner interface. All of the photo modes from the S7 — Pro, panorama, selective focus, slow motion, hyperlapse and more — are back and still available by swiping to the right. Instead of tapping a separate button to switch cameras, though, you’ll have to swipe up.
Camera resolution options and the timer has been moved into a separate settings menu, while live filter effects can be applied by swiping to the left. Trust me: It’s all much more intuitive than it sounds, and the “out of sight, out of mind” ethos here is fine by me. After all, just about every photo I took on full auto looked great. Shooting video was similarly painless and yielded accurate, handsome footage no matter what resolution I picked. (Fair warning: Tracking autofocus doesn’t work when shooting 4K video, so be prepared to handle it yourself).
Performance and battery life
Because of those shared internals, the Note 7 performs almost exactly like the S7 and S7 Edge, which in turn behave much like the rest of this year’s flagship smartphone heap. That means this year’s Note is a smooth operator thanks to the quad-core Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM. I spent my week multitasking lots, playing games like Hearthstone, Asphalt 8, Republique and generally doing my best to make the 7 stutter or slow down. I succeeded, but only rarely and never for long. If you’re concerned about whether the Note 7 can stand up to your hellacious routines, don’t be: This thing brings the heat (sometimes literally, but never to the point of discomfort).
Then again, were you expecting anything else? Qualcomm’s near-monopoly on the mobile chip business has led to a détente where one high-end device more or less performs the same as any other. That makes it hard to write about these things over and over, but it’s still a win for everyone reading this — there’s almost no such thing as a bad choice, at least as far as performance is concerned.
HTC 10
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
AndEBench Pro
13,601
16,673
13,030
14,152
Vellamo 3.0
4,589
4,876
4,152
4,104
3DMark IS Unlimited
29,697
26,747
26,666
26,981
GFXBench 3.0 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (fps)
47
48
47
47
CF-Bench
49,256
49,891
46,290
36,488
Because their internals are the same, differentiating factors like battery life are more important than ever. Now, the Note 7 might not have the biggest battery in Samsung’s lineup — that distinction goes to the S7 Edge — but it’s still one of the best day-to-day performers I’ve used in some time. When it came to our standard rundown test (looping a high-def video at 50 brightness), the Note 7 lasted just over 14 hours. That’s about a half hour less than the S7 Edge, just a few minutes more than last year’s Note 5, and on par with the Moto Z Force. Not the type to watch the video until your eyes bleed? That’s fine: I routinely got two full days of consistent, mixed use out of the Note 7. With the help of Android Marshmallow’s Doze feature, my runtime stretched closer to three days with more sporadic use, though your mileage may vary.
The competition
It goes without saying that if you’re looking for a phone you can use with a stylus, you can’t do better the Galaxy Note 7. That said, if you’re looking for a great phone-and-stylus combo, I’ve found that the Galaxy Note 5 still holds up really well. It’s been updated to run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and put up benchmark figures that were surprisingly close to this year’s model — a testament to the power of the octa-core Exynos chipset lurking inside. Alas, it’s not waterproof and lacks any expandable storage options, though you could easily find a good deal online.
The Note 7 also faces some stiff competition from its cousins, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. They have the same brains, after all, not to mention the same waterproofing, the same punchy AMOLED screen technology and the same overarching design language. I still think the S7 Edge is too prone to accidental touches, though, a problem that frankly drives me up the freakin’ wall — I’d definitely take the Note 7 over the Edge (especially since they share those edge-centric features), but the GS7 remains an excellent choice for those who want Samsung’s best in a more compact form factor.
Meanwhile, fans of first-rate build quality should consider the HTC 10, a phenomenal smartphone that offers power and style in spades. It, too, makes use of the Snapdragon 820 chipset, but the company’s attention to detail is what really makes the HTC 10 shine — the build quality is impeccable, the phone packs a low-latency touchscreen, and it’s the first Android phone that natively supports Apple’s AirPlay streaming standard. The 10’s battery and camera aren’t quite as good as the Note 7’s, though, so you’ll have to love HTC’s design and its approach to software.
Wrap-up
When I reviewed the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge earlier this year, I was already convinced Samsung was operating at the top of its game. After using phones as well crafted as those, I didn’t think it would be possible to love the inevitable follow-up as much. I was wrong. The Note 7 isn’t a perfect phone: It’s expensive and there still isn’t a hugely compelling reason to buy into the S Pen lifestyle if you haven’t already. Even so, by combining the updates that went into the S7 siblings with a number of subtle improvements to the Note’s design and software, Samsung has built its finest phone yet. The Galaxy Note 7 isn’t just the best Galaxy Note ever — it’s a strong contender as the best Android phone you can find right now.
