ICYMI: Everything you need to know about the iPhone 13

Posted on 25/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

It’s that time of year again: the latest Apple devices have arrived. We spent time with all of the company’s new products and reported back on their successes and missteps. First, Cherlynn Low tested out all four of the new iPhone 13 models to see which are worth your money this year. Valentina Palladino spent time carrying around the redesigned iPad mini, which does everything a small tablet should. Also, Devindra Hardawar found one more reason to recommend the Dell XPS 15, and Mat Smith took some average selfie’s with the ZTE Axon 30’s "invisible" front-facing camera.

The iPhone 13 and 13 mini are made for shutterbugs

An iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 next to each other with their screens facing the camera.

On paper, Cherlynn Low says there’s not much to get excited about when it comes to the new iPhone 13 and 13 mini. The incremental upgrades like the bigger batteries, better displays and faster chips all feel like standard, annual improvements. The key features of the new handsets are the enhancements made to the cameras. The rear sensors have been improved, the ultra wide lens lets in more light and the A15 chip has a faster image signal processor.

Cherlynn particularly liked the addition of Photographic Styles, which allows the user to choose a profile of contrast levels and color temperature for photos. And she said Cinematic Mode, which blurs out the background behind a subject, was the most intriguing of the new video features. But at its default intensity, the blurriness looked strange and artificial — and Cinematic Mode only works at 1080p/30fps, regardless of the quality you’ve set your camera to record.

Other aspects of the handsets were largely similar to previous models: the speakers are still good enough for video watching, and both phones easily handled switching between multiple apps, uploading photos and other tasks. However, Cherlynn was quick to point out that the phones still feature 60Hz screens, which made them feel laggy in comparison to handsets that have speedier displays. Overall she said that, as expected, they’re excellent (if a bit boring) phones with little to complain about.

The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max impress with smooth screens

Cherlynn Low says make no mistake about it: The one thing that really makes the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max stand out is the new ProMotion display. With faster screens that can adjust their refresh rates depending on the task, the handsets are finally able to take advantage of their big OLED displays, whether you’re watching video or simply scrolling social media. The two new models are also 25 percent brighter for better outdoor viewing and, thanks to the 5-core GPU on the Pro, able to handle graphics-intensive tasks more quickly.

Cherlynn said that the A15 Bionic chip combined with the faster refresh rate made everything from YouTube and music streaming to Catan gaming and chatting with friends seem much more responsive. The two new Pro models also have an additional telephoto camera and a new macro photography mode, but all of that power comes with extra weight. The 6.1-inch 13 Pro is 7.19 ounces and the 6.7-inch 13 Pro Max clocks in at 8.46 ounces; Cherlynn said the bigger handset was uncomfortable to use one-handed for more than a few minutes. If that isn’t a dealbreaker, then she says either of the phones would make a worthy upgrade for iOS users.

The iPad mini gets a much needed refresh

While the iPad mini has a dedicated fan base, it hasn’t changed much since its debut nine years ago. But the 2021 release of the tiny tablet features enough upgrades to make it feel like a smaller iPad Air. Valentina Palladino says that the new “all-screen” design, flat edges, TouchID-capable top button, second-gen Apple Pencil support and USB-C charging all provide a much needed refresh for the tablet. The bezels helped her keep a comfortable grip on the device while reading and making FaceTime calls, and the lightweight 100-percent recycled aluminum body made it easy to tote around.

Valentina also liked that the new design allowed the second-generation Apple Pencil to magnetically stick to the right edge of the tablet. She reports that the mini makes a capable digital notebook thanks in part to the Pencil and the Quick Notes feature in iPadOS 15. Additionally, she said the A15 Bionic chip and the larger screen make it easy to use the device in place of an iPhone for a wide variety of tasks including video streaming and light gaming. However, the new mini only comes in 64GB and 256GB models — with a $150 price difference between them — and those are notable differences in capacity and cost. Valentina says the significant update will be great for small-tablet lovers, but she’s not sure if the iPad mini will win over others in the market for a standard-sized iPad.

