DIGITAL EDITION
OCTOBER 2017
CONTENTS
OCTOBER 2017
COVER STORY
AR GOES TO WORK Beyond gaming and entertainment, the bigger promise for AR is for the professional hands-on workforce.
FEATURES USER GUIDE TO ANALOG INSTANT CAMERAS
BEST PRODUCTS OF IFA 2017
These retro devices are making a big comeback, and we’ll show you how to make the most out them.
Our reporters scoured the show floor to find the coolest tech in Berlin this year.
WHAT’S NEW NOW MICROSOFT, FACEBOOK UNVEIL OPEN STANDARD FOR AI, DEEP LEARNING NETWORKS AI-GENERATED REVIEWS EASILY FOOL HUMANS VERIZON, AT&T MAY BE CHOKING UNLIMITED DATA USERS FAST FORWARD: ARE SMARTPHONES HURTING OUR KIDS? TOP GEAR: WHAT WE LOVE MOST THIS MONTH
REVIEWS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Tile Pro Sport Five Top Portable Chargers and Power Banks
HARDWARE
Samsung GalaxyNote 8
Dell XPS 27 (Kaby Lake, 2017) Lenovo ThiknPad T470 Logitech G613 Wireless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
SOFTWARE & APPS Apple iOS 11 (Preview) Google Android 8.0 Oreo
Lenovo ThiknPad T470
Apple iOS 11 (Preview)
COMMENTARY DAN COSTA First Word
READER INPUT SASCHA SEGAN Equifax Must Pay
TIM BAJARIN
Don’t Let Your Guard Down When Using Social Media
One of these days, an aggressive Chinese company will wipe out existing cloud operations with a cheap alternative.
JOHN C. DVORAK Last Word
TIPS & HOW-TOS HOW TO PRESERVE VINTAGE ELECTRONICS HOW TO SAVE MONEY WITH MICROSOFT EDGE AND CORTANA
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FIRST WORD
DAN COSTA
G AR You Going to Get to Work?
oogle Glass got a bad rap. It was really cool technology that flopped (very) publicly, in part, because it insisted on a seat at the cool kid’s table. But it turns out that Google Glass wasn’t cut out for the runway—it was built for the factory floor. Today, Google Glass has found success as an augmented reality (AR) platform that helps skilled workers get more done. Boeing, GE, and healthcare providers across the nation are using the device to provide handsfree computing access. And this is just the beginning. When Microsoft launched its Hololens AR platform in 2015, the technology blew me away. I was at the event in Seattle, and moments after the announcement, I had a headset on—and was standing on the surface of Mars. Sure, they were just demos, but they worked. There was the obligatory alien-invasion shooting game and the science investigation using Mars Rover photos. But it was actually wiring a light switch that sold me on AR. I like technology a lot, but I’m not super handy. Show me even basic electrical wires and I get a little nervous. But with a Hololens-enabled companion walking me through the process and sharing my field of view, it was a piece of cake. The games were cool, but this os a tool for simplifying the complex. It’s a tool for getting things done.
@dancosta
Since then, I’ve used the example of working on aircraft engines with virtual assistance from across the globe to describe how AR can change the work game. Sure enough, Boeing is using Glass Enterprise Edition to do just that. The company has found that by using an AR system, workers are able to wire harnesses 25 percent faster. Apple, Google, and Facebook are all investing in the AR space, albeit with different agendas and applications. But Microsoft might have the biggest lead. The company has moved through multiple betas, slowly enlisted third-party developers, and dumped the clunky Hololens name for the equally clunky “Mixed Reality” brand, and products will be available for sale this holiday season. Acer, ASUS, Dell are taking preorders now. The Dell Visor will go on sale October 17th for $349.99. It looks a lot like any other headset, but inside there are two 2.89-inch LCD panels delivering 1440x1440 pixels to each of your eyes with a 90Hz refresh rate. Although the company is touting the Visor as a holiday purchase for gaming, the hardware is almost beside the point. Now is the time to invest in software solutions—including those for training, instruction, and communication in myriad kinds of companies. AR doesn’t necessarily require wearing a clunky headset, though. For a lot of applications, a phone will do. At the iPhone 8 announcement, Apple showed how the phone could be used to identify stars and trace out the constellations. This kind of functionality could be applied to real estate, for example. Knowing your location and
Boeing has found that by using an AR system, workers are able to wire harnesses 25 percent faster.
orientation, you should be able to point your phone at any house and instantly call it up its last selling price on Zillow. Point it at an apartment building, and you should be able to see not just available units but also their location and floor plans. That is a killer consumer application, to be sure, and it will also have a very real affect on how real estate agents do their jobs. In this month’s cover story, Ben Dickson digs into the technical, economic, and social effects of using augmented reality systems in the workplace. He looks at the companies that are using AR today and explores how it will transform industries tomorrow. For now, all you need to do to see the future is the screen in front of you.
dan_costa@pcmag.com
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READER INPUT
YOUR TIPS
“HOW TO DO A REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH FROM YOUR PHONE” (SEPTEMBER)
Tips From Our Readers
We’ve written hundreds (or thousands) of how-to articles over the years, but our readers have some excellent tips and tricks of their own; here are some they’ve shared.
You can actually use the Chrome browser (and perhaps others, I haven’t tried) by going to the images page and then selecting “request desktop site” from the drop menu in the upper right corner. The camera will then show in the search box. This also helps with some (but not all) of those sites that aren’t necessarily mobile friendly. —Jodi L Rob
“HOW TO LISTEN TO MUSIC ON YOUR AMAZON ECHO” (SEPTEMBER) The Amazon Echo (original tall version) can play a Bluetooth stream from your phone or other device but does not stream to another device (such as a bluetooth speaker). An Echo Dot cannot accept a Bluetooth stream from your phone or any device, but can stream to another device. It’s a small but incredibly important difference. —George Valkenburg Alexa can also play SiriusXM if you have an account. —Jeffrey Clinard
“HOW TO SECURE YOUR KID’S IPHONE” (SEPTEMBER) My ExpressVPN subscription covers my laptop, phone and home desktop computer, which is what my kids use. They don’t have cell phones (yet), but when they do, you can be sure I’ll have a VPN installed on them too. —Michael There are many search engines that don’t track their users. I wouldn’t say that DuckDuckGo is the best option, because it’s an American company, and that means that DuckDuckGo can be forced to hand over all user data [or face] the threat of jail time…. I would recommend Searx, Qwant or Startpage.com. —Blupp
“HOW TO CREATE AN ANONYMOUS EMAIL ACCOUNT” (AUGUST) For anonymity in terms of IP and region and encryption, use a VPN like Ivacy or TorGuard. VPNs can encrypt the message, but to encrypt the sender, [you]... have to go Guerrilla Mail. But Guerrilla Mail is temporary… as long as your window is open, you’ll continue to get email. Once you close the window, no more new email until you open the window and fill out the information all over again. —Wanted4Vandalism
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Have a question about a story in PC Magazine, one of the products we cover, or how to better use a tech product you own? Email us at letters@pcmag.com and we’ll respond to your question here. Questions may be edited slightly for content and clarity. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION
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WHAT’S NEW NOW
NEWS STORY
Microsoft, Facebook Unveil Open Standard for AI, Deep Learning Networks BY JOEL HRUSKA
A
s AI and deep learning have gone mainstream, a wide range of companies have announced they’ll bring compatible products to market. Everyone from Google and Nvidia to AMD and Fujitsu have thrown their hats into this particular ring. But the software that runs on deep learning and AI-specific hardware is still typically a custom solution developed by individual companies. Microsoft and Facebook are teaming up to change that, with a new common framework for developing deep learning models.
The Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX) is described as a standard that will allow developers to move their neural networks from one framework to another, provided both adhere to the ONNX standard. According to the joint press release from the two companies, this isn’t currently the case. Companies must choose the framework they’re going to use for their model before they start developing it, but the framework that offers the best options for testing and tweaking a neural network aren’t necessarily the frameworks with the features you want when you bring a product to market. The press release states that Caffe2, PyTorch, and Microsoft’s Cognitive Toolkit will all support the ONNX standard when it’s released this month. Models trained with one framework will be able to move to another for inference. Facebook’s side of the post has a bit more detail on how this benefits developers and what kind of code compatibility was required to support it. It describes PyTorch as having been built to “push the limits of research frameworks, to unlock researchers from the constraints of a platform and allow them to express their ideas easier than before.” Caffe2, in contrast, emphasizes “products, mobile, and extreme performance in mind. The internals of Caffe2 are flexible and highly optimized, so we can ship bigger and better models into underpowered hardware using every trick in the book.” By creating a standard that allows models to move from one framework to another, developers are able to take advantage of the strengths of both.
ONNX still has some limitations. It’s not currently compatible with dynamic flow control in PyTorch, and FB alludes to other incompatibilities with “advanced programs” in PyTorch that it doesn’t detail. Still, this early effort to create common ground is a positive step. Most of the ubiquitous ecosystems we take for granted— USB compatibility, 4G LTE networks, and Wi-Fi, just to name a few—are fundamentally enabled by standards. A siloed, go-it-alone solution can work for a company developing a solution it intends to use only internally, but if you want to offer a platform others can use to build content, standardizing that model is how you encourage them to use it. The major difference between Microsoft and the other companies developing AI and deep learning products is the difficulty Redmond faces in baking them into its consumer-facing lineup. With Windows 10 Mobile effectively dead, MS has to rely on its Windows market to drive people toward Cortana. That’s an intrinsically weaker position than Apple or Google, both of which have huge mobile platforms, or Facebook, which has over a billion users. O should benefit all the players working on AI, but it’s probably more important for Microsoft than for other companies with larger user bases. When you own the most popular phone OS on Earth, you don’t have to worry much about whether someone else’s neural network models play nicely with yours.
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To offer a platform others can use to build content, standardizing that model is how you encourage them to use it.
WHAT’S NEW NOW
NEWS STORY
AI-Generated Reviews Easily Fool Humans BY STEPHANIE MLOT
D
on’t believe everything you read on the Internet: Researchers at the University of Chicago have trained an artificial intelligence system to generate fake Web reviews. Led by Professor Ben . Zhao, the team demonstrated how easily a recurrent neural network (R ) can produce short critiques that are “largely indistinguishable” from real commentary. Can you tell the difference between these two reviews—one of which is real and cited in their paper, the other created by a machine “My family and I are huge fans of this place. The staff is super nice, and the food is great. The chicken is very good, and the garlic sauce is perfect. Ice cream topped with fruit is delicious too. Highly recommended ” “Excellent pizza, lasagna and some of the best scallops I’ve had. The dessert was also extensive and fantastic.”
Both sound pretty legit, right Well, the first is the product of an R that learned to imitate its training data—in this case, millions of elp reviews. The second is an actual review, as cited by Zhao and company. According to the team’s paper, the key difference between human- and machine-penned reviews is the quality of writing broken grammar, misspellings, and lack of context make critiques sound fake. (Or, at the very least, untrustworthy.) The AI’s output, however, is more than believable Many users consider it “useful”—a distressing fact that has scientists investigating other possible roles for this technology, including sussing out fake news. “The research community has started to explore the possibility of automating the detection process by building an AI-assisted fact-checking pipeline,” Zhao and his team wrote. “We believe that AI can not only assist fake news detection but also generate fake news,” they said. “Given the availability of large-scale news datasets, an attacker can potentially generate realistic-looking news articles using a deep-learning approach. And due to its low economic cost, the attacker can pollute social media newsfeeds with a large number of fake articles. “We hope our results will bring more attention to the problem of malicious attacks based on deep learning language models, particularly in the context of fake content on online services, and encourage the exploration and development of new defenses,” the group said.
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The key difference between human- and machinepenned reviews is the quality of writing.
WHAT’S NEW NOW
NEWS STORY
Verizon, AT&T May Be Choking Unlimited Data Users BY SASCHA SEGAN
4
G LTE speeds in the U.S. are getting faster, but our wireless networks may be choking down unlimited data users, according to a new report from Ookla Speedtest. That makes T-Mobile the fastest mobile carrier in the U.S., according to crowdsourced speed tests. It isn’t that simple, though. The report notes that T-Mobile is still at the bottom for overall population coverage. Verizon has great coverage and speeds, but is throttling heavy data users. And AT&T and Sprint provide high speeds less consistently than the other two carriers, the report says.
Ookla speed scores (fixed)
Ookla’s new speed score isn’t a sheer measure of megabits downloaded. It incorporates low-end, median and top-end performance for both download and upload speed, to give a bigger picture of overall speed. That’s a similar approach to the one we take in our own Fastest Mobile Networks study. SPEED VS. COVERAGE Ookla (which is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company) didn’t look at speed only. By seeing where users were taking tests, Ookla calculated that AT&T and Verizon still have better coverage than Sprint and T-Mobile. While the two bigger carriers cover 98 to 99 percent of the population, the smaller ones are 93 to 94 percent. That difference adds up to about 20 million people. Looking at the difference between urban and rural areas, speed tests taken in metropolitan areas were noticeably faster than tests taken in rural areas. While 23 percent of Verizon’s tests and 16.9 percent of AT&T’s tests were taken in rural areas, only 6.2 percent of T-Mobile’s tests were, according to data from Ookla.
T-Mobile is moving to close that gap this year through a future partnership with U.S. Cellular and by building out a new 600MHz network on wireless spectrum it just bought, the carrier told us. Much as we saw in our own results, Ookla found that the best carrier varies from city to city. T-Mobile won 40 of its top 100 cities, Verizon won , AT T 20, and Sprint five. Some of the results can be a little surprising. T-Mobile took Cleveland and Columbus, OH, a state that has historically been a weak area for that carrier. Sprint, meanwhile, took Seattle, which is T-Mobile’s hometown and headquarters. CHOKING ON UNLIMITED Our Fastest Mobile Networks results this year showed Verizon to have the fastest nationwide network, but Ookla’s scores show T-Mobile to be the fastest, something T-Mobile hasn’t hesitated to plaster all over the place. This report finally explains why. Our drive tests used Samsung Galaxy S8 phones with special SIM cards that never got throttled. So our report shows what the mobile networks are capable of, with the latest phone technology. Ookla’s crowd-sourced numbers show the speeds that real users are getting, on their own retail service plans. So if a lot of those users are being throttled, it’ll choke down apparent speeds.
Verizon decline in speeds
In Ookla’s tests, the number of results with speeds under 5Mbps shot up after Verizon and AT&T started selling unlimited data plans, even while the networks, as a whole, got faster. Part of the issue may be AT&T’s new budget “unlimited choice” plan, which throttles all of its customers to 3Mbps. But Verizon doesn’t have such a plan. “Whether these carriers are deprioritizing customers or customers are flocking to slower, more budget-friendly plans, both AT&T and Verizon are seeing an increase of customers experiencing speeds less than Mbps,” the report says. Our drive tests back up this conclusion. If Verizon’s network were really under strain, we’d have seen our unthrottled speeds get slower, as we did when the iPhone first smashed through AT T’s network. But Verizon’s doing fine with throttling turned off. This amount of throttling is really putting the lie to the word “unlimited,” both on Verizon’s and AT&T’s plans. Ookla’s data makes it look like a significant number of Verizon and AT&T users—we don’t know how many, really—are hitting a wall, hard, where their LTE gets slowed to a trickle. “Verizon Wireless has the fastest service in many of the cities we looked at and comes in second on acceptable speeds, but we suspect their use of deprioritization on Unlimited could be bringing down their overall performance,” the report says.
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Part of the issue may be AT&T’s new budget “unlimited choice” plan, which throttles all of its customers to 3Mbps.
WHAT’S NEW NOW
FAST FORWARD
Fast Forward: Are Smartphones Hurting Our Kids? BY DAN COSTA
F
ast Forward is a series of conversations with tech leaders hosted by Dan Costa, PCMag’s Editor-in-Chief. Costa’s guest for this episode was Dr. Jean Twenge, who recently wrote a piece for The Atlantic called “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” Dan Costa: Your new book, “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood—and What That Means for the Rest of Us,” coins yet another term: the "iGen generation." I imagine the Simon & Schuster lawyers went back and forth with Apple a little bit on this, perhaps? Apple’s very protective of that little 'i.'
Dr. Jean Twenge: Well, you can’t copyright a little ‘i.’ At least, that’s what I would guess.
Not yet. Who is this iGen generation? I still call anybody younger than me 'millennial,' but there’s another generation that snuck in there.
That’s right. Millennials [were] born roughly 1980 to around 1994. This new generation, iGen, was born about 199 to 2012. At first, we thought millennials would last a little bit longer, but then some trends showing up in the data made me think that we have a new generation born around the mid-90s. The reason it’s a new generation is because they behave a little differently than the generation before them, and that’s how you can put the marker down. What are some of the differences between those two generations?
iGen’s the first generation to grow up with the smartphone for their whole adolescence, and that’s really had ripple effects across their behavior, their attitudes, their mental health. As one example, obviously, they spend a lot more time online, and texting, and on social media than teens did 10 years before, when it was the millennials who were the teens. What makes the smartphone in particular any different than television or video games, or even radio, back in the day? All these technologies that were going to ruin our youth. What makes the phone different?
Well, a couple of things. The first thing is a smartphone is with you all the time, especially teens. You see them now, and it’s always there, and it can always be with you. It’s small and in reach, so I think that’s one thing that makes it different. The other thing is, I’m often asked about this: “Ah, everything is going to be ruined.” Well, it’s not quite that much. It’s more nuanced than that. People said the same thing about TV. They were sort of right about TV. Some people have concluded, you look at community groups and so on and some of those breakdowns, that’s probably because of TV. In some ways, they were right. Behavior patterns change. I think the new technology’s definitely changed behavior patterns. The thing about the phone is that where you use the technology was completely revolutionized. The television was something you participated in at home during certain hours. There was primetime TV. The phone breaks down all those barriers, both from a time perspective and a location perspective.
So that probably has something to do with why teens and adults use it so much. Teens are using their phones six to eight hours a day, on average. Adults are probably not that far behind them, a lot of us. You’re right; you’re not doing it just at home. It’s everywhere and it’s all the time, including at night. That was another thing I found out in talking to teens is how many of them slept with their phones or at least had their phones in arm’s reach, sometimes with it on all night. My son is 23 years old. He’s gainfully employed, thank God. Talk to me about the day in the life of an iGen teenager.