Samsung’s new Gear VR is its most comfortable and immersive yet
Samsung’s Gear VR has always been an anomaly among the company’s dizzyingly diverse product lineup. Ever since the first “innovator edition” of the headset debuted alongside the Galaxy Note 4 in 2014, it stood out as something potentially more useful than the company’s various wearables, experimental phones and other gadgets. And, thanks to Samsung’s partnership with Oculus, the Gear VR’s usefulness has only grown over time — in fact, we named last year’s model a “no-brainer” purchase for Samsung owners. Now we have yet another Gear VR model, coinciding with the launch of the Galaxy Note 7, and it’s an even better introduction to virtual reality than ever before.
From afar, the new Gear VR just looks like a color-swapped version of what came before. But the new dark blue shell actually has a legitimate use: It helps to keep images from your phone’s screen from reflecting off of the headset. That was an issue some users had in the past with the white Gear VR models, according to Samsung. And given that the last few models looked fairly similar, it’s about time the company made a big design shift to differentiate its latest and greatest headset.
There are also a handful of small, but genuinely useful, ergonomic tweaks. There’s a new material that rests against your skin that feels as soft as a fleece blanket meant for babies. And Samsung also made the strap that goes over your head significantly longer, which could be useful for some. Those upgrades, coupled with the Gear VR’s light design, make it something you could easily wear for hours on end. After testing both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, I noticed that small comfort differences go a long way towards making VR feel more immersive, so I appreciate Samsung’s efforts in this regard.
As for other changes, Samsung increased the field of view in this latest headset to 101 degrees from 96 degrees in previous models. That might not sound like a major difference, but it’s yet another tweak that puts you deeper into virtual experiences. And it brings the Gear VR even closer to the wider 110-degree field of view from dedicated headsets like the Oculus Rift and Vive. Other headsets, like the Star VR, claim to offer even more expansive coverage, but they’re not actually on the market yet.
If you look closely, you’ll also notice some upgrades around the new Gear VR’s inputs. The biggest difference? There’s a dedicated “Home” button that takes you right back to the Oculus home screen. Previously, you had to hold down the “Back” button to return home. Doing that now brings up a screen that gives you quick access to your settings and friends list. Samsung also cleared out the directional pad from the last headset, so that it’s now a free-flowing touchpad area which you can swipe at without worrying about exact accuracy.
In a nice move for the Samsung faithful, the new Gear VR is compatible with a handful of the company’s older handsets, in addition to the Note 7. Its support stretches back to the Galaxy Note 5, and also includes the S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, S7 and S7 Edge. Basically, if you’ve bought a Samsung phone recently, you’re covered. While the headset supports USB-C by default (for the Note 7), you can easily swap out that connector with an included micro-USB adapter. You can also adjust the position of the arms holding your phone in place to fit phablets like the Note, or the more sensibly sized Samsung phones.
Since our senior mobile editor Chris Velazco is still hogging the Note 7, I tested out the new Gear VR with the Galaxy S7. Setting up the headset was simple: I removed the faceplate, swapped in the micro-USB adapter, plugged the phone in, and made sure the Gear VR’s arms were positioned for smaller devices. The phone felt securely attached to the headset, even while I shook it vigorously (far more than you would with your head, at least).
When I first plugged in the S7, I was prompted to remove it from the Gear VR and install a bundle of Oculus software. If you don’t have an Oculus account yet, you’ll be asked to create one. Once all that was set, I shoved the S7 (along with a pair of headphones) into the headset and prepared to get my VR on. Within a few seconds, I reached the Oculus Home screen and started shopping around for some apps.
I settled on NBC’s Sports app (featuring the Rio Olympics), Jaunt’s collection of 360-degree videos, Eve Gunjack and Adventure Time: Magic Man’s Head Games. When it came to 360-degree video playback, I definitely noticed the Gear VR’s larger field of view. It still feels like you’re looking through a pair of binoculars, rather than being completely transported somewhere else, but it’s far better than previous models. Unfortunately, the low resolution of most 360-degree video is an an even bigger detractor (it’s hard to follow the Olympics when you can’t determine which fuzzy blob is which).
When it came to games, though, the new Gear VR shined. Both Eve Gunjack and Adventure Time were easier to control with the less restrictive touchpad, and they were also more immersive than on previous Gear VRs. I also loved being able to quickly readjust the volume and brightness setting by holding down the “back” button, as I couldn’t reach my phone’s volume controls when it was plugged into the headset.
Mostly, I appreciated the fact that I could wear this Gear VR for a long time without getting fatigued. Even though it’s powered by mere phones, Samsung’s headset actually has an advantage over desktop VR platforms since it’s completely wireless (well, if you don’t count headphones). This latest model is simply the most comfortable VR headset on the market. It never felt like the headstraps were crushing my skull, or that the headset was resting too heavily on my nose (looking at you, HTC Vive).
