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With all the technology at our disposal in this day and age, you shouldn't have to get up to find out who's at the door. A video doorbell like the Ring can help you monitor your home and let you chat with visitors even if you're not at home. These devices can be a little spendy, but the Ring Video Doorbell 2 is on sale right now for just $159.98.Like most other security cameras, this Ring Doorbell has 1080p video and infrared night vision. The motion detection zones are also fully configurable via the app. It operates either hardwired or battery-powered, and the battery pack is removable so you don't have to take the whole thing off the wall to recharge it.The Ring Video Doorbell 2 works with Alexa services, which is no surprise considering Amazon owns Ring these days. It also works with Assistant, but it's not as deeply integrated as Alexa. We've seen the Ring 2 dip as low as $155 lately, but that was a refurbished device. This one is new and just a few bucks more. It's a solid purchase if you're not already heavily invested in another camera ecosystem.Source: Amazon
OnePlus started offering its "Bullets" earbuds a while back, but this year it made the leap to Bluetooth with the Bullets Wireless. Now, it looks like an updated version of the company's wireless earbuds is on the way. Over at the FCC, they're testing a new version of the Bullets Wireless with model number BT32B.
Keeping track of all your things can be a challenge. You could try just having fewer things, but that's no fun. Instead, why not get more things to keep track of the things you already have? Samsung has announced a device to accomplish precisely that. The SmartThings Tracker uses GPS and LTE to monitor the location of whatever you want, but you'll need to go through a carrier for the LTE service.
Back at Google I/O, we heard that Google Lens would come to the camera apps on phones from Huawei, Motorola, Sony, and more. Sony already added Lens to its camera, and now it's Motorola's turn. Well, sort of. Lens still doesn't work in the camera app itself. It's just a shortcut, which wasn't the understanding we had at I/O. At least there are a few other additions to soften the blow.
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We always say that benchmarks don't matter as much as the overall experience of using a phone, but they do still matter enough that device makers sometimes put a thumb on the scale to improve scores. A recent report from Anandtech accused Huawei of configuring phones to produce artificially high benchmarks. Now, the maker of 3DMark has banned several Huawei devices in response.
For years, you've been able to connect to the Tor Network on Android using Orbot and browse using Orfox. Now, you can get the privacy and security benefits of Tor in a new package. The first alpha of the Tor Browser is now live in the Play Store, and it will (eventually) simplify the process of connecting to Tor.
Google is still testing its Pie-based Digital Wellbeing features on Pixels, but it seems to be coming along nicely. A new update rolled out today that addresses several pain points with the Wellbeing tools. Making the most important features more accessible seems to be the theme. For example, you can open the Wellbeing menu with an app shortcut rather than tediously digging into the settings. If you want that right now, we've got an APK for you.
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Amazon catapulted us into the age of budget Android tablets years ago with the original Fire, and its slates (surprisingly) still make up a large segment of the Android tablet market. That's not because of any particularly innovative designs or features. Amazon releases cheap new Fire tablets all the time that look almost exactly like the previous version. That's the case today with the new Fire HD 8. It's like the old HD 8 but with hands-free Alexa support.Amazon keeps the focus of the Fire tablets very, very mainstream. Thus, we get specs like "HD display with over 1 million pixels." You can get a little more detail if you dig in. That display is 1280x800, and there's a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor with just 1.5 GB of RAM. You don't need a ton of RAM with Amazon's simplified Fire OS, which is still based on Android Lollipop.You'd be hard-pressed to spot any difference between the new tablet and the last refresh. As far as we can tell, the only improvement is hands-free Alexa. So, you can shout at the tablet from across the room and have it do things with Amazon Alexa. The Fire HD 8 comes in black, yellow, blue, and red colors for $79.99 with 16GB of storage—32GB will cost you $109.99. Both versions ship on October 4th. The same device will also come in a Kids variant with a rugged case and no-questions-asked warranty.