First, we can start with that time, that six to eight hours of time on the phone online and social media. That’s just in leisure time, so that means there’s not a whole lot of time left for a lot of other things that teens used to do. Getting together with your friends or going to parties, going to a mall with your friends, iGen teens do that a lot less than teens did just five or 10 years ago. This kind of fell off a cliff in terms of the number of times they’d go out without their parents and get together. That inperson social interaction is falling by the wayside more and more as the communication moves to the phone. That’s one of the biggest changes. A lot of other things about how teens spend their time [haven’t] changed a whole lot. Many people ask me, ‘Oh, maybe they’re not getting together with their friends because they’re doing more hours of homework.’ They’re doing actually fewer hours of homework than teens were in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and it really hasn’t changed a whole lot in the last five to 10 years. Same thing with extracurriculars. There’s a perception that there’s a lot more time spent on that. That’s also stayed about the same.
That in-person social interaction is falling by the wayside more and more as the communication moves to the phone.
It’s very interesting, because in your research, you find all these different correlations saying that the iGen generation, they literally just don’t go out of the house as much as previous generations. They’re not even getting their driver’s licenses as early as older generations because there’s a lack of independence that’s manifesting itself.
This is part of a trend that was accelerated by smartphones, but started with millennials and has really deeper cultural roots. This is the trend toward teens growing up more slowly, taking on both the pleasures and the responsibilities of adulthood later than they used to. Things like driving; a lot of them are not getting their driver’s license, even by the end of senior year of high school. Going out on dates, going out without their parents, having a paid job, drinking alcohol, having sex during high school. iGen teens do those things less than teens used to. See a video of the full interview and many more at pcmag.com/podcasts/fast-forward.
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They’re doing actually fewer hours of homework than teens were in the ‘80s and the ‘90s.
WHAT’S NEW NOW
TOP GEAR
What We Love Most This Month BY STEPHANIE MLOT
SPECDRUMS Are you a fidgety tapper? Why not make some music while you’re at it? When you tap on different colors with these connected rings, they make beats or notes that correspond to the colors. Specdrums come with a 12-color keyboard, but they’ll work on any colorful objects. You can program them to make the sounds you want: Connect up to 10 rings to the product’s app (iOS or Android) and select various keyboard, synth, and drum-kit sounds, or you can use your own recordings and sound effects. Then you can customize the color of each sound. One ring; $39; two rings, $74; www.specdrums.com
MOAI ROBOT Imagine if you could shrink and waterproof a Roomba, strap on an HD camera, and stick it to the wall of your fish tank: That’s what Chinese startup MOAI did with its new pintsize robot. The device comes in two parts: an outside case housing an ultrasound radar and wide-angle lens and an inside cleaning pad. Held together through the glass by a magnet, the external piece navigates and the internal element dredges. A navigation system tells the smart sweeper where it is on the aquarium and where it has already cleaned; owners can set parameters to prevent unwanted hoovering and scratches. The MOAI companion mobile app (iOS and Android) serves as a remote control, so you can schedule cleanings and mark specific areas for swabbing. It also provides highdefinition 1080p video of your fish friends. $199, www.moaidevices.com
RAZER BASILISK Why expect one mouse to work for different kinds of hands? The Razer Basilisk, just announced at IFA, is a customizable wired gaming mouse: Players can tweak all sorts of aspects of the Basilisk to suit their preferences and up their competitive game, especially with shooters. You can adjust the resistance of the tactile scroll wheel to get just the right jump activation; raise or lower the DPI in the middle of a fight depending on whether you need speed or precision; attach a different clutch to fit your hand size; or just take off the clutch together and use a rubber thumb cap and side grips. Beyond the customization features, the Basilisk has a 5G 16,000 DPI optical sensor and can withstand 50 million clicks throughout its lifespan. The Basilisk works with Razer Synapse 3 software for even more customization, such as remapping the eight Hyperesponse buttons and maintaining surface calibration. And you can light the mouse up with countless colors with Razer Chroma. $69.99, www.razerzone.com
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Sascha Sega
COMMENTARY
Equifax Must Pay
C
redit monitoring company Equifax is now in the running for the worst handling of a data breach ever. Not only did it potentially give up ready-made identity-theft packages for more than half of all adult Americans, but its response has been heartless verging on evil. The company should be prosecuted and severely financially damaged, but it’s acting like it’s above the law. The Equifax breach involves full names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and, in some cases, drivers’ license numbers. This is far worse than your usual name-and-email breach and evan than name-email-and-password, because it gives thieves everything they need to open bank accounts, credit cards, and get loans in your name. The data was accessed via a U.S. website application vulnerability. Let that sink in. A company with power over the financial destiny of most Americans let everyone’s data be exposed through its public-facing website. Equifax responded to the breach with supreme arrogance. After hiding it from the public for more than a month (giving the CFO a chance to sell stock), it directed people to a website where they have to enter the last six digits of their Social Security number to see if they’ve been pwned. Because, of course, everyone wants to trust
Sascha Segan is the lead mobile analyst for PC Magazine. His commentary has also appeared on Fox News, CNBC, CNN, and various radio stations and newspapers around the world.
Sascha Sega
Equifax with their Social Security numbers. The company then responded with a confusing message about signing you up for credit monitoring. The government needs to come down on Equifax, hard. The problem is that Equifax offers a privatized, quasi-governmental function. If you want to participate in the modern U.S. economy, you’re subject to the company’s rating and arbitration. If you want to rent or buy a home, get a car loan or a cell phone plan, Equifax and its two interchangeable quasi-competitors get to decide your financial fate. (“Not so!” says one commenter, looking up from sewing his handmade clothes in his solar-paneled cabin that he paid for with cash. Okay, Mr. Unabomber, moving on.) The Washington Post wrote that analysts are “puzzled” by why Equifax is acting with such a tin ear. I’m not puzzled; the answer is impunity. When you feel like you have nothing to lose, like you’re not under threat, you’re going to do the absolute minimum in situations like this. That’s what Equifax is doing. We’ve seen these data breaches before, and we’re going to see them again and again until companies are held accountable for their cybersecurity practices. So far, no company has been prosecuted or fined for a data breach in any way that would actually hurt it. Target settled for $18.7 million for a 2013 breach. Well, that’s about one hour of revenue for the company, given a 10-
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hour store day over a 365-day year. And Adobe paid just $1 million for exposing 38 million people’s records. The four-year gap between Target’s breach and its settlement shows another problem: Justice must be swift here. We don’t want four more years of identity theft before companies get around to taking data security seriously. The Equifax breach is the worst ever, because it’s a company we can’t really choose not to use, and it’s a company whose whole job is to hold our personal data for the financial system. If the government cracks down, it’ll send a message that corporations need to take cyber security more seriously. If not, we’d better get used to having our identities stolen regularly. sascha_segan@pcmag.com
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Tim Bajari
COMMENTARY
Don’t Let Your Guard Down When Using Social Media
S
ocial media platforms are not all the same. For example, I use Facebook almost exclusively for personal use to connect with friends, family, or business acquaintances, while Twitter is for news and commentary I find interesting. On the businessfocused LinkedIn, however, I’m more liberal when it comes to connection requests. I reason that since the Microsoft-owned LinkedIn is for business networking, the more people I network with, the better it will be for my career and business relationships. I suspect that millions of LinkedIn users take the same approach. But I recently was made aware of a report from Dell-owned cyber-security firm SecureWorks. Its Counter Threat Unit (CTU) observed phishing campaigns targeted at the Middle East and orth Africa that delivered PupyRAT, an open-source, cross-platform access Trojan using a fake person named Mia Ash. The report reveals that a known Iranian hacker group called Cobalt Gypsy created a fake profile of a woman named Mia Ash, who claimed to be a celebrated photographer. When I looked at Mia Ash’s profile, it looked like many I’d connected
Tim Bajarin is the president of Creative Strategies and a consultant, analyst, and futurist covering personal computers and consumer technology.
Tim Bajari
with on LinkedIn or Facebook over the years. The goal of the fake Mia Ash profile was to connect with individuals who were inside legitimate companies in the Middle East and trick them into opening a Word document via their company’s email. That would deliver the PupyRat Trojan, infecting the company’s network and potentially allowing the hackers entry to steal information. Some years ago, Cobalt Gypsy used LinkedIn to spread malware-laden job applications. In that case, the fake persona was someone called Timothy Stokes, who said he was a recruiter for a well-known company. I have also had suspicious requests on Facebook. A recent one came from a person who claimed to be CEO of a Minnesota company. But when I looked up the company, I discovered it did not actually exist. I’m the last person to discourage anyone from being active on social media. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and others are legitimate ways to make connections and develop relationships. But after reading about Mia Ash, I will carefully vet connection requests on LinkedIn. I suspect that social media will be used more and more for phishing schemes. These two instances focused on the Middle East, but in talking to other security companies, I’m told that similar scams are becoming more common in the U.S. They use the same approach: Befriend a person, and over a few weeks or months, get them
@Bajarin
Tim Bajari
comfortable with communicating and sharing personal information. At some point, they will say they have a friend who is a recruiter and suggest you send your resume—from your corporate email. Then, once the “fake” person can reach them through their corporate email address, they ask the target to open a malware-laden document, putting a company network at risk. If you work for a company that uses social tools like LinkedIn, SecureWorks has advice for you It says your company should have a system in place whereby you can report any unusual or suspicious activity they receive from an unknown third party. The company also suggests that individuals or organizations disable macros in Microsoft Office to mitigate the threat posed by malicious documents. For consumers of all types, I strongly recommend they be very cautious about whom they connect with on any social media. And never open a document from anyone other than those you know and trust. tim_bajarin@pcmag.com
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Galaxy Note 8 Is Pinnacle of Smartphone Tech The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is a no-brainer. It takes the Galaxy S8, the best phone of the year so far, and adds dual cameras, a better screen, and the beloved S Pen stylus. The ote 8 fills EDITORS’ CHOICE the shoes of the dearly departed Note 7 elegantly, and it’s certainly the best phone for creative types—but only those for whom price is no object. That’s because, at $930 for the T-Mobile model we reviewed, the Galaxy Note 8 is currently the most expensive flagship phone in the U.S.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 $929.99 L L L l h
PRICING AND DESIGN Depending on your carrier, the Galaxy Note 8 is about $100 more than the Galaxy S8+. It’s $31.67 per month over 30 months on AT&T ($950), $40 per month over 24 months on Sprint ($960), $930 on T-Mobile, or $40 per month over 24 months on Verizon ($960). An unlocked model is $929. Physically, the Galaxy Note 8 looks and feels like a larger Galaxy S8 (or, more to the point, an S8+). Its body is smooth, solid, and rounded. The screen has the very narrow bezels of the Galaxy S8, with slight sloping on the back reminiscent of the Note 5. This phone feels absolutely premium, and it comes in black or gray in the U.S. I’m a little concerned about durability, but no more so than with the S8 or with the current iPhones.
The ote 8 has both a USB-C port and a headphone jack. It’s compatible with Samsung’s Dex desktop dock, which essentially turns the phone into a desktop PC. But it’s too big to work with the current Gear VR headset. Samsung has a compatible model that will be available starting September 15 for $129.99.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 PROS High-quality, waterproof build. Improved S Pen stylus. Dual cameras. Modem supports emerging networks. CONS Expensive. Too big to work with current Gear VR headset.
The Galaxy Note 8’s 6.3-inch, quad-HD OLED screen is bright and vibrant. The phone runs Android 7.1.1 with Samsung’s extensions.
The 6.3-inch, 2,960-by-1,440 screen has 15.63 square inches of area, larger than other competing displays. The Galaxy S8+ has 15.12, the LG V30 has 14.4, the Galaxy Note 5 had 13.88, and the iPhone 7 Plus has a mere 12.92. And yet the Note 8 doesn’t feel huge, because it’s tall, narrow, and nearly bezel-less. At 6.38 by 2.95 by 0.34 inches (HWD) and 6.88 ounces, it’s narrower, albeit taller and heavier, than the Note 5, and that width helps it fit in your hand. Ray Soneira at DisplayMate Technologies has tested the Note 8’s display and found that it’s even better than the S8’s. It’s 22 percent brighter with a peak brightness over 1,200 nits, and it has a very wide color gamut. Although I can’t perceive these improvements with my naked eye, the screen is positively gorgeous. In the box, you get a bunch of accessories: AKGbranded earbuds, two different USB adapters, and various S Pen nibs. BATTERY Samsung has gone very conservative on the Note 8’s battery. Neither the battery nor the battery life are particularly huge. It’s understandable; after all, the Note 7 was known to explode.
In the box, you get a bunch of accessories: AKG-branded earbuds, two different USB adapters, and various S Pen nibs.
With the display settings cranked all the way up, streaming a video over LTE, we managed six hours of usage time. That’s not awful, and it’ll get better if you reduce display resolution or brightness. With the screen kicked down to 1080p, we got 10 hours of use, a much better result. Samsung estimates about 22 hours of mixed usage on maximum settings, jumping to 27 hours with the screen resolution turned down and the always-on display setting off. That said, in lieu of the removable battery the Note line used to have, we wish it had a cell bigger than 3,300mAh—but still safe, of course. At least fast charging and wireless charging are both supported. Samsung has also instituted new battery-testing procedures to make sure the Note 8 batteries are safe. We took a look at some of them on a trip to Korea before the Galaxy S8 launch, but I think the best proof of these procedures is the success of the S8 and S8 . Both phones have been popular neither has had issues in this regard. We think Samsung can safely put the Note 7 situation behind it. S PEN Did you come to the Note 8 for the S Pen? You won’t be disappointed. The pen pops out of a slot in the lower right of the phone and has a new, slimmer 0.7mm tip. As soon as you pop it out, you can start writing on the screen, a mode Samsung calls Screen Off Memo. If you run out of screen, just slide your text up; it’ll make more virtual space to scribble. I found the pen to be extremely accurate; when I tapped out a grid of tiny dots, it didn’t miss one.
The S Pen fits into the phone much like the ones on the Galaxy Note 5 and Note 7 did, with a click.
The S Pen is established enough that it’s supported by several mainstream drawing apps, such as Autodesk Sketchbook. It’s also been supported for years by Microsoft Office apps, giving you the ability to scribble all over Office documents and send them to your colleagues. It’s really nice to be able to sign and send things without printing them out, something Apple has also been promoting with the Pencil on its iPad Pro. Live Message is a cool new feature that wittily gets around Samsung’s lack of an iMessage-like messaging platform. You can scribble things in glowy or sparkly script, and they get turned into (widely viewable) GIFs that you can text. Relying on open standards, this is a lot better than iMessage’s closed system, as anyone can see the resulting messages. Now Samsung needs to add stickers and emoji to Live Message. Two other, smaller new enhancements: The included PE UP app now has coloring books in it, and you can use the S Pen to swipe text to do language translations. The company says Live Message, app pairing, and other non-pen-dependent software features will come to the S8 and S8+ down the road, but the company didn’t commit to a timetable.
It’s really nice to be able to sign and send things without printing them out.
PROCESSOR AND ANDROID The phone has 4GB of storage, of which 2.8GB is free. ou can pop a 2 microSD card in with the SIM card. There’s also GB of RAM.
GB
The basic processor platform in the Note 8 is the same as in the S8: It’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with no new features, and so it benchmarked about the same as other Snapdragon 835 devices. That’s as good as Android phones get right now, of course, although it’s sure to be outpaced by the new iPhone on pure processing speed. One thing to note is that switching the screen resolution, which Samsung makes easy, changes gaming frame rates. Flipping from WQHD+ to FHD+ moved on-screen frame rates in the GF Bench car chase test from 13 to 23, while the offscreen frame rate result stayed steady at 25. The phone runs Android 7.1.1 with the usual Samsung skin. There will be an Android Oreo upgrade eventually, but Samsung isn’t promising a specific date. One neat new feature in Samsung’s Android skin helps take advantage of the big screen. App Pairings are groupings of two apps that you can preset to launch together, by swiping in from the edge of the screen. Those apps will then launch in dual-window mode, one on each half of the display. That way, you can pull up your phone dialer and your calendar with a conference call code at the same time, for instance. Other Samsung phones that support dual window and edge swiping may get this feature in the future, the company said. Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant is also becoming more capable. ou can activate Bixby by saying “Hi Bixby” as well as by pressing a button on the left side of the phone. Its problem is mindshare: As I used the phone, I kept asking “O Google” things by reflex. But Bixby can do pretty much everything O Google can do, plus manage settings and local applications on the phone.
There are a few oddities in Bixby, though. When I said “note to self,” it went to my notifications settings rather than recording a note I needed to say “make a note” instead. Also, asking for directions in Google Maps threw an error message. Those problems will surely get cleaned up. RADIO AND CALL QUALITY The Galaxy Note 8, like the Galaxy S8+, has an excellent radio that gets spectacular reception and call quality. It’s missing only one thing: T-Mobile’s new Band 71, which will give users additional rural coverage (it’s currently only in the upcoming LG V30). That said, the Note 8 showed distinctly stronger signal on T-Mobile’s network than an iPhone 7 being used in the same spot. The phone supports the full cadre of gigabit LTE technologies to extend coverage and speed; it shares that, right now, only with the Moto Z2 Force and other new Samsung devices. As we saw in our “Fastest Mobile etworks” study, that makes for a distinct difference in speed. Call quality is also excellent. It’s crystal clear in the earpiece, and there’s a powerful speakerphone with an Extra Volume option that boosts it loud enough to even be heard over traffic noise. Bluetooth .0 lets the phone pair with multiple headsets at once, or with headsets and speakers, while the standard headphone jack accepts wired headsets. You don’t need to worry about the basics here. The Note 8’s camera is, like the Galaxy S8 camera it’s based on, fast, with terrific exposure judgement and excellent low-light performance. The question is, what does the 2x optical zoom get you Compared with the S8, it offers a noticeable improvement in sharpness, clarity, and texture, and considerably less artifacting.
The 12-megapixel dual cameras are on the back; one is a 2x telephoto. The fingerprint sensor, alas, is right next to the camera.