As great as the Gear VR is, though, it could have some serious competition from upcoming headsets supporting Google’s Android Daydream VR platform. That’s basically attempting to do what the Gear VR did, but for handsets from multiple manufacturers. If Samsung were smart, it would work together with Google’s platform, but it’s unclear if the company’s deal with Oculus would prevent that.
Even with Daydream headsets on the horizon, though, I don’t have any problem recommending the new Gear VR to Samsung owners. In fact, it’s solid enough that it’s worth considering moving to a Samsung device just for the privilege of using the Gear VR. But the arguments against the Gear VR, and waiting for Daydream, are strong as well.
Google Duo Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Google’s new app, Duo, is a simple video-calling service that’s available for Android and iOS today. Alongside the upcoming messaging app Allo, it’s one of two communication apps Google announced earlier this year at its I/O conference, and one of four altogether from the company.
In a way, it’s Google’s answer to Apple’s FaceTime, and it makes one-to-one calling between Android phones, and from Android to iPhone, very simple. Though both parties have to download the app to begin chatting (unlike FaceTime, which is baked into the dialer of compatible iPhones), it’s still an intuitive app to use.
And while Android users will likely enjoy using Duo to video-call all their friends, iPhone owners won’t find it compelling enough to ring up fellow iPhone users. However, it may certainly become their go-to app when calling up a buddy who uses Android. With that said, here are its main highlights:
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You’ll see previews with Knock Knock
Duo’s unique feature is Knock Knock, which gives you a preview of who is calling by firing up the camera on the other end of the line. If you’re initiating the call, you’ll see a little notice that says your video is visible, which means the other person can see what you’re doing right at that moment in real time. Android users can see Knock Knock regardless of whether Duo is opened or not (like on the lock screen). On the iPhone though, you’ll only see it if you’re in the app. Otherwise, you’ll just get a little notification saying someone’s calling you.
Google’s rationale for this is that Knock Knock already gets you smiling before the call starts. Of course, that’s assuming you actually like/want to speak to the other person who is on the other line. Seeing family members on the other line? That gets me smiling. Seeing the face of my boss? Mmm, not so much (see below). Editor’s Note from said boss: “Hmph.”
Making a call with Knock Knock enabled (left), and receiving a Knock Knock call (right).
Lynn La/CNET
You can disable Knock Knock
Before you worry about seeing anything you don’t want to see from the other line, know that you can only receive Knock Knocks from people who are already in your contact list. You can also block individual people from calling you. (By the way, when you block a person on Duo, the person won’t know it. When they call, they’ll just hear your line ring and ring continuously.)
If Knock Knock really isn’t your thing, you can disable it altogether in Duo’s Settings menu. You can’t disable Knock Knock on a person-to-person basis though, so it’s Knock Knock or nothing.
Its interface is super simple
Duo has an incredibly user-friendly and intuitive interface. Before you begin a call, you’ll see icons to start a video call and your recent contacts. During a call, you’ll see yourself (in a small little circle), and icons to mute audio, switch cameras and hang up. Video from the other line fills up your screen and that’s pretty much it. If you’d rather have your camera fill up the screen (for example, you’re touring a house to the person on the other line), just tap the preview circle and your view will switch.
Before a call you’ll see icons to start video and your recent contacts (left). During a call, you’ll see only a handful of features (right).
Lynn La/CNET
It’s different than Hangouts (no, really)
At this point you might be wondering what makes Duo different than Google’s other video-calling service, Hangouts, and you’re not alone if you think the company has one too many communication tools. But according to Google, Duo is supposed to be way more specialized. Whereas Hangouts can be used on desktops, supports messaging and group chats, and has multiway video for collaboration (and its interface reflects these extra features), Duo does one thing and one thing only: video calls.
Unlike Hangouts, it reaches people through their phone numbers, not their Gmail. Other than downloading the app, you won’t have to force anyone to log into their Google accounts or sign up for a new service. And the best difference between it and Hangouts? It uses end-to-end encryption, so your data can’t be viewed from prying third parties or even Google itself.
It works only as well as your connection
Not surprisingly, if you have a good Wi-Fi or data connection, the app works smoothly. When I used it and had strong coverage, people looked clear and their voices were easy to understand. I experienced some lag from time to time, but it usually lasted just a few seconds.
When one of my colleagues was on a weaker Wi-Fi network, however, he was extremely pixelated. Though audio came in clear, his face just ended up looking like a study in 1880s pointillism. After he switched to a stronger Wi-Fi network, however, his image cleared up and our conversation was stable.
Google
You might actually want to use it
There are loads of apps these days that either center around video chatting or have it as one of their features. Duo is coming into a crowded industry, competing not only against Skype, Facebook Messenger and others, but even Google itself with Hangouts.
