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Huawei HarmonyOS Next With AI-the new version of its Android rival

Huawei has announced its latest operating system (OS) in China which has been developed independently of Android. Dubbed HarmonyOS Next, it does not leverage Google’s Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code, which is adopted by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for developing Android skins for their devices. Instead, it is built on the Hongmeng kernel and system architecture, as per the company. HarmonyOS Next brings new home and lock screen customisation options, features powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and faster animations and app launch speeds.

HarmonyOS Next is set to power the current and future generations of Huawei devices in China for now, though a global release was confirmed previously. It will work across a broad range of devices ranging from smartphones to wearables, smart home devices and car cockpits.

HarmonyOS Next Features

Huawei’s new OS brings new ways to customise the home and lock screens. It borrows certain design elements from Harmony OS – the company’s Android skin. This includes app arrangements, widgets, a notification bar and the control centre. It features a new physical light engine which is claimed to make the interaction smoother and has a new wallpaper feature which recognises the object in the image and suggests a suitable composition.

A major component of HarmonyOS Next is the inclusion of AI, embedded in its core, from the kernel system to apps. It leverages an AI agent dubbed Celia, built on the company’s proprietary Pangu large language model (LLM). The agent can also take advantage of third-party cloud-based AI models to provide enhanced services. Thus, the OS is capable of providing personalised content and smart services based on different scenarios. It also features a built-in system-level AI assistant that has high-level understanding and interaction capabilities. Its capabilities include on-screen content awareness, contextual understanding, document analysis and summarisation, and a Circle-to-Search-like functionality.

Huawei says HarmonyOS Next has over 15,000 apps and more will arrive soon. It is also claimed to result in 30 percent better system-wide fluency and an increase of up to 1.5GB in system memory. Leveraging the new star shield security architecture, the OS has nuclear-level system-wide security, as per the company.

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News

Eero just announced a new outdoor mesh extender -that covers 15,000 square feet, and it’s tough enough to weather any storm

Whether you’re a remote worker who enjoys a morning coffee on your deck or a business owner running a cafe in a busy college town, getting reliable Wi-Fi outdoors can be challenging. While some users have gotten creative with their weatherproof Wi-Fi solutions, Eero is now launching what may be the answer for many: the Eero Outdoor 7.


Besides killing Wi-Fi dead zones, one of the main reasons to upgrade to one of the best mesh Wi-Fi systems is so that you can extend your home network out into your garage or even into your backyard. However, to achieve something like this, you often have to get crafty with the placement of your mesh router nodes or satellites.


Over the years, eero’s customers have come up with all sorts of different ways from weatherproof boxes to outdoor closets to using a pole and rubber bands to bring their mesh networks outside. But with the eero Outdoor 7, they can easily and securely mount a weatherproof mesh device on stucco, vinyl, wood or fiber cement walls without all that hassle.


Since weather conditions can be quite extreme in different parts of the world, eero tested the eero Outdoor 7 in the heat of Arizona, inside a commercial refrigerator, on beaches and even in a tunnel with 100 MPH winds to simulate a Category 1 or even a Category 2 hurricane. The device itself can operate in temperatures ranging from -40F to 130F.


As with the eero Max 7 and the other devices on our list of the best Wi-Fi 7 routers, the eero Outdoor 7 supports the latest wireless standard. With Wi-Fi 7 on board, you can get multi-gig wireless speeds of up to 2.1 gigabits per second (Gbps). It also acts as a smart home hub so that you can connect Thread, Zigbee and Matter devices.


Even if you have an older eero device like the eero 6+ or the eero Pro 6E, you can still add the eero Outdoor 7 to your mesh network. This is because unlike with mesh routers from Netgear or Google, all eero devices are compatible with each other and can be used together on the same network.

Adding the eero Outdoor 7 to your mesh network

As is often the case with more advanced home networking gear, the eero Outdoor 7 doesn’t have an AC plug. Instead, it uses Power over Ethernet (PoE) for both connectivity and power. If your home is wired for Ethernet and you already have an eero PoE Gateway, you’re good to go and you just need to plug in the eero Outdoor 7 to an exterior Ethernet outlet.

What if your home isn’t wired for Ethernet though? Don’t worry as eero is also releasing a 30W Outdoor PoE+ power adapter. This lets you plug the Outdoor 7 into any outdoor AC outlet and have it wirelessly connect to your eero network.