Dell’s XPS 15 is an even better laptop with an OLED screen

Devindra Hardawar was already a fan of Dell’s excellent XPS 15 laptop, but he says the addition of an OLED screen makes the whole package even better. The star of the show, the 15.6-inch display, has some of the thinnest bezels on the market and uses a 3.5K OLED touchscreen that supports Dolby Vision HDR (of course, this panel costs extra, and there are two LCD options to choose from, too). While watching the new Matrix trailer, it displayed true blacks, brilliant elements like explosions and juggled scenes with bright and dark aspects.

Devindra said he’d never had as much fun scrolling through websites due to the incredibly crisp text. The only additional improvement he could think of was a faster refresh rate, however, he had no complaints about the performance from the eight-core Intel i7 CPU or the 45-watt version of NVIDIA’s RTX 3050 Ti GPU, which transcoded a one-minute 4K video file into 1080p in 35 seconds. Devindra says you can expect it to tackle most intense workloads with ease, and although it’s not a gaming machine, it’s capable of reaching 70fps in Overwatch at the highest graphic settings.

The ZTE Axon 30 smartphone offers an invisible selfie camera

A sequel to the Axon 20, ZTE’s Axon 30 touts an improved 16-megapixel, under-display camera (UDC) with a dedicated chip that keeps the area consistent with the rest of the screen. In practice, Mat Smith was pleased to report that the UDC is nearly invisible but he was less impressed with the resulting photographs. His selfies had fuzzy details and suffered from lens flares and washout due to strong backlighting. Mat got much better images when shooting with the four-camera array on the back, which includes a 64-megapixel Sony sensor.

However, the Axon 30 has more to offer for its $500 price tag: The smartphone also features a 6.92-inch AMOLED screen with 2,460 x 1,080 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. And it’s powered by a Snapdragon 870 processor, which handled everything Mat threw at it from Stadia gaming to video streaming. It also has a stand-out battery that lasted two days of typical use with the 120Hz refresh rate off, and the handset can recharge to 100 percent in under an hour. Mat liked the new MyOS 11 skin, which closely mimics the stock Google experience, save for a few shortcuts and widgets. But the smartphone lacks wireless charging and certified resistance against dust and water, and Mat says the 5G support isn’t great in the U.S. as it will only work on T-Mobile’s midband 5G network.

ICYMI: Everything you need to know about the iPhone 13

Posted on 25/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

The iPhone 13 and 13 mini are made for shutterbugs

The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max impress with smooth screens

The iPad mini gets a much needed refresh

Dell’s XPS 15 is an even better laptop with an OLED screen

The ZTE Axon 30 smartphone offers an invisible selfie camera

ICYMI: We test out the GoPro Hero 10 Black action cam

Posted on 18/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

This week we’ve got a few reviews for music and photography enthusiasts. First, James Trew put the GoPro Hero 10 Black through its paces and was impressed by the capabilities of the new GP2 processor. Next, Billy Steele listened to Jabra’s $80 Elite 3 earbuds and, due to the combination of price and features, deemed them one of the company’s best gadgets. Lastly, Terrence O’Brien played around with the Arturia SQ80V synth emulator only to be charmed by its fluid user interface and timeless sounds.

The GoPro Hero 10 Black benefits from a new processor

James Trew is plain about the new GoPro Hero 10 Black: it is remarkably similar to last year’s model, save for the impressive, new GP2 processor. That chip brings a boost in frame rates across the board, including 5.3K at 60fps. It’s also responsible for the updated HyperSmooth 4.0 stabilization technology, which makes for smoother shooting scenarios, a speedier user interface, faster offloading of media and even improvements to the front-facing display. GoPro says the GP2’s capabilities can help produce improved photos and videos as well.

In James’s testing, this was well born out: He saw noticeably better image quality from the Hero 10 Black than from the Hero 9. James said the difference in detail was instantly noticeable at 100-percent crop, where the Hero 10 was able to capture textures like road surface or leaves. He also enjoyed the added flexibility that came with the new resolution and frame rate combinations — another bonus of the GP2 processing power. The Hero 10 Black also adds a hydrophobic lens coating, which keeps water droplets from gathering in blurry drips, 4K video at 120fps for respectable slow-mo, and a good, old-fashioned wired transfer. With one of the only drawbacks being a shorter battery life, James says that the Hero 10 takes everything that was working for GoPro devices and builds on it.