But Duo has a few advantages. Aside from its quirky Knock Knock feature, it’s incredibly easy to use, and if all you want is to hop on a video call, it’ll do that for you. This singular functionality frees you from having to sign in another account, make sure your buddy has the same service or take time to learn a new interface. And while iPhone users will probably keep using FaceTime to communicate with one another, Duo bridges the gap between iOS and Android, making it a whole lot easier to say hi and wave hello.
2016 Volkswagen Passat review – Roadshow
The Good The 2016 Volkswagen Passat features a spacious interior, huge trunk and a healthy menu of entertainment and safety technology features. The chassis provides solid handling, while also returning impressive ride comfort.
The Bad Even with updates, the Passat’s styling is forgettable. The turbocharged engine suffers from noticeable boost lag when accelerating from complete stops. Steering weight is overly light.
The Bottom Line The Passat does everything a midsize sedan should, but gets lost in one of the most competitive segments in the automotive space due to its uninspiring appearance.
The midsize sedan segment historically hasn’t been known for visual flash, but that has changed as of late, with models like the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord and even Toyota Camry now wearing more stylish sheet metal. For those who still prefer an understated appearance for their daily driver, fear not. Volkswagen’s Passat is still here, and even with a wealth of useful midcycle updates for 2016, it’s design is still a walk on the mild side.
Hard to tell
Upon seeing this Volkswagen Passat SE test car, I honestly had a tough time picking up on its new-for-2016 styling updates. They are there, though, with a new domed hood, chrome four-bar grille, slimmer headlights, revised bumpers, trunk lid and chrome trim around the windows.
The Passat’s design remains clean and inoffensive, but firmly on the dull side of the spectrum. There are no swoopy body lines like the Malibu or Mazda 6. The front end doesn’t stand out like on the Fusion or Kia Optima. It’s just sort of there, taking on the mantle of the no-nonsense family sedan — perfect for people who like to fly completely under the radar.
Updates for 2016 include new headlamps, grille and fascia. Not so you’d notice.
Nick Miotke/Roadshow
Hop inside, and there’s a new dashboard, center console, steering wheel, frameless rearview mirror and chrome accents sprinkled about. Again, it’s tough to pick out the changes, but the straightforward and roomy cabin design remains. Materials throughout are of high quality, and while the front seats are comfortable, they lack much side support. Controls for the dual-zone automatic climate controls are easy to use. Passengers in the roomy back seat also get niceties like heated (outboard) cushions, and a USB port to juice up their electronics when on the go.
As for the trunk, it’s huge and capable of swallowing 15.9 cubic feet of stuff, which came in handy when carrying tons of video equipment for a shoot. The large trunk opening makes loading and unloading simple, and a new easy-open function is great when approaching the car with your hands full. Waving a foot under the rear of the car pops the trunk open when you have the key fob on your person.
Bigger dose of tech
While the Passat leaves something to be desired in the design department, it comes armed with a healthy arsenal of technology. The latest MIB II infotainment system is standard on all Passats, with my SE with Technology trim featuring a 6.3-inch captive touchscreen capable of pinch-zooming and swiping controls, which work great.
A cabin loaded with tech including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.
Nick Miotke/Roadshow
The new infotainment system features navigation, USB inputs and Bluetooth, with the latter capable of pairing with two phones at the same time. My car’s MIB II system arrived loaded with VW’s Car-Net program, allowing for the integration of Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and MirrorLink. Car-Net’s security and service also lets owners connect to their car via a computer or smartphone app to locate it in parking lots, lock and unlock doors, view vehicle maintenance status, make service appointments and pre-load destinations into the navigation system.
To keep a watchful eye on younger drivers, owners can set now set geo-boundaries and speed alerts. If the car exceeds the speed limit or goes outside of approved areas, parents will receive a text or email message, giving them ample proof to dole out a stern punishment when the disobedient offspring returns home.
Brita Infinity Smart Water Pitcher with Amazon Dash Filter Replenishment Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
For $45, the Wi-Fi-equipped Brita Infinity pitcher promises to keep track of how much water is passing through the filter. Once the filter is about spent, it’ll go ahead and automatically order a replacement from Amazon that’ll arrive at your doorstep just when you need it.
Brita’s smart pitcher is $20 more than an identical Brita pitcher with no smarts to speak of, so the question here is whether or not that Amazon Dash integration is worth the extra 20 bucks. In theory, it’s a useful bit of automation — especially if you already buy replacement filters on the regular. In practice, it isn’t all that precise, and more than anything seems designed to get people to buy new filters more often than they would out of habit alone. It certainly isn’t something that anyone needs, but it might make a decent gift for a friend who’s picky about filtered water.
This smart water pitcher orders its own replacement…
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Tyler Lizenby/CNET
The Brita Infinity pitcher isn’t the first smart pitcher we’ve seen. Though it doesn’t have Wi-Fi, the “Autofill Pitcher” found inside the GE GAS18PSJSS top freezer refrigerator fills up on its own each time you put it back in the fridge.