With an Outdoor 7 installed and set up, you can extend the range of your eero mesh network by up to 15,000 square feet. While most mesh routers have a range of 2,000 to 3,000 square feet per satellite, this is because they’re meant to be used inside where they have to push a strong wireless signal through walls while dealing with interference from the rest of the electronic devices in your home and this is especially true with large appliances like your refrigerator. Since the Outdoor 7 is designed to be used outside though, it has a much wider coverage range.

A single Outdoor 7 is more than enough for most single family homes. However, if you have a larger property like a farm or even a business, you can use multiple Outdoor 7 devices to set up a point-to-point connection with even more range. For instance, eero’s testers used the Outdoor 7 to get Wi-Fi coverage all the way from a beach house to the shoreline.

The eero Outdoor 7 will cost $349 when it launches in the U.S. on November 13. However, there will also be a bundle that incluudes eero’s 30W Outdoor PoE+ adapter for $399. Eero is planning to launch the device in Canada too before making it available in the other 24 countries where it operates at a later date.

If you want to learn more, please visit: Batteryone.co/blogs

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Guide

How to Keep Your AED Properly Maintained

Unlike most products, AEDs may be unused for long periods of time before they are needed during an emergency. And, when an AED needs to be used, it is usually during a life-or-death situation that happens suddenly and without warning!

If an AED isn’t properly maintained, the consequences can be tragic. Without receiving ongoing maintenance, AEDs may not be working correctly or their disposable parts (like electrode pads and batteries) may expire. As a result, someone could die when they could have otherwise been saved by the AED.

How Do You Maintain an AED?

One of the biggest challenges with maintaining an AED is that there isn’t a standard maintenance protocol for all devices. Maintenance requirements and processes vary from one AED model to another. Not to mention, the maintenance requirements can often be time-consuming, expensive, and burdensome.

While specific requirements vary by manufacturer, here are some basic procedures for an inspection that can keep your AED ready to respond in a heartbeat.

Daily:Some units have a status indicator light you can check daily as you walk by the AED. Green indicates readiness; red indicates a problem.

Monthly or Annually:

  • Visually inspect your AED.Look for dirt, damage, or contamination.
  • Inspect electrodes.All electrodes (sticky pads) should be unexpired and in their original, sealed packages. It’s good to have at least two sets for adults and one set for children.
  • Test primary battery.Some models feature a “test” button. On models without one, push the “on” button. If the unit prompts you to attach the electrodes, the battery’s working properly.
  • Test backup battery.Make sure a backup battery is stored with the AED. This is crucial, because defibrillation can deplete the primary battery. Test the secondary battery by removing the primary battery and following the same process as you did with the first one.
  • Keep it charged.Keeping an AED plugged into the wall when it’s not being used helps keep the primary battery from losing its charge over time. It’s especially important for devices that sit idle for long periods.
  • Check data card.Some models record information about the cardiac arrest on a removable computer data card. Make sure a functioning card is installed.
  • Stock secondary supplies.Some items that are helpful to stock in your AED kit include alcohol prep pads, razors, gloves, scissors, and a small towel or cloth. Electrodes require a good connection to function, so you may need to clean the person’s skin or trim thick chest hair.
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News

Snapdragon 8 Elite chip will allow up to 8 years of Android updates, but what does it mean for users?

Qualcomm just announced the upgrade of the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which should run the best Android phones that launch next year. It appears that the new chip will also support major software updates for quite some time.

During the recent Snapdragon Summit, Chris Patrick, Qualcomm’s SVP and GM Mobile Handset, announced to assembled journalists that the new system-on-chip would support up to eight years of Android operating system updates (via Android Authority). According to the report, that support includes the current OS version, which means you can expect seven years of Android upgrades (assuming phone makers release that many).

This means that Android phone manufacturers can support their devices for as long as they care to do so. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean every handset maker will support older devices for eight or seven years. They must customize their Android skins and features to work with the built-in Qualcomm Android board support package. Several Android device makers, including Sony and Motorola, are known to only offer one Android update and maybe three or four years of security updates.