The Jabra Elite 3 earbuds offer excellent value and impressive sound

The Jabra Elite 3 earbuds have a lot going for them: they’re affordable, have functional controls, a comfortable fit courtesy of a new design, impressive sound quality and a solid feature set. Billy Steele says they far exceeded his expectations and offer an incredible value for their $80 price tag. During testing, he was immediately impressed by the sound quality, which was adept at highlighting details like the rattle of a snare drum. While he found the call quality to be only serviceable, he found other features — like a mute control on the earbuds — well thought-out. He was also pleased with the nearly seven-hour battery life.

However, low-cost models will forgo some things you may take for granted on other earbuds, and here, the Elite 3 buds lack wireless charging and active noise cancellation. Billy said one of the few drawbacks with the Elite 3’s was the missing auto-pause feature — he found it annoying, but not a dealbreaker. He also mentioned that the only EQ customizations are available in presets, but that the Elite 3 outperformed similar models here due to its balanced tuning and great clarity. With few drawbacks, Billy deemed them one of the best wireless products from Jabra.

Arturia’s SQ 80V is a synth emulator modeled after a classic

Terrence O’Brien spent some time tweaking the knobs on Arturia’s new SQ 80V, a synth emulator designed to mimic the dusty charm of the Ensoniq SQ-80. The device contains the original 75 waveforms as well as “hidden” waves from the SQ-80 to provide users with a wide range of sound design possibilities. The majority of the controls, three LFOs and four envelopes, are on a mouse-friendly synthesis tab, while you can change the oscillator waves and tweak the filter right from the device itself.

Terrence says the SQ80 V is ideal for crushed digital sounds, and the two sound packs released alongside the emulator are right in line with that feel. While those packs made it easy to find sounds in the included presets, Terrence said it’s simple to build your own patches as well because of the dropdown menus and tabs. He called the interface “clean, charmingly retro and easy to navigate.” Overall, Terrence said he digs the SQ80 V because it’s approachable to synth players while providing warm, timeless sound.

ICYMI: We test out the GoPro Hero 10 Black action cam

Posted on 18/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

The GoPro Hero 10 Black benefits from a new processor

The Jabra Elite 3 earbuds offer excellent value and impressive sound

Arturia’s SQ 80V is a synth emulator modeled after a classic

Eufy’s SpaceView baby monitor is 22 percent off at Amazon

Posted on 08/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

If you’re in the market for a baby monitor, now would be a good time to snap up a Eufy Spaceview set. The company has discounted its popular single-camera kit to $125 — just clip the on-page coupon for $15 off and use the code eufybbm20 at checkout to get the sale price.

Buy Eufy SpaceView baby monitor at Amazon - $125

That’ll get you the 720p HD camera plus the 5-inch 720p display. The camera has night vision and can pan 330 degrees and tilt 110 degrees so you can see your entire nursery. The default field of view is 50 degrees, but the kit comes with an additional 110-degree lens that you can install when your little one starts exploring.

While the SpaceView camera doesn’t support WiFi, that’s not a bad thing. Instead, it uses a FHSS connection to let you check out your kiddo’s activities securely in real-time, regardless of if your home’s internet is a bit spotty. The set-up supports a range of up to 1,000 feet so you can check in on them from anywhere in the house, and the 2,900mAh battery runs for 15-hours so the display won’t run out of juice overnight. It will also provide you with sound alerts and two way audio, and since it’s not connected to WiFi, you don’t have to worry about anyone hacking into it.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Eufy’s SpaceView baby monitor is 22 percent off at Amazon

Posted on 08/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

Buy Eufy SpaceView baby monitor at Amazon - $125

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

ICYMI: We see how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 performs in the real world