Each of the two cameras has optical image stabilization (OIS), which explains why the S8’s low-light performance is so much better than, say, the Essential Phone’s. The telephoto lens collects less light than the main lens does— it’s f/2.4 as opposed to the main lens’ f/1.7—and you can see a bit less sharpness in very low-light conditions. But that’s a wash with other phones’ digital zooms, anyway. If you have any doubts about the dual OIS, kick the phone into video mode. Recording 4 video at 2x zoom, there’s a funny little lag as you move the camera, almost like you were using a Steadicam—that’s the OIS in action. The video remains synced; there’s no lag on the recording. You get bokeh, which Samsung calls Live Focus, along with stickers and a somewhat questionable visual-search app called Bixby Vision. There’s also panorama, slow motion, and a pro manual mode. You can expand the viewfinder to fill the whole screen, and turn the camera button into a floating button. It makes for a really immersive, big-screen feel. The phone switches between 1x and 2x modes very quickly. The bokeh effects look great, and you can even tweak the bokeh focus after the fact, creating new JPG versions of the image with different focal depth. I’ve used the Galaxy S8, the Note 8, and the LG V30 recently, and it’s interesting to compare the different dualcamera approaches. Taking photos of kids at a Morris dance, for instance, I found that the wide-angle V30 encouraged me to see the whole scene as a group, while the zoom cameras encouraged me to focus on my own child. It’s worth thinking about. In any case, I’d choose the wide-angle or telephoto dual-lens options over the Essential (and Huawei’s) black-and-white/color dual lens, which doesn’t seem to bring any picture-taking advantages.
You can expand the viewfinder to fill the whole screen, and turn the camera button into a floating button.
COMPARISONS AND CONCLUSIONS The Note 8 is the pinnacle of smartphone technology right now. No phone has a better processor, screen, sound quality, reception, or camera. It costs a lot of money, but you’re getting what you pay for. Will any new phone upend our recommendation of the Note 8? Here’s where we have to make some guesses. First, the S8 will be the only phone with the S Pen. If you’re a pen user, the Note 8 is the phone for you. If you’re a faithful, longtime Samsung owner who likes the company’s design and services, this device is terrific. If you have a ote , you’re going to get faster performance, a brighter screen, and dual cameras. Go for it. If you’re a Note 4 dead-ender obsessed with your removable battery, we’ve got nothing for you. If you’re just looking for a large-screen phone, lots of options out there won’t make you pay close to $1,000. The V30 is sure to be less expensive (that’s how LG rolls), and it has the additional T-Mobile coverage created by 600MHz support. Meanwhile, we can’t count out the possibility that the new iPhone or Pixel will have some crazy-amazing camera technology. If you’re wondering, there’s no harm in waiting until mid-October, when all of these phones will almost certainly have hit the market. But I suspect any differences will be incremental. There’s not going to be a feature (other than iOS, which is another story entirely) that will blow the Note 8 away. I’m still going to recommend the Galaxy S8 for most people, though, for two reasons: It’s $200 less expensive, and I have a notorious bias toward smaller, one-handed phones. But if you’re looking for a reason to get the Note 8, get it. You’ll be happy you did. SASCHA SEGAN
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Tile Pro Sport $35 L L L l h
Tile Pro Sport Helps You Find Your Missing Items I have a bad habit of misplacing my Bluetooth headphones after I exercise in the morning. They always turn up, but I have to search. For you, it could be your wallet, keys, or something else, but the wave of panic feels the same. Tile has a solution: the Pro Sport, a BluetoothEDITORS’ CHOICE connected tracking device that helps you find your stuff. At ( 0 for a two-pack), the Sport attaches to just about anything you often misplace. Long-range Bluetooth tracking locates tagged items, a loud built-in alarm lets you know if they’re in the same room, and a rugged, waterproof build means you don’t have to worry about durability. The Sport is a marked improvement over Tile’s earlier efforts, including the Mate, and it’s the best tracking device we’ve tested, making it our Editors’ Choice.
DESIGN AND DURABILITY The Pro Sport has a dark-slate finish with a grippy tread-like texture. It looks and feels more premium than the Tile Mate: It has a similar shape with rounded edges but adds a thick ring around the sides. An opening in the left corner makes it easy to clip onto key rings and bags. A circular button that activates your phone’s ringtone is in the middle. Despite some added bulk due to the ruggedized design, the Sport is still pretty slim and light at 1. by 1. by 0.2 inches (HWD) and 0. ounces. It’s just a little wider than the Tile Mate (1. by 1. by 0.2 inches, 0.2 ounces), and barely larger than the Tile Pro Style (1. by 1. by 0.2 inches, 0.4 ounces). I had no problem attaching it to my backpack and headphones, slipping it in my wallet, or just keeping it in my pocket. The Sport feels a good deal more sturdy than the white plastic Tile Mate. It’s also a bit more rugged than the Style. According to Tile, the Sport’s thicker ring makes it more resistant to physical impact. It’s also better able to withstand environmental extremes like high and low temperatures and high humidity. The tracker didn’t have any trouble surviving several hard drops against a number of different floor types, including concrete and wood. It even survived a drop down two stories of stairs in PCMag’s office building without so much as a scuff. And if it gets dirty, you can just rinse it off, because the Sport is rated IP 8 waterproof—it can be immersed in up to feet of water for 0 minutes. That makes it an especially useful companion for gear you bring to the gym or take outdoors, since you don’t have to worry about sweat or rain. The alarm even works underwater, though the sound will be (understandably) muffled.
Tile Pro Sport PROS Rugged, waterproof build. Long range. Supports alarm volume control. Compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. CONS Non-removable battery.
SOFTWARE Setting up the Pro Sport is no different than setting up previous Tiles. Pairing takes place through the Tile app for Android and iOS devices. I used an iPhone s Plus and was quickly connected without a hitch. Once you’re up and running, you can choose the type of Tile you have, what’s it’s attached to (car, backpack, keys, wallet), choose a ringtone, and set a custom photo. Be careful, though, as once a Tile is activated on your account, you can’t deactivate it and re-pair it with a different account without contacting the company. I decided to use the Sport to keep track of my keys, since in addition to my headphones, they’re one of the things I carry around just about everywhere. The Tile attached easily to my key ring and didn’t add noticeable weight or bulk to my pocket. Keeping track of the Sport is easy. When you open up the Tile app, the last known position appears on a map. When you’re within Bluetooth range, you can hit the Find button to ring its loud alarm. According to Tile, the alarm is twice as loud as the 88-decibel alarm on previous models. I measured it to an ear-piercing 120 decibels with a sound-level meter. Ringing it in the office attracted the attention of colleagues near and far. Currently, there are eight ringtones to choose from, and you can pick between three volume levels: muted, half, or full. More granular control over the volume would be a welcome feature. I found that the full setting was too loud in the office, but half wasn’t loud enough to be heard over background noise. If you don’t want to disrupt those nearby, you can use a proximity sensor in the app that displays a series of circles to give you an idea of how close or far you are from the tracker. It’s not quite pinpoint accuracy, but it certainly helps if you can’t hear (or don’t want to sound) the alarm.
If your Tile is missing and you aren’t in range, it can route through another Tile user to automatically send you an alert with its current location. Successful recovery of a lost or stolen item via this functionality is a long shot, though. PERFORMANCE The most impressive part of the Sport is its Bluetooth range. According to Tile, it works at up to 200 feet from your phone, which is twice as far as the Mate and Slim. For range testing, I placed the Sport on a table, then walked away from it until the Tile app could no longer register that it was nearby and showed connection had been lost. I measured the distance using the Measure app on the Asus ZenFone AR. Testing outdoors in an area with a clear line of sight, I recorded a maximum of 128 feet before the connection dropped. Indoors, traveling down a long hallway, the connection held for up to 1 feet. Bluetooth range can easily be impacted by environmental factors including interference from other devices nearby, so your actual range may vary considerably. Even though these results aren’t quite the 200 feet Tile claims, they’re impressive nonetheless, and a lot longer than the range you’ll find on other Bluetooth devices.
And in case you’re away from both your phone and your Tile, the Sport features Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility. Once you’ve configured the Tile skill through the Alexa app, you can say, “Alexa, ask Tile to ring my keys.” Your Tile will sound an alarm if it’s in Bluetooth range, and Alexa will provide its last known location if isn’t. Google Assistant provides the same functionality on the Google Home, Android phones, and iPhones using the Google Assistant app. Using an Echo Dot at home, I was able to reliably locate my misplaced keys and phone. The only real downside is that the battery is nonremovable, so once it dies, you’ll need a new Tile. But it lasts for about a year, and the reTile program offers automatic replacements at a discounted price. The TrackR Bravo has a removable battery, but its faint alarm and vague location estimates make it a less effective tracker. CONCLUSIONS The Tile Pro Sport offers plenty of improvements to justify the 10 bump in price over the Mate. Increased durability, longer Bluetooth range, and a louder alarm make it the best tracking device we’ve tested to date. The Tile Pro Style is a fantastic, less-sporty-looking alternative for the same price, but we’re giving a slight preference to the Sport for its increased durability. That makes it our Editors’ Choice and a fantastic way to keep track of your easy-to-lose belongings. AJAY KUMAR
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Once you’ve configured the Tile skill through the Alexa app, you can say, ‘Alexa, ask Tile to ring my keys.’
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Five Top Portable Chargers and Power Banks
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On the pocket-friendly front, the RadioShack Lipstick Portable Power Bank is a tiny, 2.4-ounce tube you won’t have trouble fitting in even the tightest skinny jeans. But it holds only 2,200mAh of power, which isn’t quite enough for a full phone charge. The Ventev Powercell is shaped more like a pocket protector, and provides a bit more charge, at 3,000mAh. Higher-capacity batteries may not fit in your pants pocket but can still be stowed in a jacket pocket. The Anker PowerCore 10000, for instance, packs a generous 10,000mAh (good for about three full phone charges) in a 7.0-ounce slab you can carry with little difficulty. When you’re planning on being off the grid for an extended period, the 30,000mAh Aukey Portable Charger can charge the standard phone about 10 times. But it’s also roughly the size of a laptop power brick and will need to be carried in a bag or suitcase. INPUT AND OUTPUT PORTS The type of port (or ports) a battery has determines not only whether it is compatible with the devices you want to charge but also dictates charging speed. At a minimum, most battery packs will have a micro USB port for input and a USB-A port for output. USB-C allows you to charge faster and can be found in many new phones, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Both the Mophie Powerstation USB-C and Monoprice Select Series have USB-C ports for input and output (USB-C cables are reversible).
Lightning is a proprietary Apple technology, so companies need to pay Apple when they use it; that means it is a bit less commonly used. The Aukey Portable Charger has a Lightning input for charging the battery itself, and the PhoneSuit Journey All-In-One features a built-in Lightning cable for charging your iPhone or iPad. FAST CHARGING Another factor to consider before you buy is how fast the battery pack can charge your phone. The output of a battery is measured in voltage and amperage. Amperage (or current) is the amount of electricity flowing from the battery to the connected device; voltage is the amount of potential energy. Multiplying volts by amps gives you wattage, the measure of total power. To make a device charge faster, most manufacturers either vary the voltage or boost the amperage to increase the total wattage. Standard USB 3.0 ports output at a level of 5V/0.9A. Fast charging starts at V 2-2.4A, which you’ll find in the Mophie Powerstations (2.1A), for instance. Mophie supports a generic level of fast charging that’s not tied to any particular standard. The two primary fast-charging standards you’re likely to encounter are Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging and Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0. They work in a similar manner—by increasing voltage rather than amperage. As you might imagine, Samsung’s Fast Charging works only with certain Samsung devices, and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 requires your device to have a compatible Snapdragon chipset. These standards allow you to charge supported phones to 50 percent capacity in 30 minutes, which is very useful when you need power in a pinch.
To make a device charge faster, most manufacturers either vary the voltage or boost the amperage to increase the total wattage.
Keep in mind that your phone will take in only as much power as its charging circuit is designed for. You can plug it into a 5V/2A battery, but if it’s able to handle just 5V/1A, that’s the rate at which it will charge. Also, iPhones don’t support any type of fast charging. PASS-THROUGH AND WIRELESS CHARGING There are a couple of other aspects to consider before you select a backup battery. Pass-through charging lets you charge devices connected to the battery while the battery itself is also being charged. If both your phone and backup battery are running on empty, this is a very useful feature. Wireless charging, while cool, has yet to really take off. Qi is the dominant standard, and it’s largely limited to some Samsung phones or to protective cases with builtin wireless charging capabilities. That said, those who want a battery pack that’s capable of wireless charging have options. The Mophie Charge Force Powerstation, for instance, is a rubberized black slab that supports Qi wireless charging. And when you use a Mophie wireless charging case with it, such as the Juice Pack Air for the Apple iPhone 7, a magnetic connection holds your phone in place. SHOULD YOU BUY A BATTERY CASE INSTEAD? Do you often forget to carry your backup battery? Consider using a dedicated battery case instead. It combines the portability and protection of a case with a built-in power cell to keep your phone topped off at all times. Battery cases are available for most marquee phones. The downside is that they often have lower charging capacities than dedicated batteries do, and you can’t charge anything else with them.
Pass-through charging lets you charge devices connected to the battery while the battery is also being charged.
Anker PowerCore 10000 With Quick Charge 3.0 Review $35.99 EDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CHOICE
L l l l h PROS: Affordable. Compact and lightweight. Large battery capacity. Supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. CONS: No pass-through charging. BOTTOM LINE: The Anker PowerCore 10000 is an affordable, compact backup battery that can keep your phone running for an entire day of nonstop use.
Aukey Portable Charger With Quick Charge 3.0 And Lightning $74.99 L l l l m PROS: Massive capacity. Relatively affordable. Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and adaptive charging. Lightning and micro USB ports. CONS: Big and bulky. No pass-through charging. No micro USB or Lightning cable included. BOTTOM LINE: The massive Aukey Portable Charger backup battery can power up just about any mobile device as quickly as possible, for days on end.
Mophie Charge Force Powerstation Review $99.99 L l l l m PROS: Qi wireless charging. Large capacity. Pass-through charging and fast charging. CONS: Pricey. Bulky. No Qualcomm Quick Charge. BOTTOM LINE: The Qi-enabled Mophie Charge Force Powerstation battery pack can wirelessly charge your supported phones and tablets.
Mophie Powerstation USB-C Review $99.95 L l l l m PROS: Stylish design. USB-C charging port. Capacious battery. Supports fast charging and pass-through charging. CONS: Expensive. BOTTOM LINE: The Powerstation USB-C backup battery from Mophie offers a solid dose of extra power, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relatively pricey.
PhoneSuit Journey All-In-One Charger Review $59.99 L l l h m PROS: Compact. Built-in micro USB and Lightning cables. Plugs directly into wall outlets. Supports pass-through charging and fast charging. CONS: Not much battery capacity. BOTTOM LINE: The PhoneSuit Journey All-In-One Charger is a compact backup battery that makes for an ideal travel companion.
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Our New Best High-End All-in-One Desktop Plan to replace your hard drive or add memory in a few years? Want to add a better video card? You’re probably eyeing a conventional desktop tower over an all-in-one EDITORS’ CHOICE (AIO), many of which don’t have userserviceable components. The Dell XPS 27 All-in-One ($1,399, $2,599 as tested) begs you to reconsider. Not only are its components upgradeable, but it also has one killer rare feature that would be exceedingly difficult and expensive to add to a desktop: This 27-inch AIO sports a whopping 10 speakers (some downward-facing and others front-facing) that result in one of the bestsounding computers you can buy. It’s fast, too—a processor upgrade makes the latest XPS 27 even better than its predecessor. It’s our new Editors’ Choice for best high-end all-in-one.
Dell XPS 27 (Kaby Lake, 2017) $1,399.99 L L L l m
ENOUGH AUDIO FOR A HOME THEATER The XPS 27 has six front-firing speakers mounted in its bezel below the screen, lending the PC a mildly aggressive look. A black bezel, a black stand, and verydark-gray aluminum on the rest of the chassis underline this look. It’s by no means an ugly design, but neither is it as svelte as the Apple iMac 27-Inch With 5K Retina Display. It’s also not as distinctive as the ultra-wide HP Envy 34 Curved All-in-One, which shared our previous Editors’ Choice for high-end all-in-ones with the Microsoft Surface Studio.
Dell XPS 27
In addition to the front-firing speakers are four more downward-facing ones that hide behind the screen. All told, there are two tweeters, six full-range drivers, and two passive radiators that ensure robust bass. Dynamic amplifiers deliver 50 watts of power for each channel, and the net result is that we recorded an ear-shattering 107dB at full volume when we tested the speakers earlier this year, enough to be heard more than 200 feet away through walls, glass, and office furniture.
Among the 10 speakers are two tweeters, six fullrange drivers (two of which are downfiring), and two passive radiators.
(Kaby Lake, 2017) PROS 4K touch screen. Superb audio. Excellent graphics and multimedia performance. CONS Pricey. Awkward port placement.
At 17 by 25 by 3 inches (HWD), the XPS 27 is a fairly standard-sized 27-inch AIO, though all of those speakers weigh it down significantly. Our review unit comes in at just more than 38 pounds, nearly 18 pounds heavier than the 27-inch iMac. You can also ascribe part of the weight difference to the stand that Dell devised for the touch-screen version of the XPS 27. Among Microsoft’s many requirements for touch-enabled Windows desktop displays is that they offer a variety of viewing angles, so the stand articulates to enable the XPS 27 to move completely parallel or perpendicular with your desk and to pretty much any angle in between. The horizontal orientation would be particularly useful as a digital canvas for kids to “paint” on, and the stand is sturdy enough to withstand their antics. If you opt for the non-touch XPS 27, you’ll shave 10 pounds from the weight, but you’ll end up with a non-articulating stand. The touch screen is extremely capable, boasting a 4K resolution and crisp, bright text and images. Touch gestures feel very natural, with excellent accuracy and very little latency when you’re dragging application windows with the tip of your finger. Below the screen is an array of four microphones and a 720p camera that’s compatible with Windows Hello facial recognition. That can be especially handy when you’re using the XPS 27 in the kitchen to display recipes, and you need to wake it up without getting cookie dough all over the keyboard or screen. The keyboard and mouse that come included in the box are both wireless and use a single USB receiver to connect, though they’re also Bluetooth-compatible. I found the lightweight keyboard very comfortable for short typing sessions, but the boomerang-style mouse is more awkward, offering nowhere to rest my thumb and pinky finger.
