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Clockwise from left: Citation One, 100, and 300.
Thanks to the IFA 2018 trade show in Berlin last week, we now have several new Chrome OS options available to us. Lenovo announced three different Chromebooks, including a higher-end model with a 4K screen that Ryan took a closer look at, and Acer unveiled a follow-up to its popular Chromebook 14, although I wasn’t overly impressed by the quality of the pre-production hardware I got my hands on.
IFA 2018 may be over, but there are still some interesting tidbits of news worth mentioning. One of the stands we visited briefly in Berlin last week was that of German Autolabs to see an interesting new product. It may resemble a Nest Thermostat, but Chris is actually a digital assistant for your car.
We've seen a few different Chromebooks announced at IFA 2018 in Berlin, including 3 models from Lenovo and a consumer-targeted, premium device from Dell. Not to be outdone, Acer unveiled a long-awaited refresh of its Chromebook 14, although the press release was suspiciously devoid of pertinent specifications such as the processor, storage, and RAM. Thankfully, we were able to check it out in the press area of the Acer stand here at IFA — keep on reading for our initial appraisal.
LG G7 One and G7 Fit hands-on: Surprisingly pleasing hardware that will live or die based on pricing
When it came time to review the LG G7 earlier this year, I was conflicted. Here was a quite nice, generally well-executed smartphone, but one I just couldn't get really excited about — features like its AI camera and hardware Google Assistant button were forgettable at best, and I had trouble justifying the flagship-level pricing. But at its heart, there was a lot of potential there, which is exactly why I was excited last month to learn about the debut of the LG G7 One and G7 Fit, two phones very much cut from the same cloth as their namesake. Could either of these handsets step up to address some of my issues with the G7? After going hands-on with both at IFA 2018, I think they just might.
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."
One thing you've got to get used to when attending international trade shows is that you're going to see a lot of interesting phones that just aren't meant for you — sometimes your home market's going to get passed over, and the manufacturer simply has another audience in mind. That's a situation I've been facing at IFA 2018 with the latest batch of Motorola smartphones to debut, as both the Motorola One and Motorola One Power target various global markets — not including the US. Are these handsets worth feeling a little jealous over? I went hands-on with both to find out.
Last year HTC went after the mid-range market with a new product line, introducing the U11 Life a few months after the debut of the flagship U11. And while it did a surface-deep impression of the U11's design, cheap-feeling materials and a price that was just a little too high kept it from really being a competitive option for shoppers on a budget. Now the series is back with the U12 Life, and this week at IFA 2018 we went hands-on with the phone to form some impressions about whether or not this new model will be any more successful.
It's becoming more and more common for regular consumers to install mesh router systems in their homes, and Netgear's Orbi is a popular option. At CES earlier this year, the company introduced a robust outdoor satellite to its lineup, and another new router has been unveiled at IFA 2018 in Berlin.
As some of you may remember, Earin was first to market with a pair of bluetooth earbuds that didn't need a wire connecting them. The Earin M–1 was released following a successful Kickstarter campaign but didn't quite live up to the lofty ambitions. That was a first generation product, however. The Swedish company — that was acquired by Will.i.am's i.am+ at the start of the year — is back to give it another go.
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 Huawei Mate 20 Lite was leaked in graphic detail earlier this month, exposing a big battery, four cameras, and a notched display. Huawei officially unveiled the device today, confirming many of the previously rumored details — plus a buzzy and entirely unsurprising focus on AI.
At IFA, Huawei announced its new flagship system-on-chip, the Kirin 980. Following in the footsteps of its fantastic predecessor, the 980 is the first commerical 7nm SoC, meaning that Huawei beat Qualcomm to the punch. It uses a combination of modified Cortex-A76 and A55 cores, a new Mali-G76 GPU, and a dual Neural Processing Unit (NPU).
Huawei's P20 is known for being available in some refreshingly funky color schemes. It launched in a few different colors, including the eye-catching Twilight variant, which has a color-changing finish that shifts from blue to purple to green depending on the lighting. Now, the P20 is getting four new non-traditional finishes: two more iridescent models, and two sporting leather.
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.
Last year at IFA we took a look at the then-new Moto X4, checking out (among other features) its Wireless Sound System from Tempow, allowing it to sync audio across multiple Bluetooth speakers or headphones at the same time. This week we got to learn about the next evolution of Tempow's system, TAP Smart, shown off with the help of the Android-powered Keecker home robot.
ZTE is now back in business, and today at IFA it revealed its latest Axon flagship phone — which won't be coming to the US. With no Axon 8, ZTE has jumped straight up to the Axon 9 (with a superfluous "Pro" suffix). In its short keynote, the company was adamant that it was striving "once again to improve the impressive sound of Axon," and apparently the best way to do that was by removing the Axon 7's high-end analog audio/headphone jack experience. Coupled with a strangely high €649 price tag, ZTE seems to have forgotten why people liked the Axon series in the first place.
I personally would never want an oven that is connected to the internet, but if you happen to have a smart oven from Electrolux, here's some good news for you. The company announced today that its smart ovens will soon have Google Assistant support, allowing you to change temperatures or turn the oven on/off with voice commands.
Ultimate Ears' BOOM speakers have always been their bread and butter. The company introduced the BLAST line earlier this year, though it hasn't been particularly successful. A 4-month old speaker that launched at $230 shouldn't be selling for $65, but I digress. UE is going back to basics with the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3, which are priced at $149.99 and $199.99, respectively.