Posted on 04/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

We checked out a couple of ambitious Samsung products this week, plus a few other gadgets. Cherlynn Low tested the Galaxy Z Fold 3 smartphone, which is the third generation of Samsung’s foldable hybrid, and the Galaxy Watch 4, which is one of the first devices to run on the new Wear OS platform. James Trew popped off keys and customized the Keychron Q1 keyboard, while Daniel Cooper was pleased with his time with HP’s light yet capable Pavilion Aero 13 laptop.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a stronger foldable than ever before

Although Cherlynn Low likes a lot of the improvements made to the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and calls it an impressive piece of tech, she still isn’t sure it can replace a regular smartphone for most people. The third generation of the folding device has a stronger, redesigned screen, a streamlined hinge and a robust aluminum build, and Samsung says it’s 80 percent more durable than previous models. According to Cherlynn, it easily withstood being thrown in a purse full of sharp and heavy objects, and the IPX8 water-resistance kept it safe from water droplets.

The Fold 3’s external 6.2-inch, 2,268 x 832 display refreshes at 120Hz and uses a Dynamic AMOLED panel, which made for fast scrolling and vibrant images. The phone also has S Pen support, although the stylus costs extra and there isn’t a slot for it on the device. There’s also more software support to improve the full-screen experience, like Multi Window and Flex Mode panels, plus five onboard cameras, which generally produced bright and colorful shots. Despite these wins, she felt that the device was over-reaching and attempting to do too much to achieve mainstream adoption.

The Galaxy Watch 4 shows off the new Wear OS platform

Cherlynn Low is candid about how the Galaxy Watch 4 makes her feel, calling it and the rest of Samsung’s smartwatches the best Android wearable options around. The combination of capable hardware with intuitive software features and comprehensive health tracking continue to provide a satisfying experience. The Galaxy Watch 4 adds some interesting marquee features with body composition scans and snore detection, but Cherlynn says she’ll need more time to determine how useful these features are as they are, for now, somewhat unreliable.

The Galaxy Watch 4 includes a sharp 1.4-inch screen with a 450 x 450 resolution, a touch sensitive rotating bezel, and an updated 5nm processor with more storage. It also supports gesture controls that allow you to respond to calls or messages, but Cherlynn says they don’t work very well yet. She was also disappointed with the watch’s battery life, which barely made it through a day. She was more impressed with how accurately and quickly it registered her walking, and she liked that the watch tracks 95 different workouts. She also was pleased that the Wear OS platform strongly echoed the intuitive UI strengths of Tizen, save for the new ability to download apps directly from the Play Store. Despite some hiccups, she’d still recommend the Galaxy Watch 4 or Watch 4 Classic to Android users.

Keychron’s Q1 is an ambitious customizable keyboard

Keychron is known for making economical keyboards and James Trew says its newest offering, the Q1, is affordable, easy to customize and full-featured. The Q1 has hot-swappable switches and an Aviator style USB-C, which should appeal to both avid tinkerers and those who are interested in getting deeper into the geeky details of mechanical keyboards. It comes with a keycap puller and a switch remover, plus keycaps for Windows and MacOS layouts, but it lacks Bluetooth so you’ll have to live with it as a wired peripheral.

The Q1 features the expected RGB key lighting, but has a south-facing integration for a more subtle effect. Inside are a noise-reducing foam deck and screw-in stabilizers for steadier keys. James particularly liked the option to etch a customized metal badge where the Insert key goes. He reported that swapping out keys was easy, and that using the companion Via app was a convenient way to customize the Q1. However, he points out that, at 3.5 pounds, the Q1 isn’t designed for portability and that its height cannot be adjusted.

HP’s Pavilion Aero 13 is a compelling, thin-and-light laptop

Daniel Cooper found plenty of reasons to recommend HP’s new Pavilion Aero. The lightest laptop yet from the company weighs in at a mere 2.2 pounds and still manages to fit in a 13.3-inch, 16:10 display with 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. Rounding out the specs list on our review unit was AMD’s Ryzen 5800U with Radeon Integrated Graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Daniel said the build quality is solid, save for the malleable display hinge; the keyboard is well-engineered and satisfying; and the trackpad has tolerable accuracy. He also approved of the battery, which lasted for 9 hours and 43 minutes during testing.