The touch screen is extremely capable, boasting a 4K resolution and crisp, bright text and images.
The XPS 27 comes with a robust port complement for an all-in-one, including an easily accessible USB 3.0 port on the right edge and a headphone jack and SDXC card reader on the left. The rest of the ports are woefully hard to reach, however, since they’re located underneath the stand arm on the back of the chassis. They include a second audio-out port, four more USB 3.0 jacks, a set of two USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3, an Ethernet jack, and HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. The downward-firing speakers eliminate the possibility of a more accessible placement, such as the one at the bottom-right of the rear of the iMac, which is a shame for anyone who frequently needs to plug in and unplug a Thunderbolt hard drive. Hidden beneath a cover near the rear ports are two screws that hold the back panel in place. Remove it for full access to the system’s components, including the hard drive and memory, which makes the XPS 27 a good choice for tinkerers who are planning upgrades later on. Our review unit came with 16GB of memory and a 512GB PCIe solid-state drive. You can choose a hybrid drive configuration with a 2TB 5,400rpm hard disk and a 32GB M.2 SATA SSD cache instead. On the non-touch model, which starts at $1,549, the base drive configuration is a hybrid with a 1TB disk and a 32GB cache. Both touch and non-touch XPS 27 models come with built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2, as well as a one-year hardware warranty that includes onsite service. Service add-ons include up to four additional years of warranty coverage and accidental damage service, for upcharges that range as high as $299.
The XPS 27’s articulating stand can tilt forward 5 degrees and backward 60 degrees, and you can make the screen lay horizontally.
BETTER COMPONENTS, IMPRESSIVE RESULTS A graphics upgrade and a switch to Intel’s seventh-generation Kaby Lake processors means that the XPS 27 performed exceptionally well on our graphics and productivity performance tests. With a Core i7-7700 CPU running at 3.6Ghz, it outperformed most of its high-end AIO competition, with the exception of the gaming-focused Digital Storm Aura. Its performance on the Handbrake video-encoding test (0:52), the Cinebench 3D benchmark (860), and the Photoshop image-manipulation tasks (2:34) were slightly improved compared with its predecessor and markedly better than that of the 27-inch iMac and a pair of HP Envy all-in-ones. The HP Envy 34 Curved All-in-One scored higher on the PCMark 8 benchmark, however, which measures typical productivity and multimedia tasks. The XPS 27 demonstrated similar improvements in gaming performance. Its AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU lets it deliver impressive frame rates on our Heaven and Valley tests. At medium quality settings, it recorded an average of 154fps on the Heaven test and 137fps on Valley. When I turned the quality settings up to ultra at 1080p resolution, the XPS 27 also delivered performance that blew away most of the competition. On the 3DMark graphics benchmarks, the XPS 27 also fared better than the rest of the lineup, again with the exception of the gaming-specific Aura. CONCLUSION Copious graphics and computing power along with a 4K touch screen and a speaker complement worthy of a home-theater setup suggest that Dell intends the XPS 27 to fulfill pretty much any computing need a modern household could have, and it’s enough to make this high-end AIO our new Editors’ Choice. All that performance will take a toll on your wallet, though. If you just want a pretty all-in-one that sounds good, you can buy the base model for $1,549, which comes with a slower processor, less memory, and an inferior graphics card but still includes a 4K display and 10 speakers. Meanwhile, gamers who care about eking out every last frame should consider the Digital Storm Aura, which boasts a superior Nvidia GPU, and video editors should consider the 5K resolution on the 27-inch iMac. TOM BRANT
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The Ideal Mainstream Business Laptop The Lenovo ThinkPad T470 starts at a reasonable $783 for a base model, but the $1,383.20 model I tested is well worth the price of the upgrades. In return, you get a EDITORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CHOICE mainstream business laptop with 16GB of RAM, a full HD glare-resistant screen, a speedy PCIebased 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro, and one of the best backlit keyboards on a laptop. Add $15, and you can substitute an extended battery that will let you use the system for more than 17 hours. Any way you look at it, the T470 is the laptop you should get for your workforce, supplanting the pricier C-level Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon as our latest top pick for business laptops.
Lenovo ThinkPad T470 Starts at $783.20; $1,383.20 as tested L L L l h
CLASSIC AESTHETICS, NEW FEATURES The matte charcoal-gray exterior has a soft-touch surface, and the red eraser-shaped TrackPoint controller is right where you would expect it, in the middle of the comfortable keyboard. The T470 measures 0.79 by 13.25 by 9.15 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.74 pounds with its standard three-cell battery. Substituting the six-cell extended battery increases the weight slightly, to 4.15 pounds. Although it’s not the lightest or the thinnest laptop, it’s only a smidge larger and heavier than rivals including the Dell Latitude 14 5000 series (5480), the Lenovo ThinkPad T470s, and the HP EliteBook 1040 G3. You’ll have no problem sliding the T470 into any laptop bag designed for 15-inch-or-smaller laptops. IT teams will like a new feature built into the chassis: Removing the keyboard and gaining access to the motherboard is now a simple matter of undoing two screws, rather than the multiple screws and case tabs of last year’s model. Lenovo also adds a single USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 technology, compared with the minimum two on the Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch. But it also has a traditional USB 3.0 port and the ThinkPad AC adapter connector on its left side. On the right is an Ethernet port, an HDMI jack, a headset jack, a Kensington lock port, an SD card reader, and two more USB 3.0 ports. This wide selection of ports is a lot more convenient than the ports on the MacBook Pro, which require clunky adapters for USB Type-A, HDMI, or Ethernet connectivity.
Lenovo ThinkPad T470 PROS Comfortable keyboard. 17 hours of battery life with upgraded battery. Hot-swappable battery. Ethernet port and Thunderbolt 3 port. CONS Muddy sound. Matte screen finish dulls colors.
Though it boasts an all-new chassis, the T470 looks as familiar as the latest T-series ThinkPads.
STILL THE BEST KEYBOARD The backlit keyboard is spill resistant, and each scalloped key has a comfortable amount of travel. After using the shallow keyboard on the Apple MacBook Pro, the T470 is an almost luxurious experience. Typing for several hours at a time is no problem on the T470, a trait it shares with the X1 Carbon, the ThinkPad T470s, and virtually every other ThinkPad over the past few years. While still good, the keyboards on the HP EliteBook 1040 G3 and the Dell Latitude 14 5000 series are like flying business class to the ThinkPad’s first class.
It has an embedded TrackPoint pointing stick for ThinkPad vets and a one-piece touchpad below three physical mouse buttons. The touchpad uses Microsoft’s TouchPad technology, so Windows 10 updates its drivers automatically, simplifying support. The fingerprint reader that sits to the right of the keyboard works with Windows Hello and can be integrated into your company’s security policies for one-touch logins to your accounts.
The backlit keyboard is spill resistant, and each scalloped key has a comfortable amount of travel. Typing for several hours at a time is no problem on the T470.
SOUND AND VISION: ADEQUATE FOR BUSINESS The system’s speakers are under the base, pointed out from the front of the laptop. They provide enough volume to fill a small room but are tuned for voice rather than for music or layered sounds from videos. They sounded fine for lectures on YouTube, for example, but during the trailers for movies like Doctor Strange and The Avengers, background sound effects and music muddled the voices and were a detriment to clarity. Likewise, the anti-glare coating on the non-touch 14-inch screen quelled reflections from the room, but dimmed colors. The full HD (1,920-by-1,080) resolution IPS display has enough room to work but is only rated for 220 nits, identical to the Dell Latitude 14 5000 series but far dimmer than the MacBook Pro’s 2,560-by-1,600 resolution screen (500 nits) or the Dell XPS 13 Touch’s 3,200-by-1,800 resolution display (400 nits). 220 nits is adequate for viewing office documents, but one of the latter two notebooks would be better for viewing photos and videos critically or using the laptop outdoors. A 720p webcam is centered above the screen, right where you’d expect it. Dualarray microphones are situated next to the camera, and they feature noise reduction for web conferences and the like. Camera quality is perfectly adequate for one-on-one or one-to-many webcasts over Skype for Business or other services. The T470 comes with a one-year warranty.
GET THE EXTENDED BATTERY, TRUST ME An Intel Core i5-7300U processor with Intel HD Graphics 620 powers the T470. It’s very close in performance to other business systems, including those with slightly faster Core i7-7600U processors. It returned a score of 3,132 points on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, which was only slightly slower than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the ThinkPad T470s, and the HP EliteBook 1040 G3. It was competitive with the Core i7-equipped Dell Latitude 14 7000 series (7480) on the multimedia tests (Handbrake, 2:04; CineBench, 356 points; Photoshop 3:31), matching the latter on the Handbrake score and edging the Dell on CineBench by 4 points. Like most business laptops with integrated graphics, the T470 didn’t return the 30 frames per second that we consider playable on the Heaven (24fps) and Valley (29fps) tests, but it was a close second to the Apple MacBook Pro. Battery life is a high point for the T470. It comes equipped with a three-cell internal battery along with a three-cell hot-swappable external battery. The combination of both three-cell batteries lasted 9 hours and 21 minutes on our rundown test. But a six-cell removable battery is only a $15 upsell, and it lets you run the computer away from AC power for 17 hours, 39 minutes. That’s much longer than the Apple MacBook Pro (16:26), the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (15:59), or the Dell Latitude 7480 (13:03). With hot swapping and a supply of fresh batteries, you can extend this many more hours. THE CLASSIC BUSINESS LAPTOP In many ways, the Lenovo ThinkPad T470 is close to ideal for business. It has classic aesthetics, is powerful enough for most office tasks, is comfortable enough to satisfy a wide range of business users, can be configured up or down depending on your budget and needs, and has the potential for 17.5 hours of battery life on a single charge. It costs less than both of its siblings, the T470s and the X1 Carbon (which it also outnumbers in ports). I have no qualms awarding our latest Editors’ Choice for business laptops to the ThinkPad T470, which replaces the X1 Carbon. JOEL SANTO DOMINGO
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Logitech’s Reliable Wireless Gaming Keyboard
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ome gamers prefer tricked-out keyboards with customizable RGB lighting and flashy design cues, while others are fine with a rather plainlooking board as long as it has reliable mechanical switches and a few programmable keys. The Logitech G613 is the epitome of the latter, but it adds a twist: This is a wireless board, connecting to your gaming rig either via a USB adapter or Bluetooth. There aren’t many wireless gaming keyboards on the market, so the G613 is one of the only options that can help unclutter your desk without compromising accuracy or typing feel. Its feature list isn’t as extensive as those of wired keyboards in its price range, though, including the current Editors’ Choice Corsair K95 RGB.
Logitech G613 Wireless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard $149.99 L L L H m
DESIGNED TO BLEND IN, NOT SHOW OFF Essentially a large slab of plastic in two shades of gray, the G613 is of satisfying heft but understated looks. In fact, there are only two things that tip you off to its gaming prowess: the single column of six G keys along the left edge and the switch that lets you toggle in and out of game mode on the right side. Without them, it could pass for pretty much any standard keyboard that comes in the box with a new PC. The design is largely a matter of personal preference. I care little for ostentatious keyboard designs that scream “PC gamer!” such as the Das Keyboard X40 Pro, with its aluminum top panel that’s intricately designed with a dynamic collection of geometric shapes. I much prefer a less distracting design. The wrist rest is a nice feature to have, and I found it to be comfortable during a few multi-hour typing sessions. At this price, however, I expect it to be detachable, like the one on the Corsair K95 RGB. Instead, it’s an integral part of the keyboard and can’t be removed. One of the benefits of a wireless keyboard, other than freeing your desk from wires, is that you can easily move it around and even bring it to the couch for a casual gaming session on your home theater PC. But the G613’s integrated wrist rest brings the board’s total weight to .2 pounds, which is significantly heavier than most ultraportable laptops.
Logitech G613 Wireless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard PROS Easy-to-use Logitech Gaming Software. Understated, even elegant styling. CONS Non-removable wrist rest. No lighting. Lacks a built-in battery.
The G keys are arranged in groups of two in a single column that lies next to the Escape key, so if you program any to perform actions that require fast-twitch response times, you’ll mostly be activating them with the pinky or index finger of your left hand. The G and G4 keys in particular are easy to reach with your pinky finger via a quick twist of the wrist without actually repositioning your hand. While it would have been nice of Logitech to include many more G keys (there are 18 on the Corsair K95 RGB, for instance), their thoughtful placement makes up for their relative scarcity. The only other addition to the standard 101 keys you’ll find on any other U.S. keyboard are two rows of media controls above the number pad, which let you adjust volume, play, pause, rewind, and fast forward through music or videos. To the left of the volume controls are two buttons for connecting the keyboard to your PC via the included USB receiver or Bluetooth. (I used my review unit with the receiver, which connected instantly, sparing me from the cumbersome Bluetooth pairing process that sometimes plagues wireless peripheral setup). Finally, there’s a Game Mode toggle switch. You slide it to the right to activate Game Mode, which disables the Windows, Menu, and FN keys to prevent interruptions when you inevitably strike the wrong key in a bout of intense gaming. CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING, BUT DON’T EXPECT LIGHTS You can customize which keys are deactivated in Game Mode, map functions to G keys, and perform a dizzying array of other modifications to the keyboard’s behavior using the Logitech Gaming Software control panel. It’s the same software that powers the G613’s companion mouse, the Logitech G603. It works with either Windows or macOS and includes three main windows.
I care little for ostentatious keyboard designs that scream “PC gamer!” such as the Das Keyboard X40 Pro.
The first window lets you customize the G keys, offering dozens of presets as well as the ability create your own macro commands. For non-gaming use, I find the ability to assign left and right mouse clicks to the G keys to be very helpful, since it gives the tired pointer finger on my right hand a break from clicking. The second window offers customization for game mode; you can deactivate additional buttons by clicking them and even create multiple profiles. The third window offers a nifty—albeit gimmicky—input analysis recorder, which you can activate to record all of your key presses over a specific period of time. The software will then create a key press heat map. Pro tip: Instead of opening this window each time you want to activate the recorder, you can just assign it to a G key. There’s a significant omission in the Logitech software that you’ll find in the software of other gaming keyboards: lighting controls. That’s because there are no lights on the G613, save for Caps Lock and battery indicators. That’s likely to be a major deal-breaker for gamers looking to upgrade from a board that offers RGB lighting. The lack of lights on the G613 is understandable, since including them would result in a significant battery-life hit, but the fact remains that an unlit keyboard is unappealing to many gaming enthusiasts. Also missing is an integrated lithium-ion rechargeable battery, like those on other non-gaming, high-end Logitech boards such as the Craft. You’ll need to bring your own rechargeable batteries to swap out or just use regular old AA cells; at least you won’t have to deal with them very often, thanks to Logitech’s estimated 18 months of battery life.
SWITCHES: A MATTER OF PREFERENCE Logitech uses its own Romer-G switches for gaming keyboards instead of the Cherry MX switches on most other competing models. Switches are also a matter of personal preference. I find them comfortable for typing but less so for gaming, since they’re linear switches that don’t provide the satisfying clicky feel of a Cherry MX Red. That’s the opposite of conventional mechanical keyboard wisdom, however, which holds that clicky switches are better for typing and linear switches are better for gaming, since they have lower activation force. Ultimately, you’ll need to try out the G613 to evaluate the switches for yourself. Unlike how key switches feel, a gaming keyboard’s response time is less open to interpretation. It’s a particular concern for a wireless keyboard, since radio interference may affect the signal between the board and the PC. Logitech claims its wireless technology (“Lightspeed”) limits latency and achieves “wiredlike” performance. In two days of nearly continuous use, including marathon typing sessions and some light gaming, I didn’t notice any difference in response times between the G613 and my usual wired keyboard, a Logitech G810 Orion Spectrum. But the Lightspeed signals are sent over the crowded 2.4GHz band, which is shared by everything from cordless phones to wireless routers, so your experience could vary based on how many such devices you have at home. Performance will also likely be affected if you use Bluetooth instead of the USB receiver. CONCLUSION Buying the Logitech G613 is a no-brainer if you’re in the market for a wireless gaming keyboard, since your alternatives are limited—one of the only other options is the Razer Turret, which is a specialized board designed mainly for couch use. The G613 has a lot to like, from its understated styling to its easy-touse software. On the other hand, if you’re comparing the G613 to similar wired keyboards in its price range, you might be put off by the absence of two features that define gaming keyboards customizable key lighting and Cherry switches. Add in the possibility of wireless interference, and most gaming enthusiasts would be better off sticking with a wired board such as the Corsair K95 RGB. TOM BRANT PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION
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A Hands-on Preview of Apple’s iOS 11
W
hile the new generation of iPhones always gets the lion’s share of the press every September, the latest update to the operating system that underpins iPhones (and their iPad cousins) deserves some ink, too. With iOS 11, Apple continues to move the tablet version of the mobile OS toward desktop functionality without actually merging it with macOS. Instead, iOS 11 builds on the already mature foundation of iOS, with a special emphasis on adding new ways to get work done on a tablet. The phone version doesn’t get quite as many new, shiny features, but it does get new augmentedreality capabilities, a redesigned Control Center, Photos app improvements, a redesigned App Store, Apple Pay in Messenger, an improved Siri, and more.