That pitcher uses the refrigerator’s filter, which you’re supposed to change every six months. By comparison, the Brita Infinity pitcher will order a replacement filter after it thinks you’ve filtered 40 gallons of water. If you’re drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, that means you’ll need a new filter in less than three months. Make that more like a month if you’re sharing this pitcher with the family.
That timeline is pretty typical of filtered water pitchers, but give Brita some credit here. By tying filter replacements to the amount of water consumed instead of an arbitrary timeline, you know that you’ll be getting a new filter when you actually need it and not any earlier. That’s the right approach, especially for people who typically drink less than those eight glasses a day.
You’ll need to log on to Brita’s website in order to pair the pitcher up with your Wi-Fi network, and with Amazon.
Screenshot by Ry Crist/CNET
To get started with the pitcher, you’ll need to log on to the Brita Infinity website, where you’ll receive instructions on pairing your pitcher with your home’s Wi-Fi network. To do so, you’ll hold down a button on the top of the pitcher until a light starts flashing blue, which tells you that the pitcher is broadcasting a Wi-Fi connection. Connect to it, then tell Brita’s website your home Wi-Fi info, and everything will sync right up.
You’ll find three little lights on the top of the pitcher that correspond to how much the filter has been used: green for 0 to 36 gallons, yellow for 36 to 40 gallons, and red for 40-plus gallons. The lights will come on for a few seconds each time you open and close the lid to give you a quick indication of how far you are into the filter’s life cycle.
The opening of the lid is how this smart pitcher keeps track of usage. It doesn’t measure how much water passes through the filter, nor does it measure how much you pour out. Instead, it tracks lid lifts to approximate the number of fill-ups and give it a rough sense of when it’s time to order a new filter.
To test it, I set the counter to zero and then re-filled the Infinity over and over again by pouring water back and forth with another pitcher. A full Infinity Pitcher is eight cups of water, or half a gallon — that means I’d need 80 pours back and forth in order to hit that 40-gallon benchmark.
106 pours. Approximately 53 gallons of water. The filter sensor still thinks I’ve poured between 0 and 36 gallons. pic.twitter.com/t4nGHzWHg9
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) August 12, 2016
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Eighty pours and two tired wrists later, I still hadn’t hit it. So, I pressed on. Eighty-five pours. Ninety pours. A hundred pours. Still no change, even at 50 gallons.
The problem seemed to be the sensors in the lid. The light would only come on about once every four or five times, and in sporadic fashion. Sometimes it would work three or four times in a row. Other times, it would go five or six refills without ever lighting up.
In the end, that meant that the Infinity Pitcher wasn’t catching all of my refills. The lid sensor just isn’t that sensitive, which explains why it thought I had poured less than 36 gallons. This might be by design, as an over-sensitive lid would just end up wasting people’s money. Good for Brita in that case — but I still wish it were more accurate.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
There’s also a question of value. With the Amazon Dash replenishment turned on, the pitcher will automatically order a single filter when it thinks you need a new one. Those pitchers currently sell for five or six bucks a piece, but they’re more affordable if you buy in bulk. That isn’t an option with Infinity.
Another point of note: the batteries. Amazon says that they’ll last five years, but they’re sealed in place within the lid. That means that there’s no way to replace them when the juice runs out (unless, of course, you’re comfortable taking a box cutter to your smart pitcher.)
In the end, the Infinity seems to be designed for people who like having a pitcher of filtered water on hand, but who also might not care enough to order new filters when the time comes. The Infinity gets them on board with Brita’s business model by doing the ordering for them.
For people who already order new filters every few months, the Infinity offers a bit of extra convenience — but it’s undercut by the inaccurate lid sensor. I’m not yet convinced that it’s worth the extra 20 bucks, but we’ll keep it on hand in the CNET Smart Home to see if it grows on us.
Samsung Notebook 7 Spin review – CNET
The Good The Samsung Notebook 7 Spin offers very good Core i7 performance, some basic game-ready graphics, and impressive battery life.
The Bad The design is bland, especially for a laptop that costs more than $1,000. You’re not going to love the touchpad, and the hyped HDR video mode offers only very subtle improvement.
The Bottom Line It doesn’t have a lot of wow factor, but the 15-inch Samsung Notebook 7 Spin packs in decent premium features, including some you won’t find in other hybrids.
Many Windows hybrids are essentially full-time tablets that get a keyboard added on to become a part-time laptop. Potentially more useful is something like the Samsung Notebook 7 Spin, which looks and feels like a standard 15-inch laptop, but has a 360-degree hinge, allowing it to fold back into a touchscreen tablet without compromising its laptop ergonomics.