Existing Qualcomm chips like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can support up to four operating system upgrades and four years of security patches. This has been a goal of Qualcomm to enable manufacturing partners to keep updating older phones for longer.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite is being built with the 3nm process, significantly improving the current 4nm processor used in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Transistors are packed closer together, improving performance and power efficiency. It should be quite a powerful chip.

Additionally, Qualcomm is swapping out the Kryo CPU from previous SoCs for a mobile-optimized Oryon CPU, the same as the Snapdragon X Elite silicon used in Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs released this summer.

 Luckily, new phones with the Snapdragon 8 Elite are coming soon.These include the Asus ROG Phone 9, which should launch in November. Honor showed off the Magic 7 during the Snapdragon Summit, and that phone will debut on October 30, though it may take a few months before it hits US shores.

Will all Snapdragon 8 Elite phones get 8 years of updates?

Qualcomm has confirmed that the Snapdragon X Elite will get eight years of support, but Android updates are offered by phone manufacturers. While brands like Samsung and Google have already upped their game and are offering seven years of OS updates for the Galaxy S24 and the Pixel 9 series, manufacturers like Xiaomi, Realme, Oppo, and others are yet to update their software update policy.

Companies like Motorola, who are often known to delay software updates, also recently announced that the Edge 50 Neo, its newest mid-range device, will get five years of updates. However, given the company’s track record, it will be interesting to see if it follows through on its promise.

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News

Xiaomi 15, Honor Magic 7 confirmed to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite

Qualcomm debuted its Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset at Snapdragon Summit 2024, and various phone makers have since come forward to confirm that their upcoming flagships will be powered by the all-new (and all-powerful) mobile platform.

Both Xiaomi and Honor joined Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon on stage in Hawaii to announce that the Xiaomi 15 and Honor Magic 7 series, respectively, will launch this month (likely in China) with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

Asus, too, confirmed that the upcoming Asus ROG Phone 9 will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and Samsung mobile chief TM Roh also appeared at Snapdragon Summit to reaffirm his company’s ongoing partnership with Qualcomm. Roh didn’t mention the Samsung Galaxy S25 series by name, but you can bet your house that the best Samsung phones we see in 2025 will come packing the Snapdragon 8 Elite (disclaimer: that’s not serious financial advice).

In other words, it’s highly likely that many of next year’s best Android phones will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, with Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series being the first of that number to ship in the US, UK, and Australia . Those aforementioned models from Xiaomi, Honor, and OnePlus will presumably debut in China first, before launching internationally at a later date in 2025.

As for how the Snapdragon 8 Elite stacks up against its predecessor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it’s the first Snapdragon mobile chipset to feature Qualcomm’s second-generation Oryon CPU, and has been designed to “handle the complexities of multi-modal AI” much more efficiently.

Any phones equipped with Qualcomm’s latest chipset will deliver faster app launches, more seamless multitasking, and more powerful generative AI capabilities than their Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-equipped predecessors, and mobile gamers, too, will benefit from sharper images, smoother gameplay, and longer gameplay sessions thanks to the 8 Elite’s improved Adreno GPU.

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Guide

Precautions for Drone Flying in Winter

As weather conditions change with the approach of winter, drone enthusiasts are presented with unique challenges when taking to the skies. As winter blankets the landscape with its icy embrace, The cold temperatures, snow, and icy conditions can pose significant risks to the drone and the operator.

Although it’s not advisable to fly in extreme winter weather conditions, we understand many drone pilots won’t run inside at the first sight of snow. When you need to collect critical information, like topographical surveys, waiting for a more placid day might not be an option.

To help you overcome the elements and keep your drone flying in winter, we’ve put together some best practices and tried-and-true advice.

Keeping an eye on your battery life

The greatest inconvenience to flying a drone in winter is the cold temperatures’ effect on your drone’s lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries.

Cold temperatures reduce chemical activity in Lipo batteries used in drones. This causes your drone to lose power faster — 50% faster in some cases. In extreme cold conditions, your drone might even shut down mid-flight.