Apple iOS 11 (preview)
(MOSTLY) MADE FOR IPAD Although many of the new features in iOS 11 are coming to Apple screens of all sizes, most seem intended to bring the iPad and, specifically, the iPad Pro, to the level of a full-fledged laptop replacement. That said, during our time using iOS 11 on an iPad Pro, we found the new OS version makes a stronger case for the tablet as a standalone productivity device. It’s neither a desktop nor a purely mobile-feeling experience—and that’s okay. According to PCMag’s lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan, the Achilles’ heel of this approach is the lack of mouse or touchpad support, meaning you have to lift your hands away from the keyboard to perform a lot of actions. But there’s more than just that: navigating around and opening and closing multiple app windows is still less fluid an experience than on either macOS or Windows, at least in our experience with the beta. PRODUCTIVITY PROWESS Still, iOS has considerably improved its productivity prowess on the iPad, and one key to this is the new Dock. A Dock-like thing has always existed in iOS. It harkens back to the very early days of OS X and even earlier with the Apple Launcher in OS 7 and the venerable Control Strip. In the iPad version of iOS 11, the Dock stores not only shortcuts but also icons of apps that are currently in use, similarly to the way Windows 10’s Taskbar works. Most important, you can swipe up from anywhere in the OS to summon the Dock. Unlike that in macOS, the iPad’s Dock resizes as you add or remove apps from it. It also displays opportunities to interact with apps on other Apple devices via Continuity.
Apple iOS 11 PROS Game-changing multitasking options. Drag-and-drop functionality. File picker. Cool new Photos effects. Person-to-person payments. Augmented-reality support. CONS Best new features are iPadonly. Questionable notification and widget screen changes. Control Center still lacks a few useful tools.
The Dock enables enormous leaps forward in Apple’s mobile multitasking. The company recently introduced split-screen multitasking to the iPad, which lets you run two apps side by side. With iOS 11, you can still run apps side-by-side—and a new feature called Slide Over lets you drag an app out of the Dock to place it over another app in a sidebar, which you can then snap to a resizable side-by-side window. The difference between Slide Over and split screen is that, with Slide Over, both apps share the focus. Tap the top to slide the app to the left or right side of the screen and flick it up to move it out of the way. ou can also tap and drag the Slide Over app to the edge and move it into a split-screen view, similar to Window 10’s Snap Assist feature. Slide Over takes some getting used to, but it makes possible some remarkable workflows using the combination of Slide Over and split-screen. We found it similar to working on a desktop in our testing but with the focused feeling of a mobile app. And iOS 11 keeps Slide Over apps always within easy reach, especially thanks to the Dock. The iPad Pro can support up to two Slide Over apps over a third app simultaneously, while the regular iPad can only have one app in Slide Over and another underneath.
Slide Over takes some getting used to, but it makes possible some remarkable workflows, using it in combination with split-screen.
DRAG-AND-DROP FUNCTIONALITY ou can easily move text and files from one app to another with the new dragand-drop function in iOS 11. This might not sound like a stop-the-presses type of feature, since Apple popularized the concept in its early GUI, but it’s a rarity on mobile devices. Even on Android, Google has implemented only a kind of drag-and-drop to select multiple items in its Photos app and nowhere else. Windows 10 tablets such as the Surface Pro have had this functionality for a while, and it works for any file type. Drag-and-drop works as you’d expect in iOS 11 Tap and hold a file or text, and it will stick to your finger. ou can then drag the item elsewhere, to another app, a text field, or an app icon in the Dock. Lift your finger to release it and open it in the app or see it pasted in the text field. But there are two unique twists to drag-and-drop in iOS 11: First, you can add multiple items by tapping them with another finger without lifting your first finger. It’s a subtle but very smart way of using multitouch that works with either one or two hands as far as we know, it’s a first for mobile devices. Second is the places and things that can be dragged and dropped ou expect it to work with text and photos, but you can also tap an iMessage balloon and move it onto the Maps app to start a search, for instance. Another example: Layers of a mobile Photoshop project can be grouped and moved.
Though drag-and-drop is implemented throughout iOS, not everything can be dragged and not every place accepts a drop. The onus seems to be on the developers to make their apps accept dropped images, text, and so on. The challenge to the user is going to be to find out where it works. THE NEW FILES APPS The third and most critical productivity improvement in iOS 11 is the new Files app. As the name implies, it’s a filepicker for iOS, and it’s coming to both iPhone and iPad. This is the first time that iOS has given users access to files on their phones in this manner, and it’s a watershed moment for that reason alone. ou can move files, create folders, and even create nested folder structures. Alternatively, you can create color-coded tags and rely on the integrated search function to find your files. The Files app has sections down the side for Favorite folders, Tags like those in macOS, and Locations, including local device storage and iCloud Drive. Keep in mind that by default, macOS includes iCloud Drive as a top-level folder location. The app also natively supports third-party cloud-storage services, including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Adobe Creative Cloud, among others. The synergy between iOS Files and macOS is more streamlined than ever, letting you easily open and edit files on the go or on your computer. Files is a bridge between the two Apple domains that has been a long time in arriving. With Slide Over, an enhanced Dock, and the Files app, the iPad iOS 11 work experience is dramatically improved. Finding and accessing assets for, say, an illustration, is easy, and moving them into an editing app is a breeze. Using it is familiar yet novel, and the new capabilities could be game-changers for the iPad in an age of increased skepticism over the future of mobile tablets.
The third and most critical productivity improvement in iOS 11 is the new Files app. As the name implies, it’s an iOS file-picker.
STAY IN CONTROL Perhaps the most polarizing feature of iOS 11 is the new Control Center. Apple has seemed to struggle with fast actions in the past. Control Center solves this problem, somewhat: It consolidates controls from previous versions into a single mosaic of control tiles. It reminds us of Windows Phone’s tiled interface, which we quite like. The tiles can be 3D Touched for more options, and you can customize what appears in Settings, though some choices are missing in the beta, including Night Shift and VPN. Some have criticized the new Control Center for being too busy. True, it’s a new spin on the familiar iOS design, but we’re optimistic. We particularly like the volume and brightness sliders; this is a smart new way to present these controls. If anything, we’d like these options to be even more powerful. Android, for example, lets you select a wireless speaker or a different Wi-Fi network from the fast-actions screen. We hope Apple moves in this direction, but the new Control Center isn’t there yet. The updated otifications system may actually be considered a step backwards by many: Swiping down from the top of the screen now shows your notifications on the lock screen without actually locking the device. Swiping right from here, or from the home screen, still—thankfully—reveals the widgets screen, but the search bar is gone from the top. It’s a bit disorienting, even to long-time iOS users. TWEAKED AND REFINED Along with these new features are tweaks and updates to existing iOS features and included apps. There’s a lot to go through, so we’ll quickly skim through the most interesting stuff.
The Notes app, which has seen a surprising amount of investment from Apple, is getting handwriting and improved drawing support. ou can also now search handwritten notes, as long as those notes are in English or Chinese. A document-scanning feature lets you quickly capture dead-tree files, automatically cropping and correcting the image once it’s captured, similar to the Adobe Scan app. Also pushing into Adobe territory, iOS 11 includes new PDF markup tools for Pencil and iPad users, saving you from downloading the Adobe Reader app. our digital writing tool can now mark up or sign PDFs. Safari lets you capture websites as PDFs by tapping an action button with the Apple Pencil and then doodle over them, similar to the way the Edge browser’s Web Note feature works. Little tweaks like this make the already impressive Apple Pencil an even more powerful tool. When you take a screenshot in iOS 11, a preview appears in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Swipe it away to store it for later, or tap it to start marking up or sharing the screenshot immediately. ou can also drag and drop the screenshot onto the app of your choice. These are great new conveniences for an often-used feature. In the Photos app, Live Photos get some nifty new effect possibilities—Loop, Bounce, and Long Exposure. The first repeats the short 90-frame video endlessly in a Vine-like fashion. Bounce reverses and forwards the motion. And Long Exposure is great for shooting things like fireworks and waterfalls. ou now also get control over which frame appears as the still version of a Live Photo, and you can trim the short video. The Camera app also sees some subtle improvements to picture taking, but the surprise addition of automatic QR code identification is most welcome.
iOS 11 includes new PDF markup tools for Pencil and iPad users, saving you from downloading the Adobe Reader app.
Apple Maps gets improved indoor navigation, but a new feature aims for improved safety while driving. Now, your iPhone can automatically determine when you are driving and suppress distracting notifications. With iOS 11, it can send automated responses explaining that you’re too busy being a safe, responsible driver to answer that text just now. Siri can also detect when you are driving, and won’t ask you to look at content on the screen in response to queries—Siri will read it aloud instead. Apple’s voice assistant gets additional improvements in iOS 11. Just by saying “Hey Siri,” you can translate English into Chinese, Spanish, French, German, or Italian. Siri will speak out the translation and put the transliteration on the screen. Translations also have a replay button, in case the person you’re speaking to doesn’t catch your comment the first time. A subtle tweak to Siri is in its voice, which now has different inflection and tone. It will, for example, say phrases with a more natural intonation. It’s noticeable—perhaps too much so. Siri is right at the edge of an aural uncanny valley. On the visual side, Siri gets improved cards with more information and options to continue. Last, a new animated 3D icon seems to imbue Siri with an eerie intelligence. Two features we’re very keen on are small but critical. The first echoes a discarded Windows 10 feature, Wi-Fi Sense, designed to let you effortlessly share your Wi-Fi password securely to people in your Contacts list. Doing so won’t reveal your password in the process and saves them the trouble of typing it. And a new storage-optimization feature better displays what is taking up space on your device, which files are the biggest, and which apps you’ve used the least. If you’ve ever struggled to update an iOS device because you were running out of space, this could be an extremely helpful tool.
Messages between iOS devices are still end-to-end encrypted, but they’re now backed up to the cloud. Normally this would set off our privacy paranoia senses, but Apple insists that its security model prevents anyone other than the people sending or receiving these messages from reading them. Even Apple itself can’t read them, the company claims. That’s excellent, and Apple’s continued commitment to privacy and security in this age of cloud storage, big data, machine learning, and voice assistants is heartening. Apple Messages continues its assault on Facebook Messenger, which was abundantly evident in the last iOS update with all the stickers and apps. This time, person-to-person payments like those long available in Messenger make their way into Messages. We weren’t able to test this yet, but it’s a simple matter of tapping an Apple Pay icon in Messages’ app drawer during a chat session, entering an amount, and tapping Pay. ou can request or send money. Each transaction is authenticated with Touch ID. While you interact with this feature through Messages, the transactions are handled immediately on the back end. That greatly reduces opportunities for a replay attack, and transactions use the tokenized security that debuted on iOS 8 with Apple Pay. Along with this new payment option comes a prepaid Apple debit card, in what’s called Apple Pay Cash. The money you receive is deposited into this card, which is accessible from the Wallet app. This is a real, honest-togoodness debit card, backed by a real, honest-togoodness bank. ou can apply your balance on this card to any purchase you make with your iOS device or cash it out to a bank account. Signup for this service is limited to the U.S. at launch and will require you to provide some identification.
Messages between iOS devices are still end-to-end encrypted, but they’re now backed up to the cloud.
iOS 11 includes several improvements to smart-home controls, not the least of which is in AirPlay 2. Now you can control multiroom audio, setting the mood right from your iOS device. An impressive list of audio equipment companies have signed up for AirPlay 2, including Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Beats (owned by Apple), Polk, Denon, Bowers & Wilkins, and Definitive Technology. AirPlay 2 works with Siri and Apple TV, so you can shout your requests not only to Apple Music but also to third-party apps, though which ones will support it isn’t known yet. Last on this list, but certainly not the end of features in iOS 11, is an overhaul to the App Store. A visual redesign now includes advertisement-like videos that auto-play without sound. Video previews for apps take over the screen and play sound, which sounds terrible, though this new approach feels respectful. Games now get their own category in the App Store, an acknowledgement of the dichotomy that has always existed. A new editorial feature displays daily stories, including in-depth articles about apps and behind-the-scenes features. It’s an interesting idea, but like the otifications update, this redesign is a bit off-putting, replacing previous versions’ more concise layout. COMING SOON: AUGMENTED REALITY There always a lot of behind-the-scenes updates to an operating system that appeal mostly to the developers who use them to build new apps. Apple’s latest foray into machine learning is one such example, but of more interest to the average person is augmented reality (AR).
Apple has avoided virtual reality (VR), while Google and HTC have dived in headfirst with purpose-made head-mounted displays and special cradles that turn smartphones into stereoscopic VR viewers. Facebook has skin in the game with its purchase of Oculus Rift. VR is interesting, but as Pokemon Go showed, AR’s mixing of real and digital might be more engaging. Apple isn’t including any AR-powered apps of its own. Instead, iOS 11 has ARKit. This provides tools for developers to build their own apps, like a version of the holographic chess game from Star Wars that puts the Millennium Falcon’s game board on your coffee table or an app from Ikea that lets you place virtual furniture in your real home. Apple’s initial approach to AR doesn’t require additional cameras or sensors. Instead, it uses the single rear-facing camera on your phone to identify flat surfaces and onboard sensors such as the gyroscopes to interpret movement. We’ve seen demonstrations, and it’s remarkably well done; hopefully more developers will leap at this new technology. Google has invested heavily in cutting-edge AR and VR with Project Tango, as has Microsoft with its Mixed Reality and HoloLens initiatives. To get the full Tango experience, however, you need a phone or tablet with a special sensor stack. The results are astonishing, but so far, adoption has been limited. Countering ARKit is ARCore from Google, which, like Apple’s offering, uses just a single camera and existing smartphone sensors. I’ve only seen demos of these two technologies, but Apple seems to have a leg up for the moment. That’s surprising, considering that Project Tango easily blows away the competition, as long as it has those extra sensors. How this will play out in the real, augmented world is yet to be seen, however.
ARKit provides tools for developers to build their own apps, like a version of the holographic chess game from Star Wars.
GROWING AND CHANGING This year, Google sank its teeth into Android Oreo, which brings fine-grained notifications and improved performance to the world’s most prevalent mobile operating system. It’s a great update that makes Android much stronger. Apple went in a different direction with iOS 11, including in-your-face changes like the Files app, Slide Over multitasking, and an emphasis on making the iPad into a serious work machine. In some ways, Apple is bringing over some of the best ideas from Android—such as access to a file picker. In other ways, it strikes out on its own (as Apple often does) to create new workflows in iOS 11 that are unlike current mobile or desktop experiences. Comparing iOS and Android is a lot like comparing Apples and Oreos, but the differences can illuminate strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to remember that only a small minority of Android users ever get the latest version, while the vast majority of iPhone and iPad users can avail themselves of iOS updates. Apple has always done an excellent job of keeping iOS powerful but approachable—and beautiful to use. That’s still true in iOS 11, but what’s remarkable is how well it handles the potentially mess-making inclusions of the Files app and additional multitasking features. MAX EDDY, MICHAEL MUCHMORE
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THE STATE OF ANDROID The last big visual overhaul to Android dates all the way back to Android 5.0, with the rollout of Material Design. Since then, Google has focused on honing the edge of the world’s most popular mobile OS. And that’s OK. With so many handset makers and carriers to contend with, smart and subtle updates that keep Android relevant are more important than the kind of tent-pole features that appear with each iteration of Apple’s iOS. But Apple’s approach has the advantage of setting a narrative. IOS 11, which drops later this year, is focused on workflows and getting more done on mobile, particularly on the iPad Pro. It’s exciting (for iPad Pro owners, at least) and easy to explain. What, then, is Oreo? And what is Android, after eight major iterations? To me, Android has always been about putting the user at the center of the experience, while Apple puts the operating system at the center. You interact with iOS—it’s beautiful, slick, and, admittedly, very smart. But it’s inflexible, requiring you use it as intended by Apple. Android, on the other hand, is less elegant but provides you with many avenues to use it however you like. The example I often reach for to describe the difference between the two operating systems is the Settings menu. There is one way to change system settings on iPhone: in the Settings app. Android has a Settings app as well, but you can access your phone’s controls from shortcuts on the desktop, or by pulling down the notification tray. You can use one, all, or some of these, depending on what makes sense for you.
Google Android 8.0 Oreo PROS Fine-grain notification controls. Picture-in-picture. Autofill for apps. Smart icons. New emojis. Improved security features won’t limit freedom of app choice. CONS You might not get it soon, or at all. Notification swipes are very sensitive. Developer buy-in required for some of the best features. RIP blob emojis.
Oreo, in particular, is focused on notifications, which is the part of the OS that people interact with the most. Along with this are a slew of other additions, most of which require buy-in from developers in order to realize their full potential, as well as improvements to security, battery life, and overall performance. To me, however, all of these new changes are about bringing the flexibility and customization of Android to every user, and not just the power users. GOING OVERBOARD Although Android Oreo has already launched, it might be some time before it makes an appearance on your Android device. Some folks have claimed to receive overthe-air updates already, neither my T-Mobile Pixel nor my Verizon Pixel XL had been so blessed at the time I wrote this review. To test Google’s latest operating system, I manually installed Android Oreo on a Nexus 5x and an original Pixel phone. Note that when you get Android Oreo (if your device gets it), your experience may be slightly different from mine. The Pixel, for example, uses Google’s Pixel Launcher, and Samsung phones have their own visual experience as well. That’s another way in which Android and iOS—which is the same everywhere—differ. Google has become much better about working with hardware manufacturers to get operating system updates out at a faster pace, but it’s unlikely to ever be Apple-like in speed or adoption. Pixel and Nexus owners, who enjoy the pure, uncut Android experience, will be the first to bite into Oreo. In a blog post, Google writes that by the end of the year, upgraded devices or new devices with Android Oreo should be available from Essential, General Mobile, Huawei, HTC, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Nokia, OnePlus, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony.
Oreo, in particular, is focused on notifications, which is the part of the OS that people interact with the most.
This problem, which critics call “fragmentation” and Google calls “variety,” has been around for a long time, and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. By Google’s own accounting, just 13.5 percent of users are using Android 7.0 or newer, with the bulk (some 60-odd percent) stretched between 5.0 and 6.0. That leaves a full quarter running the three-year-old Kit-Kat (or an even older version), as of this writing. To Google’s credit, the company has found ways to update and secure devices without having to wait for manufacturers or wireless carriers. Note that Google gathers this information via the Google Play store, meaning that countries where Google Play is unavailable, such as China, are likely not included in the stats. NOTIFY The most obvious difference in Android Oreo is notifications, as I mentioned earlier. You can now swipe gently to the left or right to reveal a cog and clock icon. Tapping the cog opens a new screen for app-notification settings. At the top is the option to toggle notification dots on or off. I’ve hated the identifying dots that have long existed on Apple, so I switched them off immediately. At least Android won’t be using the stress-inducing alert badges that show the number of unread emails or Facebook likes. It’s the rest of the settings that are really game changers for Android, and they’re a veritable gauntlet thrown at the feet of other mobile operating systems. With Oreo, Android now provides fine-grained control over exactly what kind of alerts you can receive with notification Channels. Instead of having just an on-off switch, Channels let developers break down the notifications they want to send, and then you can opt out of the ones that don’t work for you. Twitter, for example, is constantly getting in my face about (mostly horrible) things happening online. With Channels, I can toggle seven different options on or off. Yes to DMs and security messages. No to “related to you and your Tweets.” I can even set different preferences for different Twitter accounts.