He was less thrilled that the keyboard wasn’t backlit by default, but you can pay $20 extra to get that. And while he was pleased by the performance of the WideVision 720p webcam, he said the downward-firing B&O speakers pumped out audio you could put up with but not fully enjoy. The preinstalled software was another annoyance — getting pop-ups for plugins is never appreciated. Being a relatively affordable laptop, Aero isn’t set up for intensive gaming but Daniel was able to play Fortnite pretty smoothly with medium graphics power. Overall, he says the Aero is clearly punching above its weight and could almost be recommended as an alternative to the Dell XPS 13 for those with tighter budgets.

The Razer Blade 14 is the perfect balance of portability and power

Razer’s new 14-inch Blade laptop hits all the right notes for Devindra Hardawar: It’s plenty powerful thanks to an NVIDIA RTX 30-series GPU and AMD’s latest processor, and at just under four pounds, it’s still light enough to carry comfortably. Featuring a minimalistic design and a sleek black aluminum case, Devindra’s review unit came equipped with an RGB LED keyboard, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a quad-HD 165Hz display. He reports that the laptop easily handled demanding games even in maxed-out settings and that the ray tracing performance was solid.

Devindra also liked the responsiveness of the keyboard, but said the layout felt a bit cramped for longer gaming sessions. During battery testing, the Blade 14 made it 10 hours and 50 minutes (running productivity tasks, not games). But during heavy gaming sessions, Devindra reports that the CPU reached up to 94 degrees Celsius, which is unusually high. Another downside? The RAM isn’t upgradeable like it is in the larger Blade 15 and 17 laptops. He says if those compromises aren’t deal breakers, then this is worth recommending given its $1,800 starting price.

ICYMI: We see how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 performs in the real world

Posted on 04/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a stronger foldable than ever before

The Galaxy Watch 4 shows off the new Wear OS platform

Keychron’s Q1 is an ambitious customizable keyboard

HP’s Pavilion Aero 13 is a compelling, thin-and-light laptop

The Razer Blade 14 is the perfect balance of portability and power

Must-have gear to make traveling with kids easier

Posted on 01/09/2021 by Amber Bouman

Traveling with young children is like trying to turn a cruise ship: It’s cumbersome, takes a significant amount of planning and requires a team effort. Because I apparently lack any amount of common sense, I recently took a 3,000-mile RV trip with my partner and two toddlers. Traveling with little ones can be stressful because they rely so much on their established routines; anything that deviates from that is going to be hard for them and you.

While we tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy by bringing along familiar toys and blankets, we also took the advice of a close friend who is an early childhood development specialist. She recommended keeping our twins engaged and entertained by grouping toys or activities together and rotating them throughout the day. Here are a few things that we tried that we’ll be returning to the next time we travel.

Music

Depending on how you’re traveling, music can be a great way to entertain tiny travelers. The repetition in children’s songs help kids learn patterns and expand their vocabulary. What’s more, musical play encourages movement along with both fine and gross motor skills. That’s great if you’re in a car where you can clap, sing and wiggle, but gets more challenging when you’re stuck on an aircraft with dozens of other people who don’t want to hear “Old MacDonald” seven(-ty-seven) times in a row.

Instruments

My mom bought us this “CD player” for our trip and weeks later, the twins are still fighting over it. My daughter really likes the music, my son really likes taking the “CD” out repeatedly to figure out how the player works, and they both like the colorful book of lyrics. Fisher Price has a similar option with light-up buttons, which is perfect for occupying little hands.

Another cool gadget we’ve recommended in the past is the Blipbox, an entry-level synthesizer that comes with 300 melodies and a synchronized light show. It contains a digital synth engine that includes an amp envelope, two LFOs, a modulation envelope and a low-pass filter — perfect for teaching kids about creating music while also entertaining their caretakers.

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Spotify playlists

When my twins were infants, the only thing that got them to sleep was playing Maxence Cyrin’s version of “Where is my mind?” on repeat. We still have a classical playlist of songs for when it’s time to sleep, but I also keep a playlist of songs that are entertaining for adult passengers as well (think: “Yellow Submarine” and songs by They Might Be Giants). It’s nice both to switch up the endless parade of nursery rhymes and expose them to different types of music.