Like other 360-degree hinge hybrids, including the popular Lenovo Yoga series, you can stop at a few points along the way, such as a kiosk mode or table tent mode, which puts the display front and center.
But there are a lot of hybrid laptops with 360-degree hinges out there. At this point, making waves in this crowded pool requires adding new features, better designs or other extras. In the case of this 15-inch version of the Notebook 7 Spin, you get a full-HD touchscreen with an interesting special feature. Samsung has included what it calls an HDR mode — which mean high dynamic range.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
Now, some new televisions support a new video format also called HDR, which means special HDR content viewed on an HDR TV will have better contrast and clarity — essentially a better balance between the light and dark parts of the picture.
In this case, Samsung has created a software HDR filter. When flipped on, it applies an HDR-like effect to any video you’re watching. Honestly, in action the effect is pretty subtle, but it’s an interesting idea, and if you don’t like the effect on your favorite Netflix show, you can just turn it off.
Watching a variety of content on the Notebook 7 Spin with our in-house TV expert David Katzmaier, he described the effect of the HDR filter as a simple gamma change. In most of the examples we watched, flipping it on kept the bright parts of scenes correctly lit while deepening the black levels of other parts of the scene.
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Overall, Katzmaier said he preferred the effect to not having it switched on, but it also was a very subtle change. Trying some actual Netflix content specially encoded for HDR televisions (you’ll need the highest-end UHD Netflix account for that), there was no evidence that the laptop was making use of the native HDR-encoded content.
There’s one other interesting extra in this model, an Nvidia 940MX graphics chip. That’s not going to make you a top-flight gamer, but I could play some mainstream games at medium settings and full HD resolution, so that makes the Samsung Notebook 7 Spin one of the only game-friendly hybrids I’ve seen.
The 15-inch version of the Notebook 7 Spin comes in two configurations, currently discounted by $100 each in the US to $899 and $1,099. Both include Intel Core i7 processors and the Nvidia graphics chip, but the higher end model goes from 12GB to 16GB of RAM, and adds a 128GB SSD to the 1TB of platter hard drive space both machines share. We’re testing the high-end of those two models. Samsung doesn’t currently offer Windows laptops in the UK or Australia, but that works out to £845 or AU$1,420. There’s also a $799 (£615, AU$1,040) 13-inch version that skips the Nvidia graphics and knocks the CPU down to a Core i5.
Yamaha RV-X481 review – CNET
The Good The Yamaha RX-V481 offers very good audio performance in a relatively affordable bundle. It offers numerous streaming services over Wi-Fi plus the ability to stream to a Bluetooth headphone. HDMI ports support 4K video and HDR sources.
The Bad The total of just four HDMI ports means users with more than one gaming console, for example, may need to look elsewhere. Competitors such as Pioneer and Sony are supporting the versatile Google Cast system.
The Bottom Line The Yamaha RX-V481 checks most of the must-have feature boxes, and still delivers excellent sound quality for a mid-price receiver.
Yamaha has been hammering away at the AV anvil for a good while now, and many of its receiver products gleam like Excalibur. One fine examples is the RX-V481, a well-honed blade with a good balance of must-have features and superb sound quality for the buck.
Yamaha’s MusicCast multiroom system and Bluetooth in/out highlight a solid feature set. Our only disappointment is that Yamaha cut the number of HDMI ports on this unit from six to four. The consolation is that all are state-of-the-art, with the ability to carry 4K signals with all the latest HDR information still attached.
Performance of the RX-V481 is a little better than the RX-V479 it replaces, but Yamaha’s competitors, namely Sony and Pioneer, have also made gains in 2016. For example, the Sony STR-DN1070 offers better features and better sound than the Yamaha, although it is somewhat more expensive. If you want a high-quality weapon in your home theater arsenal but want to stay on a midrange budget, the V481, available now for $399, £399 in the UK or AU$849 in Australia, is a winning choice.
Design
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The Yamaha RX-V481 is a 5.12 receiver which features four 4K-compliant HDMI inputs and multi-room streaming capabilities.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Buttons. Come get your buttons! While some companies opt for austere front panels with two knobs and not much else, Yamaha is on the “airplane cockpit” side of receiver design. As a result the face is more cluttered than most, but at least the RX-481 includes the most oft-used buttons in an easy-to-grasp layout. We award bonus points for the shortcut buttons to the most popular inputs.
The onscreen interface has received a light polish this year. It’s now in high definition, unlike the 480p interfaces of old, and is relatively easy to navigate for users familiar with AVRs.
The remote control is friendly and easy-to-use and is virtually identical to the model which the company unveiled with the previous RX-V479.