The catch to Channels is that developers have to opt into them. But Google makes a compelling argument. The previous model meant that if someone got annoyed with a new kind of notification from an app, they’d either switch off all notifications or, worse, delete the app. It’s clear, however, that there’s going to be some fudging with Channels. A final Channel in Twitter, for example, is a catchall category and makes vague mention of more options being available in the app. Still, this is a huge change for Android and one that I hope will come not just to other mobile platforms but to browsers and desktop operating systems as well. The clock lets you snooze notifications. What’s snoozing ust one of the biggest innovations in email of the last few years. Android Oreo will let you snooze a notification until later, just as you can do for alerts from Inbox by Gmail app. One neat benefit is that apps can update snoozed notifications (think of the current status of an eBay bidding war), but doing so won’t cause the snoozed notification to reappear prematurely. Developers can even cause notifications to time out if the message becomes irrelevant while it’s snoozed. Right now, Google is letting you snooze notifications for only one hour by default, with additional options for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 2 hours. I wish Oreo had more options, the way Inbox does, letting me push something off for a day, or until the weekend. I also struggled to not swipe notifications away when I meant to swipe only slightly to open the hidden notifications. Google’s Oreo wizards might want to tweak the sensitivity a smidge. A FRESH LOOK Beyond notifications, there are a few other areas where you’re likely to see changes. Icons, for example, are no longer merely images in Android Oreo. Instead of a simple image, Android icons are large buttons, masked and trimmed by the operating system. For end users, it means round or square icons, depending on the device. The coolest part of adaptive icons is that they can now be animated. Because the icons are larger than they appear, just masked by a template, the icon can move left and right in response to touch, a little like moving a picture back and forth on the other side of a keyhole. Icons also support a button-press animation, which I found did work on my Pixel and x. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any context where the parallax effect was used.
App icons are also more powerful. Long-press on one to see options such as shortcuts to features, each of which can be broken out into its own home screen icon. A major feature of Android Nougat was support for split-screen apps. These work particularly well on the Pixel C tablet, whose unusual aspect ratio makes it perfect for two side-by-side apps. Less celebrated was a picture-in-picture (PIP) mode, which was limited to devices running Android TV. With Android Oreo, tablets and handsets can now run also picture-in-picture viewing, finally letting all of us realize the dream of watching YouTube and writing an email simultaneously. At first, I had a hard time testing PIP, since apps that take advantage of it are few and far between. My first choice was YouTube, but I discovered that I would have to sign up for a monthly YouTube Red subscription to take advantage of PIP. That’s disappointing, and I hope other companies don’t follow this example. I was finally able to experience PIP with Google Duo, the company’s purpose-built video chat app. It was surprisingly simple. During my chat, I just tapped the home button. I returned to the desktop, and the video chat shrunk to a movable, resizable window. Note that Hangouts, the workhorse of Google chat, doesn’t use PIP. Note also that humans, the workhorses of Android, don’t use Duo. If you’re like me, you use emoji a lot. Sometimes, I skip words altogether and send emoji-only messages. In Oreo, Google completely overhauls the look of its emoji, rounding out the blob heads to more traditional face-shapes. Personally, I miss the weird little flan people, and the rest feel much more generic than the old set of Android emoji. On the plus side, the new emoji include new careers (such as women welders and programmers), as well as a woman in a headscarf. There’s also a T-Rex. Rarr.
Google has fully redesigned its emoji for Android Oreo; the new versions look more like iOS emoji. The company has also aimed to better represent diversity, by, for example, representing women as welders and programmers.
Note that iOS 11 also adds some emoji updates, for iPhone X users at least. Those who shell out the big bucks for Apple’s highest-end handset can use its face-scanner to map their facial expressions to “animoji,” the company’s name for animated emoji. UNDER THE HOOD Every OS update always includes a bunch of features that most people will probably never see or even know exist. That’s because they’re for developers, not regular people. But there are a few worth mentioning because they will (or at least, could) change how you experience Android. We’ve all become used to our smartphone charge lasting little more than a day, and far less when used frequently. Android Oreo fights back against power hogging by limiting what apps can do in the background. The goal is to give preference to apps that you’re using or are active and put a harder pause on those that are out of sight. A big savings comes from stricter limitations on background location data. When an app isn’t directly in use with Android Oreo, it won’t be able to check your location as often. That’s regardless of whether the app was written recently and with O in mind or is an ancient app written years before. That’s a welcome change, as so many of the most interesting parts of new operating systems go ignored by developers. I can’t say I’ve noticed a dramatic difference in battery performance, but I am looking forward to what Ajay umar and Sascha Segan find as they begin testing phones that ship with Android Oreo.
Want to send a message but don’t have cell service or a handy Wi-Fi network nearby? The Wi-Fi Aware technology baked into Oreo might help. According to Google, if your device has the appropriate hardware, it can detect other devices using the onboard Wi-Fi radio. Then, the tech sends files and information back and forth between two devices over Wi-Fi, but without a Wi-Fi network in the area. It’s basically turning your phone into a walkie-talkie, and might be really exciting if I can eventually find an app that supports it. Last is Project Treble, which effectively divides Android into three sections. One is where the apps live. Another is all the stuff carriers and manufacturers put in. The middle is what is provided by Google. This means that Google will allow manufacturers to cut out a few steps in bringing Android updates to the masses. On the Android site, Google writes that Treble will be “enabling device makers to deliver new Android releases simply by updating the Android OS framework—without any additional work required from the silicon manufacturers.” This is a great, if small, step forward for Android, making it possible for people to get the latest versions of the OS more quickly. But, make no mistake; it’s not going to mean that every Android-powered device is going to start receiving new updates at lightning speed. That Google is even trying to take more control over Android is, to my mind, can only be a good thing. SECURITY OVERHAUL Each iteration of Android has seen security improvements at a fundamental level. That’s why, despite oodles of research on exotic attacks and the largest user base the world has ever known, experts admit that Android is a fairly secure experience. I’ve picked out just a few that are the most relevant to the average Android user. The first has to do with WebView, which is the integrated browser that lets you click a link in Twitter and see the web page without jumping out of the Twitter app. Previous versions of Android introduced the option to make this web content an isolated process. That means that a malicious link wouldn’t be able to affect the rest of your phone. In Android Oreo, Google makes this the default. In my experience, isolation is a good thing, particularly when you’re dealing with links, which can be used to disguise dangerous websites.
Additionally, Google is now letting developers verify URLs in WebView through Google Safe Browsing. That’s great since Safe Browsing can screen out websites serving up malicious apps and block phishing sites, too. Modern browsers like Google Chrome have become very adept at detecting and protecting against potential dangers. Bringing that same protection anywhere a link is clicked is a major win for you and me, on the other side of the screen. Another tweak is in the Google Play store. A shield icon now appears when you download apps that Google has verified as safe. The Google Play store has an iffy reputation, built in part from the sheer volume of (mostly not great) Android apps and the semiautomated process that approves them for sale. But Google has always checked for potential security problems with real humans and has only gotten better at ferreting out threats to the ecosystem it manages. This icon just makes some of those efforts more visible. I’ve reached out to Google to better understand what a developer must do in order to get this certification. And speaking of apps, Android Oreo does away with the option to allow installation of apps from “unknown sources”: This basically means sideloading or installing apps from anywhere that’s not Google Play. But instead of locking down Android devices, as Apple has done for iPhones and iPads, Google now lets you approve or disapprove of sideloaded apps on a case-by-case basis. This gives you more control and, far more important, means that there won’t be a single setting that can be used to compromise your phone. It’s a big win. Another security feature is a new autofill API, which lets Google or other apps fill in passwords throughout Android. For years, we at PCMag have said that getting a password manager is the one single thing that people can do to improve their security, by generating, storing, and recalling unique, complex passwords for every app or service. Password managers can automatically input this information into browsers but have relied on notification shortcuts and weird floating windows to provide the same service for apps.
That’s changed with the autofill API, which recalls the passwords as you need them. Google notes that this feature is rolling out as part of an update to Google Play Services. I found that I could access some autofill options by long-pressing on a login field. By default, you’ll have any passwords that you’ve saved with Google. But users can select an autofill app the same way they select a keyboard. Unfortunately, I must not have any passwords saved with Google, and there are currently no other apps supporting the service. Hopefully that will change soon, and I can use my personal choice, LastPass. I’m really excited about this particular feature, because password security is such an easy fix. With an option to replay passwords at the core of Android, these Oreo handsets will have a real leg up on Apple’s devices. That said, I really want to see the ability to generate passwords made part of the experience. WHAT’S NOT HERE While it’s not surprising that Android Oreo is a humble update to a mature operating system, some features seem to be missing. Voice assistants are everywhere, but I didn’t find tighter integration with Google Assistant. Google has positioned itself not as a search, advertising, or mobile company, but as a company focused on machine learning, and yet I didn’t see a space for that to be leveraged in Oreo. VR has been slow boiling in Google since the company showed that a cardboard box could be a more effective VR platform than an $800 VR headset. And Project Tango is the best implementation of AR that I have seen. But neither is to be found in Oreo. That’s because Google’s approach for all of these appears to be focused on the app level. The Google Assistant is more powerful with Oreo, but in the sense that it plays nicer with third-party apps. I think that’s the company’s plan for the future, especially since a big theme of Google I/O 2017 was encouraging Android app developers to build apps for the Google Assistant. Machine learning is best put on display in the Google Photos app, which does an amazing job reading photos, even identifying the same person from baby to adulthood. At Google I/O, the company teased Google Lens, an AR information overlay that is meant to do all kinds of things. I had hoped that it would live in Android Oreo, but there’s still no sign of it months after the I/O conference.
VR and AR stand apart from the others. That’s partly because VR and Project Tango AR both require special hardware, either a headset or a special sensor stack. Apple, on the other hand, is including ARKit in iOS 11, which quickly and effectively detects flat, horizontal surfaces using only the single onboard camera and internal sensors. I’ve used the company’s demo application, and it works remarkably well. A week after the unveiling of Android Oreo, Google released ARCore, which also can create AR scenarios using standard smartphone sensors and a single camera. I have tried Google’s demo app, and I’ve so far been disappointed with the lackluster results. It feels a little “me too,” especially since the company has done so well with Tango and its VR effort, Daydream View. O IS FOR OUTSTANDING It often strikes me as silly to write reviews of operating systems. A lot of the time it feels like comparing apples to, well, Oreos. And it’s not as though you can install a different mobile operating system on your phone or tablet. This year, however, there are especially useful comparisons to make. Apple is focused on usability and creativity with tablets, while Android is focused on making all mobile devices easier to use and less annoying, with better controls for notifications. Android continues to walk a line between providing choice and blocking off attackers, while Apple stresses privacy by doing more on the device. Neither Apple nor Google have the “wrong” approach to mobile, but after years of using both platforms, the customization and control offered by Android really appeals to me. I used to say that Android was for people who wanted to muck around in the guts of their phone to make it work exactly as they wanted. That might still be true, but Android Oreo shows that it no longer takes an experienced developer to make Android into something that fits you. Apple’s unofficial motto might be “It just works,” but Android just works for you. MAX EDDY
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t a GE Renewable Energy factory in Pensacola, FL, a technician is assembling the wiring of an electrical cabinet that goes into the hub of a wind turbineâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a complex process that involves matching hundreds of wires into their corresponding sockets. The task is traditionally performed with heavy reliance on an instruction manual that contains the insertion location of each wire. But for the past 40 minutes, the technician has been meticulously going about his business with an almost unsettling precision, without pausing to glance at the thick manual sitting closed in a corner of the workshop. The technician hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t memorized the insane amount of instructions contained in the manual. Instead, he relies on Google Glass, a device that is worn like a pair of glasses and uses augmented reality (AR) technology to project step-bystep instructions for the task in his field of vision. AR, the younger cousin of virtual reality (VR), is the technology that overlays graphics and information onto real-world imagery. AR rose in fame with the advent of the mobile gaming sensation Pokemon Go and goofy Snapchat filters. But major tech companies, including Google, Facebook, and Apple, have become deeply invested in the technology, providing platforms and tools for developing AR applications. Beyond gaming and entertainment, the bigger promise for AR, which is estimated to become a $49 billion market by 2021, is for the professional hands-on workforce: Access to information and assistance on the go can make a huge difference in speed and efficiency.
General Electric is one of several companies that have been quietly testing the use of AR technology as a method for improving productivity and reducing errors. In the case of the wind turbine electrical cabinet, a firsttime use of AR glasses by the operator has resulted in a 4-percent speed gain. This trend is finding its way into other large companies across different industries, driving noticeable improvements in manufacturing, warehouse management, equipment maintenance, design, and more.
General Electric is one of several companies that have been quietly testing the use of AR technology. THE REBIRTH OF AR GLASSES Google Glass made its debut in the consumer market in 2013 with the Explorer Edition, but it failed to gain traction, because of the lack of a clear function, buggy performance, and overall creepiness—the Glass became notorious for its perceived invasiveness. People shunned it, establishments banned it, its users became known as “Glassholes,” and the project all but failed. But the same technology found a new home in hands-on workplaces such as factories, warehouses, and hospitals, where it earned the name “assisted reality.”
AR ON THE JOB Upskill provides AR software solutions for companies including Boing and GE Aviation.
“A variety of companies that work with us and work with other members in the ecosystem saw this as a potential game changer,” says Jay Kim, Chief Strategy Officer at Upskill, a prominent industrial AR solution provider. “There were real problems we were solving, whereas in the consumer context, these devices were just nice to have.” Giving workers frictionless access to information is an obvious use case for smart glasses. And companies such as Upskill enable organizations to integrate AR technologies into their workstreams. GE, one of Upskill’s main clients, has been using the company’s AR applications in a number of its sectors, including renewable energy and aviation. As they go through the steps of their workflows, workers using smart glasses can get access to instructions and detailed content about the task at hand without the need to interrupt their work. They interact with the gear through voice commands or by swiping and tapping the side of the glass. The devices let them capture information such as footage or pictures from their work environment and send it for storage in the company’s backend servers.
Giving workers frictionless access to information is an obvious use case for smart glasses.
“In an increasingly competitive global economic landscape, enterprise buyers look at every edge they can attain to maintain their competitive advantage over others,” im says. Upskill now provides service to a number of high-profile clients across various industries, including Boeing, Shell, and Hershey. “With AR, we’ve been able to drive very powerful outcomes with a number of our customers across every facet of what the hands-on workforce does, in the factory, in the manufacturing environment, out in the field and in warehouses.” MIXED REALITY IS COMING Other companies are enhancing workforce performance through mixed reality (MR), a more advanced form of augmented reality that stands somewhere between traditional AR and VR. As opposed to standard AR, which overlays graphical objects on top of real-world imagery, mixed reality has depth and creates the impression that those objects are embedded in real space. For instance, in an MR experience, a virtual object might be partially or completely obscured if a real world object stands in its path. The technology is still in its early stages. Headsets are bulkier, cover the entire vision of the user, and have a limited field of view. And beyond the high-end headsets, most MR devices require to be tethered to a computer, which makes their use a bit limited in mobile work settings. But the immersive experience of MR has some promising use cases, and many companies and investors are betting on its future. Magic Leap, an MR headset startup, has managed to raise over $1 billion in funding without even releasing its initial product. Established companies such as Microsoft and Epson have also made their move into the space.
Other companies are enhancing workforce performance through mixed reality (MR), a more advanced form of AR.
Aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin is one of the companies that is using mixed reality in a number of settings. These include the building and designing of physical prototypes such as the Orion spacecraft and the NextSTEP space habitat, two projects the company is conducting in partnership with NASA. “You’re putting an astronaut in the physical seat or shell of the Orion, and you want that astronaut to see what the inside is going to look like, but you don’t have a physical mockup of that,” says Darin Bolthouse, manager of Lockheed’s Collaborative Human Immersive Laboratory (CHILP). “We build the outer shell or basic structure of that system as a full-scale physical mockup, and then somebody can put on an augmented reality device and start to see additional engineering details.”
The immersive experience of MR has some promising use cases, and many companies and investors are betting on its future.
Using a head-mounted display such as the Microsoft HoloLens, a true MR device, a user can see the control panels, wiring, and other parts of the finalized model. “Before augmented reality, you would have to take time to build those additional details into the mockup, using printed texture maps or additional physical mockups,” Bolthouse says. Now they can directly project the CAD drawings of the model into the MR headset.
In 2015, Microsoft and Autodesk, the leader in CAD software, partnered to provide tools for visualizing and sharing 3D designs with MR technology. There are a number of areas where such tools can make a big difference, including construction, architecture, and industrial engineering. The technology can help bring designers, engineers, architects, workers and even clients on the same page by helping them visualize the project as it would appear in its actual end environment, instead of having to pore over 2D maps or look around 3D models in CAD software. “Mixed reality is the next big technological frontier within the broader context of AR,” says Kim. “Where the technology is going to evolve is that, as the content sources become ready to be consumed in an immersive fashion, we can certainly see companies start to adopt more and more of the technology... That’s going to be the next kind of evolution into a world where AR is everywhere.” A GROWING MARKET A few years back, a number of companies started pilot projects with smart glasses. Their success has encouraged others to follow suit. According to a Forrester Research study, by 202 , an estimated 14.4 million U.S. workers will be wearing smart glasses in the workplace. Google eventually released an Enterprise Edition of Google Glass. The company had fixed many of the technical flaws of the initial product, and it could now be tacked on safety glasses, making it suitable for more work environments. But Google is not the only player in the space. A handful of other companies are providing AR glasses for the workplace, including Vuzix, Intel, and Iristick. And an increasing number of client companies are jumping on the AR bandwagon to drive their business to the next level.