YouTube playlists

On the other hand, kids respond to nursery rhymes because they incorporate simple melodies, repetition and actions (some of which can be easy to do while seated). YouTube has dozens of long playlists of classic nursery rhymes, some of which include the lyrics, which is helpful if you’re like me and have long forgotten the words to “Three Blind Mice.”

Podcasts

Older kids might enjoy one of the many educational podcasts out there. As a bonus, if they’re able to keep headphones on for a decent stretch of time, this makes for a good airplane option, too. As an avid podcast fan myself, I’m excited for my twins to be old enough to enjoy them with me, and I’ve already bookmarked several to try out. The But Why? podcast from NPR answers questions that kids send in themselves from “how do you make ice cream?” to “why do we wear clothes?” If your kid is into science, try Brains On or Tumble to explore topics like “how far can a cloud travel?’ and “how to become an astronaut.”

For more narrative style podcasts, check out Little Stories for Tiny People or Story Time. And for those kids, and parents, who are into exploring different musical genres, there’s the Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl and Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child podcasts, which feature songs from the Orb, Cake and Bob Marley.

Interactive

Montessori Busy Board for Engadget's 2021 Back to School guide.

Being stuck in a car or plane seat for long periods of time can make it challenging to find activities that involve younger kids’ need to explore, but there are still a few options. Most notably, a kids camera, like the Action Cam or the Creator Cam from VTech, can help them stay amused. They can document the trip with photos, videos and use stop-motion or time-lapse effects. The Action Cam can be mounted on a bike and comes with a waterproof case, while the Creator Cam comes with a small tripod and includes more than 20 animated backgrounds that the kids can use to spice up their photos and videos.

For kids younger than the recommended age for a camera, I like busy boards. Car time with my twins has become a lot easier since we got a few of the soft, zippered activity books that feature a variety of buckles, zippers and clasps for them to fiddle with.

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Arts and crafts

If your child is into arts and crafts, you’re not out of luck when traveling (although maybe leave the glitter at home). There are a few easy ways to travel with a crafty kid, like bringing along a trusty Etch a Sketch, which never needs batteries, or investing in an airplane busy box, which includes coloring books as well as activities like creating a puppet show or superhero mask.

If you’d like something a little more high-tech and easy to pack, try a color by numbers app for your phone or tablet, which are engrossing even for adults. Or there’s the Osmo kit for Fire tablets which incorporates games, drawing and problem solving via various games and animations.

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Reading

My kids enjoy reading as much as I do, which means there are always at least a few books included when we travel. They’re not quite old enough for a Kindle Kids Edition yet, but it will be a great option when they graduate from board books. I honestly can’t wait to load up the Harry Potter series and a selection of Roald Dahl onto an e-reader for them.

In the meantime, I compromised by taking short videos of me reading through some of their favorites, like the Grumpy Monkey, and brought a selection of others like their Indestructible books. Not only are the Indestructible books rip-proof and chew-proof but they’re also washable so you don’t have to worry about them getting wet. My favorite part is that they’re very slim, so it was easy to pack several of them at once without adding a lot of bulk.

Buy Kindle Kids Edition at Amazon - $110 Buy Grumpy Monkey book at Amazon - $7 Shop Indestructible books at Amazon

For parents

Of course, there are a few gadgets that will help make your life easier as a traveling parent. I’m thinking specifically of the Baby’s Brew portable bottle warmer I recently invested in, which made our trip significantly easier since my daughter refuses to have a cold bottle. It did take me a few tries to get the hang of the controls, which is embarrassing to admit since there is a single button on it, but it did the job well and solved my cold bottle problem.

I also brought along the Munchkin 59s portable sterilizer which uses UV to clean a pacifier in under a minute; that’s helpful since every pacifier winds up on the floor in under a minute. Lastly, if your kiddo has a prized blanket, pacifier or toy that is essential for soothing or sleeping, consider tagging it with a Tile or Chipolo tracker. If I had thought about it in time, I would have thrown one on my daughter’s fox lovey to save myself from constantly worrying that she’d left it in Nebraska.

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