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The receiver’s remote controller.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Features
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The ports on the back of the receiver.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The old RX-V479 was a beauty: it sounded great and it offered plenty of features, including six HDMI ports. While the ‘481 is cut from the same cloth, there have been some changes to the pattern. Namely, the number of HDMI ports has been slashed from six to four. While all of these ports are now HDCP 2.2 and HDMI 2.0 compliant, it’s fair to say almost no one has four compatible devices right now — connecting legacy equipment is much more important. Otherwise, connectivity is pretty decent with both Bluetooth in and Bluetooth out (to compatible headphones or a speaker).
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The MusicCast app for iOS and Android offers streaming from Pandora, Spotify and more
Screenshot: Ty Pendlebury/CNET
Yamaha’s proprietary MusicCast system is over a year old now. While it’s added a couple more services, it’s still not as compelling as competitors — some of which can offer dozens of streaming providers. In order of least interesting to the most, they include Rhapsody, SiriusXM, Pandora and Spotify. It also comes with the ability to read from users’ phones or network devices (up to 24-bit/96kHz) as well as transmit over Apple’s AirPlay.
One feature the Yamaha misses is Google Cast. For Android and iOS phones and tablets, Google Cast offers the ability to stream directly from a music app rather than use a proprietary one like MusicCast. Competitors like Sony, Pioneer and Onkyo have Google Cast now, and are in the process of upgrading it for multiroom functionality.
Invoxia Voice Bridge review – CNET
The Good The Voice Bridge lets you access your landline from a mobile phone. The box is simple and compact, and there are no fees beyond the cost of the hardware.
The Bad Android support is still in beta. Setup can take some time, despite plug-and-play promises. No Wi-Fi means long cables if your phone jack isn’t near your router. It doesn’t play so nicely with answering machines, so be sure to answer calls quickly.
The Bottom Line The Voice Bridge does one thing — forward calls to and from your landline — but it does it pretty well.
If you’ve heard of Invoxia before, it’s likely because of Triby, the company’s fridge-friendly speaker that was the first non-Amazon device with built-in Alexa voice support. But now the French company is back with Voice Bridge, a tiny networking box that accesses your landline from any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. (You may see the Voice Bridge sold under the name “Swissvoice,” a brand that Invoxia acquired in 2013.) The hardware costs $99 or £79, but — unlike some similar services — there’s no recurring subscription fee. The Voice Bridge doesn’t appear to be available in Australia, but the US price converts to about AU$130.
Like a lot of other telephone accessories, Voice Bridge lives in the VoIP space — voice over internet protocol — but not in the traditional sense. Usually, a VoIP service replaces a traditional landline, instead routing phone calls over the web. Invoxia’s approach is to live alongside an existing landline, and forward those calls to an iOS device. (Android support is in beta.) More uniquely, the Voice Bridge can also allow you to remotely make calls from your mobile device using the landline number. That means, in theory, you could call from an iPhone in Europe via your US-based landline to another US-based number, and avoid any international long distance charges.
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Jacob Krol/CNET
Those are some very niche features, and — if you’re already using applications like Skype, WhatsApp or Google Voice — you can already make calls worldwide ranging from free to cheap. But for those who actually want to route mobile calls through their landline number, the Voice Bridge delivers. And it doesn’t cost you anything beyond the one-time hardware purchase.
Using Voice Bridge IRL
In addition to the Voice Bridge hardware (measuring 3.13 inches square, 0.8 inch tall; 7.95cm square, 2cm tall), you get a telephone cable, an ethernet cable and a power adapter (with several interchangeable international plugs included). The Voice Bridge doesn’t support Wi-Fi, but since it’s just a box you plug in and forget about, we’re not holding that against it. You will need to make sure your router and phone jack are within close proximity, however.
Sony’s hi-res turntable and software make it easy to go digital
Vinyl has seen a resurgence lately, with sales growth for this format outpacing digital. To stay on top of that trend, Sony refreshed its record player lineup to include the not-so-memorably named PS-HX500. Though it cuts a familiar figure, resembling many minimalist-style turntables, it was built with a 21st century purpose: to make quality digital copies of your treasured discs. That’s important for long-time collectors, of course, but also newer vinyl enthusiasts, who will also want to convert their discs into a high-resolution digital format as painlessly as possible.
As record enthusiasts will tell you, the love of vinyl is about the physical product, artwork and warm sound. Even so, this gives you the option of enjoying your tracks beyond just your home-listening zone. Besides, a digital archive is useful as either a backup of your rare records or a gradual transition to virtual media. (It’s also the format used by most modern DJs.) At $600, the PS-HX500 costs more than competing players, but the addition of an onboard analog-to-digital converter (ADC) helps justify the premium. In addition, the bundled software, though limited and a tad annoying to use, makes the seemingly endless task of real-time recording easier to stomach.