By 2025, an estimated 14.4 million U.S. workers will be wearing smart glasses in the workplace.
Aerospace giant Boeing, another client of Upskill, uses AR in the construction of wire harnesses. This is a manual process that is both sensitive and painstaking and involves assembling thousands upon thousands of wires for each aircraft. The company replaced phonebook-size manuals and laptops with a specialized AR app and smart glasses. The application takes the user through the steps to complete the order. The user can interact with the application through voice commands and query for assembly roadmaps for each wire. This seamless experience has enabled the aircraft manufacturer to reduce production time by 25 percent.
The company replaced phonebooksize manuals and laptops with a specialized AR app and smart glasses.
WIRING PLANES Boeing claims that by using AR glasses, it has cut production time by 25 percent and lowered error rates to nearly zero.
“Equally as important as that productivity gain was their error rate that was effectively being driven to zero,” Kim says. “Not only were they making things faster, they were also making sure that every product that was coming off that assembly line was built right. Those two factors combined translate to millions of dollars of savings when projected upon their entire operations.”
The application also enables users to replay previously recorded footage of the assembly for guidance, or to stream their point-of-view video to an expert for remote assistance. “The remote assistance is a simple but very important use case of smart glasses in professional work,” says Peter Verstraeten, CEO of Proceedix, a Belgium-based solution provider for cloud and wearable applications. “It’s like a hands-free Skype that aligns the line of sight of the field engineer and control room experts.” AGCO, a major manufacturer of agricultural equipment, enlisted the services of Proceedix a couple of years ago to incorporate smart glass technology across its factories and workshops. After working out the kinks, the company fully integrated AR into its workflow. Among the tasks that smart glasses accomplish for onsite AGCO’s workforce is getting remote help. Field service reps can send photos or livestream video of machinery to the AGCO tech support through their smart glass application and get assistance on fixing problems. As Verstraeten explains, the application of smart glass and AR is helping companies save time and traveling costs for their highly trained experts, one of their scarcest resources. Coca Cola, an Upskill client, has integrated smart glasses in its bottling facilities to obviate the need to fly in experts from Germany, where their equipment suppliers are located, for tasks such as maintenance and changeover. “By providing remote assistance in a hands-free fashion, they were able to go and get a second pair of eyes on the job, assist the operator, and reduce downtime along their manufacturing processes,” Kim says.
Coca Cola has integrated smart glasses in its bottling facilities to obviate the need to fly in experts from Germany.
“There are tremendous advantages,” says Bolthouse, the engineer from Lockheed Martin, a company where manufacturing tasks often take place in clean rooms that require special suits and entrance procedures. Having access to hands-free remote assistance from experts without having them show up on the shop floor can save a lot of time and energy. READYING THE WORKFORCE FOR THE FUTURE Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning have caused a major disruption across the employment landscape. While we’re not yet speaking of the total obsolescence of human labor, the skill requirements for jobs in various domains are shifting and increasing incrementally, creating a widening dearth of qualified candidates across various domains. For instance, the U.S. manufacturing sector is faced with a growing shortage of industrial workers. According to a 2015 Deloitte study, over 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled in the next decade. But because of the lack of skilled workers, 2 million of those jobs will remain unfilled. Many experts believe that the solution is a combination of man and machine. In this regard, assisted reality can be a game changer. “We believe that while technology isn’t necessarily [a] panacea [for] the skills gap in and of itself, it certainly has a role in being able to reduce the barrier of entry to a number of different skill positions, so people can more effectively move from one task to another or from one job to the other by being able to get live guidance at the task,” says Kim. Use cases as simple as displaying information can help workers adapt to tasks that previously required them to partially or fully memorize instructions to become proficient. Beyond that, other benefits are inherent to seeing information in the context of the real world. “It’s just going to make the ability to understand what to do easier, because you’re not going to have to be interpreting more complex engineering drawings or other information,” says Bolthouse. “By presenting information in a more intuitive and natural way, workers will no longer need to acquire some of the skill sets they had to have in the past.”
Training the workforce is another area in which augmented reality can provide positive assistance. “Headsets like the HoloLens or Epson Moverio can help build interactive training and simulation scenarios, allowing the wearer to learn about what to do in reality by putting a digital layer directly in the field of view,” says Verstraeten, the CEO of Proceedix. But he also points out the cost of the content production as a limiting factor. “It can only be justified by scenarios that are helping many users, many times, or where the cost of failure is huge,” he explains. Lockheed is using AR for educational purposes in its solar array production facility in Sunnyvale, CA, where it creates the solar wings for its satellites. Using iPad tablets and AR applications, workers view virtual models as they learn the steps of each assembly, and they can compare the real part with the AR model as they go through their work. AR AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES The real benefits of AR in improving the versatility of the workforce come into play when it’s combined with other emerging technologies, bringing digital workflows, measurability, and transparency to an entire manufacturing process. An example is GE Aviation, which started using AR along with IoT technology to reduce errors and help workers improve their performance of sensitive tasks. In its Cincinnati facility, the company’s mechanics are using smart glasses along with IoT-enabled torque wrenches in adjusting B-nuts in engine fluid lines and hoses. As they move through standard procedures and come to a step where they need to apply the torque wrench, the AR application reads the torque value from the device in real-time and projects it on the smart glass display.
“Not only are you now using AR to get assistance on how to do the work, you’re completing the loop by sending data back to the system, which gives you a certain level of compliance and gives you greater insights into how exactly your product was built and maintained,” says Kim.
AR devices will someday be able to analyze As technologies such as deep learning and computer vision and understand become more advanced and pervasive across industries, what users are augmented-reality devices will someday be able to analyze doing and help and understand what users are doing and help them in them in accomplishing tasks. accomplishing tasks. “If you have a CAD model representation of an assembly, the devices will eventually be able to validate that you did it correctly, or recognize and point out if it doesn’t match the reference material,” says Bolthouse. “The software and hardware combination doesn’t do that in a robust way right now, but that’s the intention of a lot of these things.” CHALLENGES Despite the impressive advances in augmented reality, hurdles remain. The price of AR gear has dropped considerably but is still high; for example, the Google Glass Enterprise Edition has a $1,500 price tag. For untethered mixed-reality headsets such as the Microsoft HoloLens, prices hover at around $3,000. Though in most cases, the return on investment is tremendous, the entry costs for equipping a considerable number of workers with smart glasses or MR headsets is a barrier that not all companies can handle. Current devices are also not ready to provide a fully immersive experience yet. “AR applications have to be derived from CAD drawings that are built on top of 8-core workstations with massive graphics cards,” says Kim, a requirement that makes it near-impossible to deliver that content natively on smart glasses or headsets, which have small amounts of RAM and processing capabilities.
“You’ll run into the limits of [computation],” Kim says. “If a company is trying to go and drive augmented reality applications that are more immersive and provide overlays on top of real objects, then the cost to go and build those applications is significant.” Lockheed’s Bolthouse names limited field of view, nausea, heaviness, and buggy hand-gesture recognition as some of the technical shortcoming of current hardware. “It’s like we’re still in the brick-cellphone era of wearable AR devices,” he says. “Though the value of how these devices are going to be applied is extremely obvious, and we’re anticipating their use, I think before widespread adoption, you have to solve a lot of these technical issues.” For the moment, assisted reality—delivering information found in large companies’ existing databases—is where AR can be adopted at scale, a usage that more and more companies are employing. “It’s a smaller screen experience and not immersive, but they contain all the information that people are accustomed to seeing day in and day out as they’re doing their work,” im says. “We think that’s the first step to the wide-scale adoption of AR down the road.” We might not yet be ready to see people wearing AR glasses and headsets in streets, shops, and (especially) public restrooms—at least, that’s what the original Google Glass experience showed. But the hands-on workforce is more than ready to embrace it. And as it evolves, AR will probably find much more acceptance in the consumer space. After all, a couple of decades ago, few people imagined we would all be toting pocket-size phone-computers. Today, it’s hard to imagine life without them.
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As it evolves, augmented reality will probably find much more acceptance in the consumer space.
FEATURES
USER GUIDE TO
ANALOG INSTANT
CAMERAS BY TERRY SULLIVAN
F
or most of her 19 years, my daughter took only digital photos, with either a digital camera or smartphone. But about a year ago, she decided she wanted to shoot with an instant film camera. Puzzled, I asked her why, since I knew she understood she’d most likely get sharper, crisper results shooting digital. Her reply was instructive “They’re easy to use and fairly cheap, but you also get a physical photo.” For her, this object—a real, printed photograph—seemed almost exotic. “It’s something that’s sort of unheard of these days,” she said. And over the course of a year, she pinned more of these tiny prints in her room: group portraits and landscapes that are oddly cropped, and images where the foreground seems blurry. Most had an overall softness to them. et I had to admit there was something appealing about the collection of prints. THE RISE OF RETRO CAMERAS My daughter isn’t the only one buying this type of camera. According to The Wall Street Journal, instant cameras have really resonated with consumers in recent years. In 201 , Fujifilm sold nearly four times as many instant models as digital cameras, and they’re continuing to increase in popularity. And Lomography, another company that makes instant cameras, is launching the Lomo’Instant Square ( 199) via ickstarter. It’ll use the same square-format photo paper that Fujifilm makes for its digital-analog hybrid instant camera, the Fujifilm Instax Square S 10 ( 24 ), which was introduced earlier this year. But the Lomo’Instant is a purely analog device. Images: Liz Sullivan
Camera makers say they understand the allure. atherine Phipps, a marketing and public relations manager for Lomography, says she’s excited to see photographers produce a picture that you can have a real experience with. “It’s something you can touch and hold. It’s a real object.” Phipps went on to say that in the past 20 years, digital imaging has changed how most people experience photography. But while digital photography has obvious benefits, it has some downsides as well. “Some aspects of digital photography have removed the thing that’s magical about the process of photography”—such as, say, watching an image appear before your eyes as an instant print develops. Roland Wolff, executive vice president at Leica Camera, which makes the Sofort instant camera, sees the growing popularity of instant simply as a reaction against digital. “Every trend has a counter-trend. So when I look at the digital world, many aspects of it aren’t really tangible Everything is data-driven, and images are only viewed on screens. These cameras give you instant gratification and instant experience. And make photography tangible.” But Fujifilm, which makes several types of Instax instant cameras, sees things differently than Leica does. “From our consumer research,” says Manny Almeida, division president, Imaging Division, Fujifilm orth America Corporation, “we do not see Instax users making a direct comparison to digital photography, nor do we see this use as a backlash against digital photography.” In Almeida’s view, instant-camera users are still using smartphones to take pictures. “But they use their Instax for the instant gratification and sharing capability, as well as for a more fun and unique experience,” he says. Almeida also suggests that instant cameras have “grown in acceptance as a social communication device rather than a camera.” In a way, these cameras are a hybrid of retro technology and social media. WHY PROS ARE PRO-INSTANT, TOO This fusion of old and new tech is a notion that’s not lost on pro photographers, including Melissa Castro, a music, portrait, and lifestyle photographer based in Los Angeles and Brazil. “Instant cameras bridge the gap between analog and digital photography. We’ve always liked instant photography, and it’s nothing new. But it is tangible, and that will always be a selling point.”
Pro shooters like instant for other reasons as well. Washington-based photographer Erika Schultz has long enjoyed shooting instant photos alongside her digital work, since she feels it builds connections with those she’s photographing. “I know the families I’ve worked with—particularly young people—really appreciate getting a print. Sometimes they’ll ask if they can have several prints, or they’ll ask me to be in the photo with them. It’s almost like a memento a moment captured in time of our interaction and working together.” Schultz feels it’s important that she can give something back to the people’s she’s worked with and interviewed. “In some of the homes in South Africa, where I worked,” she says, “the families might have only had a handful of photographs. So to give them a photograph was powerful and very meaningful.” For Castro, shooting with an instant camera has an additional benefit It can change the dynamic with her subjects, who don’t view them as serious cameras. “I bring my instant camera to every shoot because there is a certain feeling I get with them that is impossible with my pro cameras. People seem to let their guard down.” She says it’s how she gets some of her best images. WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU BUY? At the moment, most instant cameras are produced by three manufacturers—Fujifilm, Lomography, and Leica—and generally sell for between 0 and 2 0. Although they’re bulky (none will easily fit in your pocket), they range from just under 10 ounces to 1. pounds in weight. Most are brightly colored models that offer just a few features, but you can find some that offer more manual modes. If you’re considering buying one, you should compare film formats, lenses, and battery types, along with features.
There is a certain feeling I get with them that is impossible with my pro cameras. People seem to let their guard down.
FILM SIZE AND FORMAT: Since film is such an essential component of instant
cameras, you’ll want to consider the print’s size and format. Most instant cameras shoot either in a credit-card-size format (around 1.8 by 2.4 inches) or a larger and wider format (2.4 by .9 inches). Earlier this year, Fujifilm brought a third format to market square instant film for its Instax Square S 10 and Lomography’s new analog camera. Choosing a particular instant camera will lock you into a specific paper size. In addition to color film, you can also find monochrome film, such as Fujifilm’s black-and-white film. When you buy a single pack of color film, here’s what each photo will cost (note that you’ll pay less for buying multipacks and more for fancy borders) INSTAX MINI FILM: about 0.90 per shot INSTAX WIDE FILM: about 1.20 per shot INSTAX SQUARE FILM: about 1. 9 per shot
In both sets of images, I shot the same subjects using two different paper formats (on two different cameras): The smaller prints use the Fujifilm Instax Mini paper format, and the larger prints use the new Instax Square format. (Images: Terry Sullivan)
THE LENS: Most of the lenses on these cameras aren’t very sharp, although
there are exceptions. One is the Lomography Lomo’Instant Automat Glass, which includes an actual glass lens. Also, most lenses aren’t very versatile For example, you won’t find zoom lenses on these cameras, and they generally don’t have wide-angle lenses either. Be sure to read im Fisher’s detailed reviews on the various models for specifics on lenses and other features on PCMag.com.
BATTERIES: Unlike most digital cameras, many instant
cameras are powered by AA batteries. There are some exceptions, including the Lomo’Instant Automat Glass, which runs on CR2-type batteries, and some that use rechargeable batteries. CONTROLS AND FEATURES: Instant cameras as a rule
have fewer controls than digital cameras do, but they offer options to manipulate your images. Some let you turn the flash on or off, play with an exposure compensation setting for lighter or darker images, set the camera on a long exposure setting, or capture a double exposure. In my experience, you’ll need to experiment with these settings in order to achieve adequate results. Unfortunately, that can get pricey. If you’re determined to shoot with these cameras, consider buying film in bulk. MASTERING AN IMPERFECT MEDIUM There are two things you’ll quickly become aware of when shooting with an instant camera First, it’s a distinctly different experience from shooting digital. For one thing, you don’t get to see what you photographed instantaneously on an LCD. ou’ll realize that if you shoot in the same manner that you shoot digitally, you’ll quickly run out of film and money. Additionally, because these models weren’t created as “serious” cameras, there’s only so much you can do to master them in terms of technique. But some photographers find this quality almost endearing. “Because instant cameras are imperfect,” Schultz says, “there’s a timelessness about the photos . It’s as if they could have been photographed by my father or grandmother. It’s kind of refreshing.” To help you get acclimated, here’s a short list of tips for shooting better instant photos.
Instant cameras as a rule have fewer controls than digital cameras do, but they offer option to manipulate your images.
ACCEPT (OR EVEN EMBRACE) IMPERFECTIONS: In
digital photography, we often expect sharp, crisp images. But most instant cameras produce soft photos. This is just one of a number of limitations that make instant cameras imprecise. But photographer Erika Schultz says, “I like them because they’re imperfect. They’re kind of impressionistic. If you’re looking for super-sharp high-resolution images, this is probably not the type of camera for you.” Schultz says that once you accept the imperfections, you’ll find that these cameras do a really good job of capturing mood and feeling. Moreover, this imprecision can result in producing unexpected compositions. By unintentionally cropping out part of a figure or focusing on the background instead of the foreground, you create new centers of interest in your images. Most of the time, these mistakes will be just that—mistakes. But once in awhile, you’ll create something very intriguing and new. DO WITHOUT, AND THINK BEFORE YOU SHOOT:
There’s no in-camera cropping, filters, or adjustments on instant cameras. They also lack electronic viewfinders, LCDs to review images, and zoom lenses. So, you’ll need to figure out how to capture your shots without these features. For instance, you can “zoom” by simply moving closer to your subject! Also, slow down and think before you shoot. Take some time to consider different angles and viewpoints. See whether you can improve the lighting or shoot your photo in a setting or from a perspective that makes the composition less cluttered. MAKE THE MOST OF SMALL SCALE: All inexpensive
instant cameras produce small-sized prints you can’t
Image: Melissa Castro
print out large, poster-size photos. But this can be a good thing. “I love how small and discrete they are,” Schultz says. “ ou can even carry them in a purse or a small bag.” This small scale can also draw viewers closer to your photographs, giving them a more personal experience with your images. BE PREPARED, AND EXPERIMENT: Bring extra
batteries, and make sure you travel with plenty of additional film. When you’re ready to shoot, you can experiment with instant shots in many ways. One way is to change your point of view: Lie on your stomach, or stand on a chair. When you’re photographing children or babies, get down on their level. Another way to experiment, if your camera allows it, is to adjust some of the exposure settings. Granted, this kind of experimentation can get a bit expensive, but sometimes it’s the only way to find out what the various settings will allow you to capture. Alternatives for shooting analog instant film If you’re not comfortable going completely analog, you have some options. The Fujifilm Instax Square S 10 lets you capture digital shots and store them on a microSD memory card. The camera includes different filters and adjustments, which is useful when you want to adjust the appearance before you print. You can also shoot photos on a digital camera or smartphone, then print them out instantly on the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 portable Wi-Fi printer or the Impossible Instant Lab Universal. Th latter will even give your prints that low-fi, retro look of instant camera photos.
This small scale can also draw viewers closer to your photographs, giving them a more personal experience with your images.