We will no doubt look back at the spring of 2018 as an era of intense ZTE drama. Following an enforcement action by the US Commerce Department, ZTE was cut off from all its US suppliers. The company partially shut down and put all projects on hold until it could work out a deal with the US government. One of those delayed projects was the Axon 9 Pro, which was finally unveiled at IFA 2018. The debut (probably coming much later than ZTE would have liked) is a bit of a letdown for anyone hoping ZTE would come out swinging after its near-death experience. Instead, the Axon 9 Pro looks like a very generic iPhone clone.
It is a well-established fact that "gaming" phones are little more than a marketing gimmick. There's nothing about these devices that makes them better for gaming than the next high-end smartphone. Well, the Asus ROG Phone might be the exception that proves the rule. I was skeptical of it when it was announced, just like I am of every other supposed gaming smartphone. To my surprise, I actually liked using the device, and I can see how it could credibly be called a "gaming phone."
Most Chromebooks follow a minimal design philosophy. They're small-ish, have modest processors, and don't take up a lot of space on your desk. The new Lenovo Yoga Chromebook is none of those. Lenovo's first premium Yoga-branded Chromebook comes with a display up to 4K resolution, and it's almost large enough to be considered a desktop replacement.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is an expensive phone, but it might also be the one to get right now. After dropping a grand on a new smartphone, you really ought to make sure you're using it to the fullest. Samsung does have a way of cramming features in every nook and cranny, though. You'd need some sort of detailed guide to find all the best stuff, right? Well, that's what you're reading. Here are the 10 most useful Note 9 tips, as chosen by the AP team.
Sony still refreshes its flagship phones every few months, but the design doesn't usually change much from one generation to the next. The new Xperia XZ3 does indeed have a very "Sony" look, but the phone is more different than you'd expect from the press renders. Don't get me wrong—this is still a Sony phone with all the questionable hardware and software decisions that come with it. However, it's the most modern-looking Sony phone I've used.
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Google's big Gmail redesign earlier this year added a handful of new features, including Confidential Mode. The Android app hasn't gotten all the new Gmail tools, but Confidential Mode is rolling out today. You don't even need to update the app—just take a peek in the menu.
As is tradition, iFixit has torn the latest mobile device apart to see what makes it tick. The Note 9 has several distinctive features that set it apart from the Galaxy S phones, but it shares a lot as well. It even shares a repairability score: 4 out of 10.
The Galaxy Note 9 is a big phone—even larger than last year's Note 8. So, it doesn't fit in last year's Gear VR headset (SM-R325N). This has been a theme for Samsung over the last couple cycles, but it's not releasing a new variant of the headset this time. You can use last year's model, but you need an adapter. Samsung will even send that adapter free to Note 9 owners who ask.
Android users have been able to rely on gReader to collect and manage their RSS feeds for years, but it appears that's over. The app disappeared from the Play Store without warning yesterday. Going to the URL only produces an error now. We've reached out to the developer but have not gotten a response.
Google announced Linux app support on Chrome OS back at I/O, but it's been slow to move it out of the dev channel. Finally, the Pixelbook just got a new build of Chrome v69 update that adds the beta Linux support. That's not all—this was a rather major update.
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 9 earlier this month and promptly began taking pre-orders. Some of those phones already shipped, but today is the official street date for the Note 9. You can stroll into your local carrier store or purveyor of electronic ephemera and walk out with a Galaxy Note 9. Well, it'll be hard to walk out and carry the phone after giving up and arm and leg to get it. You can, however, adorn your one remaining wrist with the Galaxy Watch, which is also launching today.
Not long ago, the only Assistant-powered speakers you could get were Google's own. The selection has since expanded with the likes of Sony, Harman, LG, and Anker. Now, Bang & Olufsen has announced some Assistant speakers. The cheaper of the two costs $1,750, which is more than four times the cost of a Google Home Max. On the plus side, they don't look like speakers.