The PS-HX500 is pretty much ready to go right out of the box. You just need to put the platter, belt drive and record mat in place, add the tonearm weight and dial in the antiskate. For output, you can connect to your computer via USB, your stereo system or speaker using RCA (as phono or line-in) or even both at the same time — which can help you preview if you’re recording. The turntable also comes with a premounted Audio-Technica cartridge with a diamond-tipped stylus, so unless you want to swap in your own, you’re good to go there as well.
The power and speed controls are bundled together in a single dial on the front left, as you might expect, and can accommodate speeds of 33 and 45 RPM (rotations per minute). If you’re into vintage 78s, then, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
As far as design, there’s not much going on here. The device looks like most other casual-listening, non-DJ category turntables out there. There’s a straight tonearm with a built-in headshell and the base is made from sturdy-feeling composite wood. There’s a set of stout little legs with rounded, seemingly gel-filled feet, providing some give to kill unwanted vibrations. As usual, there’s also a standard lever for raising the needle off the vinyl without sending it skittering across the platter with your big, clumsy hands.
Unless you’re looking for high-end audiophile gear, this turntable should meet your expectations, with much of the sound output beyond the needle depending on the system you hook it up to. Really, the most interesting feature is the ability to record records to digital files over USB using the built-in ADC. Obviously, you could pick up an external analog-to-digital converter, various turntables and software (like Audacity), but that’s more things to include in your setup. For those without the time or knowledge to put together the right elements, the simplicity of this package is appealing.
Sony Hi-Res Audio Recorder settings.
I have mixed feelings about Sony’s Hi-Res Audio Recorder software. On the one hand, it has a simple, uncluttered interface, but that means you won’t get much in the way of granular or customizable settings. If you dig in, all you’ll find are audio export options and temporary file storage. File types include Sony’s Direct Stream Digital (DSD) and PCM. The DSD format is supposed to offer one of the most accurate representations of an analog waveform, but it’s only compatible with a limited selection of apps and hardware. Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is another, more common digital approximation of the original analog waveform and is exported as a WAV file. Because I didn’t have any DSD-compatible options on hand, I stuck with the common WAV format for outputting.
Once your turntable is connected to a computer via USB, you fire up the (downloadable) app and click the record button to get things started. You won’t get any audio monitoring until you do this unless you’re playing audio over RCA in addition to USB. It’s also worth mentioning that the Hi-Res Audio Recorder software is proprietary and will work only with Sony’s turntable.
After clicking “record,” you’ll see a slightly annoying pop-up (one of many, actually) that asks if you’re ready to start the recording. The best way to convert a whole record is to let each side play through, pause, flip the disc and continue recording — up to 100 minutes per file. It’s an easy enough task to set markers at the start and end of each track in the waveform, simplifying the exclusion of breaks and pauses from the final export. When you’re done with all that, hit the “recording complete” button, then write to files for the final step.
Lastly, you’ll need to check off which marked sections contain tracks as opposed to blank material to be skipped. All sections are numbered in order, but if you use the “update file names” button at the bottom, it will consecutively number only the items you’ve selected. For this reason, it’s beneficial to export complete albums in a single file, so the tracks will all be in order. You want to avoid having various duplicately numbered items from multiple exports just lumped in next to each other.
The software also lets you apply the album artist field to all the track artist spots to save some data entry. You can also swap out the numeral-only file names with the track titles. Unfortunately, those options are buried in a drop-down menu at the bottom of the window, making the whole process feel a bit convoluted.
The weirdness doesn’t stop there: When saving files, the dialogue window doesn’t show a “new folder” option, but it will save albums as a unique folder or add tracks to an existing match. There are also quite a few secondary pop-ups that hinder your process, stopping you each time, asking for another click to proceed. Keyboard shortcuts are also in short supply. When you’re ready to start a new recording, Ctrl+N won’t do it; you need to head to the drop-down menu at the top. Ctrl+Z doesn’t help you backtrack in various instances, either. Failure to click the apply button after selecting the update file names option will also default to writing tracks as numerals (oddly, without a pop-up to warn you). Argh!
Ultimately, though, the recordings sound great (assuming your vinyl is in good nick), but you’ll have to wait until the audio files are saved to enjoy them at your selected quality. And if you want to edit out pops and crackles, you’ll need additional software.
Can you get the same results with a variety of other components? Sure. Both the Rega RP1 and Music Hall MMF 2.2 turntables have a similar style. They’re both priced in the $400 to $450 range, but don’t include an analog-to-digital converter. Depending on what you’re looking for, you can get an ADC for as little as $30 or so. If you’re looking to DJ, but want to have a USB output for recording, the Pioneer PLX-500 may be the way to go. If you just want a deck to play tunes and easily make digital high-resolution copies, the Sony PS-HX500 is a tempting option, those few software quirks aside. I found that although I could do all the same stuff (and more) with a multipiece setup, the turntable’s compact design, convenient setup and quality recordings make it worth the few extra bucks.
AIVAnet 