These four photos were shot with the Fujifilm Instax Square SQ10, which lets you apply Instagram-style filters to your images. (Images: Terry Sullivan)
WHY THIS INSTANT MOMENT MATTERS I’ve been shooting digital photos for nearly twenty years, and at times, I’ve been so impressed by what digital can achieve that I’ve had a hard time controlling my enthusiasm. So why, at this time of technical marvels, should anyone give instant cameras more than just a passing glance? For me, it was watching how fascinated my digital-age daughter was by watching an instant camera spit out a print and seeing it slowly and steadily develop. She reminded me of a few of things. First, you need to make decisions to create an interesting image. When you’ve got only one chance to take a decent photo with your instant camera, you’ll shoot it very differently than if you can capture a burst of a hundred images. Most of us probably shoot digital photos every day with our smartphones. Replace that iPhone in your hands with an Instax camera, and you’ve changed the creative dynamic. Changing your process may, at first, set you off balance, but it can surprise you in wonderful ways. TERRY SULLIVAN Images: left, Melissa Castro; middle and right, Erika Schultz
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FEATURES
IFA BEST PRODUCTS OF
2017 !
BY MATTHEW BUZZI, AJAY KUMAR, AND VICTORIA SONG
T
he IFA technology trade show is Europe’s version of the yearly CES show in Las Vegas. Every September, electronics manufacturers from all over the world come to Germany to show off their latest devices. It’s the biggest source of major industry announcements of the fall, and we were on the ground to cover it. IFA takes place at Messe Berlin, a sprawling convention center with 25 separate halls scattered across multiple buildings. It’s a labyrinthine schlep through hundreds of booths and displays, all showing off the newest appliances, hardware, phones, smart-home tech, and wearables. Here are our top picks from the show.
BEST BIG-SCREEN PHONE LG V30
The LG V30, LG’s primary competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, was the heavyweight phone of the show. It boasts a 6-inch Quad HD OLED display, a Snapdragon 835 processor, and dual camera sensors with a slew of software customizations for taking crystal-clear photos and cinematic video, especially in low light. Throw in some high-resolution audio playback and a top-tier microphone array for recording, and you have a multimedia powerhouse.
BEST SMALL-SCREEN PHONE SONY XPERIA XZ1 COMPACT Despite a petite build, Sony’s 4.6-inch Xperia XZ1 Compact is powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor, making it the most powerful small phone at the show. It also has the same 3D-scanning camera capabilities of its larger sibling, along with a wide-angle selfie mode. The Z1 Compact is easily the most promising sub-5-inch phone to come out of IFA, and it could very well become your best alternative to big-screen phablets.
BEST TABLET ACER SWITCH 7 BLACK EDITION In our hands-on, this Surface alternative impressed us with a clever kickstand that extends when you push the spine against your desk or table. When you want to stand it back up, it resets itself to rigid once it reaches a certain angle. Add to that an in-glass fingerprint reader and a fanless design—a first for a tablet with discrete graphics— and the Switch 7 looks like a winner.
BEST DESKTOP ACER ASPIRE S24 The super-slim all-in-one Aspire S24 desktop looks like a strong entry in a category that has room for improvement. Its 23.8-inch IPS display is only 0.23inch thick, and gold trim gives it a sharp look. Though the Full HD resolution could be higher, it helps with another of the machine’s main draws—a $999 price. Add in Intel’s eighth-generation processors and a wireless charging base, and you’ve got quite an attractive package.
BEST LAPTOP LENOVO YOGA 920 Another great-looking system, the thin and convertible Yoga 920 was the most striking laptop we saw. The Yoga line is welloiled at this point, and this is another slick entry, with fresh Intel CPUs and up to 4K resolution for a 13.9-inch display. It also includes far-field mics for hollering at Cortana, as well as two Thunderbolt 3 ports and Dolby Atmos. The Yoga 920 even has some sweet Star Wars lid designs for super-fans.
BEST GAMING MACHINE
ASUS ROG CHIMERA We saw a number of appealing gaming systems at IFA, the Acer Predator Orion 9000 desktop among them. But the Chimera is the first laptop with a 144Hz refresh rate display, which is coupled with Nvidia G-Sync technology. Gamers pay big for monitors with these features, so building one right into a laptop (and combining it with a GTX 1080 and a Core i7-7820HK CPU) is a headturning proposition. The Asus Rog Chimera is sure to be expensive, but it’s a notable step forward.
BEST AR LENOVO MIRAGE AND STAR WARS: JEDI CHALLENGE What kid hasn’t dreamed of being a Jedi? The Lenovo Mirage AR headset can finally make that dream a reality. Well, an augmented reality. Star Wars: Jedi Challenge bundles a Mirage headset with a lightsaber touch controller with haptic feedback and a tracking sensor. It gives you a wide range of gameplay options including duels, grand strategy battles, and Holochess straight from the movies. You’ll need a compatible smartphone and some open space, but that’s a small price to pay to become a Jedi Knight.
BEST SMARTWATCH FITBIT IONIC Technically, Fitbit announced the Ionic, its first official smartwatch, right before IFA—but it was still one of the buzziest wearables in Berlin. It’s set to ship in October and will feature NFC payments, its own app gallery, customizable clock faces, and an open SDK for third-party developers. The Ionic also adds two red LEDs in addition to the optical heart-rate sensor, which opens it up to monitoring for sleep apnea in the future.
BEST FITNESS WATCH SAMSUNG GEAR SPORT The Gear Sport took center stage at Samsung’s press conference. It has the same distinctive bezel as the Gear S3 but a slimmer profile for a sleeker look. And swimmers The Sport is water resistant to 5 ATM (or 165 feet) and comes with an exclusive Speedo On app to track your laps, strokes, and splits.
BEST FITNESS TRACKER GARMIN VIVOMOVE HR Garmin already has some serious street cred, but it hasn’t exactly won points among the fashion crowd. Until now. The Vivomove HR is a comfortable hybrid smartwatch complete with GPS, continuous heart-rate monitoring, and subtle on-screen notifications. Best of all, it’s wrapped up in a chic, classic design.
BEST SMART HOME DEVICE NEATO BOTVAC D7 CONNECTED Roomba might be the more recognizable name, but Neato threw down the gauntlet at IFA with the Botvac D7 Connected. Rather than having to use “virtual walls” to cordon off a section of your home you don’t want vacuumed, the D7 will map your space in an app, and you can simply draw a line where you don’t want it to go. It also integrates with If This Then That (IFTTT) and has its own chatbot for Facebook Messenger.
BEST SPEAKER SONY LF-S50G The Sony LF-S50G isn’t a name that rolls off the tongue, but “OK Google” does. The LF-S50G is an attractive wireless speaker (yes, it looks like the Apple HomePod) powered by Google Assistant. Aside from the excellent search capabilities and machine-learning protocols the AI assistant is known for, the speaker supports useful gesture controls that replace physical navigation buttons. It also has Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Chromecast support, providing you with no shortage of ways to stay connected.
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TIPS & HOW TOS
HOW TO
How to Preserve Vintage Electronics BY BENJ EDWARDS
I
â&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a journalist who specializes in technology history; to inform me in my quest to understand and preserve historical electronic devices, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been collecting computers and video game consoles for almost a quarter century. In the process of dealing with hundreds of different types of computers, game consoles, and media players, I have built up quite a bit of practical knowledge and experience about what it takes to keep them running (or merely stable) in the long term.
Follow these tips, and you’ll be a step ahead of entropy as it tries to break down and destroy your prized electronic devices. REMOVE BATTERIES OF EVERY KIND Alkaline batteries are the bane of every gadget collector. That’s because they almost always leak a caustic substance, potassium hydroxide, when they completely discharge. It can happen even when a device is turned off, so if you’re not using a toy or gadget for longer than a week, make sure you remove the batteries. Otherwise, the potassium hydroxide will cause corrosion and serious damage to their surrounding circuitry. It can also eat its way up a wire and into a completely different area of a circuit board. Many devices with battery-backed RAM (to save settings and so on) or internal clocks use small internal batteries (usually lithium), and sometimes they’re soldered to the PC board. While lithium batteries do not leak as often as alkalines, they still represent a ticking chemical time bomb. Remove, clip off, or desolder those embedded batteries before they leak and destroy the surrounding circuitry. The same thing goes for vintage laptops and portable computers, which typically used rechargeable NiCd cells. Remove battery packs and isolate them in plastic bags before they inevitably leak. Save the plastic battery-pack casing so you can rebuild it with fresh cells in the future.
Alkaline batteries (right) leak caustic potassium hydroxide when they completely discharge. Lithium batteries don’t leak as often but still can damage circuitry. (Photo: Benj Edwards)
MIND THE PLASTICS AND AVOID UV LIGHT Plastics are physically durable in the short term, which has given them a reputation of being nearly indestructible. But the enemy of plastic durability lies within—most plastics are actually volatile compounds in a state of slow chemical breakdown. Different ratios of fire retardants, colorants, or hardeners added during the manufacturing process can accelerate or hinder this process. As with the case of the Super NES shown below, a sure sign of plastic breakdown is discoloration. Plastics often discolor when exposed to UV light—or merely oxidation—over time. Both UV and oxygen drastically accelerate the chemical breakdown process.
Strong sources of UV include fluorescent light bulbs and the sun, so keep your prized gadgets in the dark and away from windows. Meanwhile, older discolored plastics can become brittle and pose a breaking hazard, so handle them gingerly. Early 1990’s Macintosh computer cases in particular are prone to discolor and break apart. (Photos above: Benj Edwards, Imgur)
Most plastics are actually volatile compounds in a state of slow chemical breakdown.
One potential remedy for discoloration is called Retrobright (see inset photo with solution applied), but prevention is just as important. In the long term, our reliance on plastic goods represents a preservation nightmare that will surely haunt archivists for generations to come. REMOVE OR REPLACE CAPACITORS Along with batteries, electrolytic capacitors represent the primary source of electronic circuit damage from failing components. Over time, almost all electrolytic capacitors fail, and that can manifest in a loud, smoky pop as the capacitor literally bursts when powered up. Or the plague may be silent, as they leak their electrolytes all over a PC board, damaging circuitry (or making shorts across traces). A sure sign of a failing capacitor is a canister bulged out on top, as seen in the photo. Another sign is a tiny dried puddle of clear fluid sitting at its base on the circuit board. If you have a prized electronic device over 20 years old and you want to use it again some day, consider preemptively removing its capacitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or replacing them with fresh ones as soon as you canâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;before they leak and irreversibly damage surrounding circuitry. AVOID WATER, HUMIDITY, AND HEAT Humidity is my worst enemy. It allows two terrible, destructive forces to take hold: corrosion and mold. Mold is especially problematic, as it can ruin cloth, paper, label adhesives, leather, vinyl, leatherette, plastic, and rubber surfaces, including those seen on the plastic wire insulation of the NES AC adapter in the previous photo. (Photo below: Lincoln Phipps)
Once mold gets established, it is very hard to control, because its rugged roots can lay dormant until the conditions are right—usually when the humidity is over 60 percent and the temperature is over 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Then fruiting bodies grow (as in the tiny inset), the mold ejects spores into the air that land on exposed surfaces, and the cycle starts again. The growth effect can be exponential if left unchecked, creating a breathing hazard, and mold’s digestive byproducts can potentially decay what the mold colonizes. Avoid this by keeping your prized electronics clean and dust-free in a cool, dry place. Keep them covered with archival paper products, if possible. To control humidity, I use electric dehumidifiers that run days a year, along with a HEPA air filter to reduce spores in the air and the dust that they can feed on (more on that in a minute). While you’re at it, avoid extremes of heat and cold in general. Expansion and contraction can cause materials such as plastic and metal to crack and warp or become brittle over time. SEAL GAPS AGAINST PESTS Tiny critters love small, dark holes. This includes crickets and roaches, webweaving spiders, millipedes, and small rodents. Once they’re in there, things get nasty: they could create potentially dangerous electric shorts, chew on wires, or impede airflow with excrement, nests, or webs. (Photo below: Harold Gibson)
So as you store your electronics in a cool, dark, dry place, try to cover all potential points of pest entry with archival tape (if the surface is suitable and cleanable, such as polished stainless steel) or enclose the entire gadget in an archival safe paperboard box or paper bag so pests don’t get inside. The paperboard box needs to stay dry, or it will become a breeding ground for mold. Also, low humidity discourages the incursion of termites seeking cardboard boxes, which I have also had trouble with in the past.
Expansion and contraction can cause materials such as plastic and metal to crack and warp or become brittle.
I recommend against using plastic bags for sealing, because they will eventually degrade and outgas chemicals that can react with your equipment (especially other plastics), and they’ll do so much more quickly when kept in a hot environment. REMOVE AND ISOLATE RUBBER COMPONENTS Plastics are unstable, as we’ve already learned, but rubber is even more so. Generally, the softer the rubber, the quicker it will break down and decay. Some rubber components, such as the feet on the bottom of a metal case, will eventually get oozy and chemically melt even in a room temperature environment, but heat accelerates the process. This ooze can then get on other The plastic feet on this metal case have turned into ooze. (Photo: Mike Harrison)
nearby devices if stacked, and it is very hard to remove. Another source of potential breakdown are rubber belts used in older cassette tape players, record players, VCRs, and disk drives. They eventually get brittle and break as well. It’s best to remove them for long-term storage, and then replace with freshly made rubber belts when you want to use them again. MINIMIZE AND CONTROL DUST We’ve already talked about mold; another problem that goes handin-hand with invasive fungus is dust, which is usually an organic byproduct from human skin or fabrics. It provides nutrients for mold, fungi, and bacteria that, once established, may excrete waste byproducts that could damage circuitry or plastics. Dust also increases the raw surface area for mold spores to settle on and take hold. Dust can also soak up moisture from the air like a sponge and concentrate it on a specific area, increasing the likelihood of rust or corrosion. So disassemble your gadgets and give them a good cleaning regularly, and try to control free-floating dust in the air with an ambient HEPA air filter (seen in the photo), which can also reduce the concentration of mold spores. Be sure to dust regularly to keep exposed surfaces as clean as possible.
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Don’t let dust like this build up inside your devices. (Photo: bigmessowires, Honeywell)
TIPS & HOW TO
HOW TO
How to Save Money With Microsoft Edge and Cortana BY LANCE WHITNEY
T
he Cortana voice assistant in Windows 10 lets you ask questions, issue commands, and perform tasks with the tap of a finger or sound of your voice. But Cortana has another trick up its sleeve, one designed to save you money When you use the Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 10 to check out restaurants or shop online, Cortana can jump in to provide information and even money-saving offers. Browse to certain retail websites, and Cortana displays a message offering coupons to get you hot deals on various products. Cortana can tap into coupons from Best Buy, Macyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Home Depot, Target, and a host of other online merchants. Browse to certain restaurant websites, and Cortana displays contact information as well as reviews from elp, so youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll know whether dining at a certain restaurant is worth spending your hard-earned cash.
To get the best results, enable Cortana’s help in Microsoft Edge. Open Edge, and click on the More icon (three dots) on the top right, and click Settings. Scroll down and click on the button to “View advanced settings.” Scroll down to the Privacy and services section, and turn on the switch to “Have Cortana assist me in Microsoft Edge,” if it’s not already enabled. RETAILERS Let’s try to hunt down some money-saving coupons at various retailers, beginning with Best Buy’s website. At the right side of the URL field, Cortana asks “Can I interest you in a coupon ” Click on that question, and a sidebar pops up with some money-saving deals. Click on one of the links to “Read fine print” for a specific deal. A Cortana page pops up with all the details on the deal, including which product or products are included, how much you can save, and whether the offer is good online and or in-store. Say you come across a money-saving offer from Sears. At the right side of the URL field, Cortana asks, “Can I interest you in a coupon ” Click on that question, and the sidebar pops up with current deals. Click on one of the links to “Read more.” Another Cortana page appears with details on the offer.
RESTAURANTS Now let’s see if that restaurant is worth your time and money. Using Edge, browse to a restaurant website we’ll use the website for Sardi’s, the famous ew ork City restaurant where theater folk gather to nosh and schmooze, as an example. At the right area of the address field, Edge makes its presence known with an orange circle and a line that reads “I’ve got directions, hours, and more.” Click on that line, and Edge opens a sidebar on the right with lots of details on the restaurant, including its address, location, phone number, and hours, as well as links to call, to get directions, and to look at the menu. Scroll down the sidebar, and you’ll see reviews of the restaurant—courtesy of elp—followed by photos of the establishment. Reading the various reviews can help you decide whether you’d like to give the restaurant a shot. You can try your luck at a variety of retail outlets and restaurants. Many don’t support the Cortana integration, but a lot do. So you should be able to find some sites that cough up the cash-saving offers and detailed reviews and other information.
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LAST WORD
JOHN C. DVORAK
C
loud storage is big business. Can you keep your servers running and connected to the internet? If so, it’s like printing money. The proof For the first time, Microsoft makes more money from cloud services than from traditional licenses, Channel EYE says.
The Cloud Is Big Business, But for How Long?
Jeff Bezos told Charlie Rose last year that Amazon makes most of its profits from the cloud, too, and that it’s at least seven years ahead of its rivals. The other big players include a slew of independent operators, as well as Google, which should by all accounts be number one. I’ve generally pooh-poohed the cloud, preferring local control, especially for the individual user. But with Microsoft Office —which lets you store 1TB of docs and other files online via OneDrive— you can see its usefulness, insofar as maintaining old files is concerned. That is, until the terabyte runs out. Microsoft already offered, then canceled, “unlimited” storage on OneDrive. Did no one in Redmond think that through? With unlimited data, users are not going to be conservative when it comes to saving files, photos, movies, or anything else. “What a cute puppy GIF. Look, he’s dancing!” Right-click, save. For Microsoft, the cloud is a trap. It’s not Microsoft’s core competency. The company codes and makes operating systems and general
@ THErealDVORAK
software. Running massive server farms for someone else is weak. But the real danger comes from China. One of these days, an aggressive Chinese company will wipe out existing cloud operations with a cheap alternative. Just look at all the white label Android products coming out of the country. Just as Xiaomi and Huawei have charged into the mobile market, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only a matter of time before a similar company tackles storage. At least Amazon has had a seven-year head start to figure something out.
john_dvorak@pcmag.com
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