Here’s what to know if you plan on flying in cold weather:

  • Turn your drone on and let it warm up for a couple of minutes before launching.
  • Begin with fully-charged batteries and check your battery life more than usual mid-flight. If you track the rate your drone is using power, you can plan when it’s time to bring the drone back to home base, averting a crash.
  • Bring extra, fully charged, LiPo batteries if you plan to fly for a while. Taking extra time to swap out a drone battery is preferable to your drone losing power and crashing.
  • Consider where you store your drone and LiPo batteries when you’re not flying. If the space is significantly cooler during cold weather, move them somewhere warmer.
  • Keep your extra batteries inside your vehicle while you’re flying. It’s not just your drone that you have to worry about. The batteries in your controller will also use power faster in cold weather. Don’t leave your controller exposed to extreme cold more than necessary.
  • If you’re working in especially frigid weather conditions, consider investing in a battery warmer.

Monitor Weather Conditions

Stay informed about the weather conditions before heading out to fly. Strong winds, snow, and low temperatures can all impact the stability and performance of your drone.

Flying in windy, blustery weather conditions

Unless you’re a seasoned drone pilot and comfortable flying manually, you should not fly your drone when the surface wind speed is above 15 mph. Flying in anything stronger than that jeopardizes a safe flight, and you risk a crash.

In addition to the cold temperatures, strong winds will negatively affect battery life, sacrificing flight performance. Your drone will have to work harder to fly against the wind to overcome the turbulence. So, even if your drone is able to handle the high winds, you still risk a crash if you let your LiPo battery levels drop too low.

If you must fly in windy conditions, follow this advice to ensure a safe flight:

  • Fly perpendicular to the wind. If you can’t, fly upwind first and then downwind, back toward you.
  • Be more attentive to your drone than normal, especially when flying with the wind. If you notice that it’s having a hard time staying level, bring it home immediately.
  • Be careful during your takeoffs and landings. Though winds are more powerful the higher the altitude, your drone can veer off course more easily when it’s just getting off the ground or decelerating during landing.

Coping with flight performance issues caused condensation

In many areas, cold weather also means increased condensation. Too much moisture in the air can cause a number of issues with your drone’s ability to operate properly. With enough exposure, moisture can ruin the drone’s propeller motors, camera, and internal systems. If you’re using a GPS-enabled drone, condensation can also disrupt those signals, distorting your geotags.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Although it may seem obvious that you should skip flying in the rainy or snowy weather conditions, flying a drone in fog is not a good idea, either. Fog can trigger the drone’s obstacle avoidance sensors, making it think something is in front of it and thereby stopping the flight mid-mission.
  • Choose a drone with high-visibility lights on the body of the craft, so you can spot it in the sky in extreme weather conditions.
  • Not only do you need to account for the moisture in the air, you should avoid contact with snow on the ground, too, as moisture can damage your drone’s motors. Use a pad or another elevated surface for launching and landing your drone.

Cold weather

As we have mentioned, when the temperature decreases, the performance of your drone’s batteries deteriorates. This situation will most likely occur when weather conditions approach or drop below 0 °C or 32 °F. Aside from battery life, here are other specifications you should review for your drone to determine if yours is suitable for flying in cold weather:

  • Maximum wind speed your drone can fly
  • Range of optimal operating temperatures
  • Maximum flight altitude
  • To combat moisture and freezing precipitation, ensure your drone has an IP rating of at least IP43 to fly during winter.

Choose the Right Gear

As the drone operator, you have to remain in the cold temperatures for the entire flight time. Dress accordingly. Bundle up, and choose gloves that won’t prevent you from operating your mobile device or the drone controller. Numb, frostbitten fingers aren’t just uncomfortable — they make operating a touchscreen almost impossible.

Plan your mission before flying your drone

Preparing for your flight before you travel to the site makes good sense. It can help minimize the time you’re out in the cold. Only plan to survey the areas of your worksite where you need new, up-to-date data. And when possible, choose the best camera to minimize your drone payload weight, which will help to maximize your LiPo batteries’ life in cold weather.

Ultimately, if you think the cold or inclement weather will be too much to handle — move your flight to another day. Keep up with the seven-day forecast so you can reschedule your flight as soon as you know you’ll be facing poor weather conditions.

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News

US Customs Is Holding Up DJI Drone Imports

Getting your hand son the brand-new DJI Air 3S might be trickier than anticipated as the company is having issues importing its latest drone to the US. For the time being, it might only be possible to purchase the drone from DJI.com directly, not through any third-party stores.

This isn’t anything to do with the ban bill which passed in the US House of Representatives earlier this year. Instead, DJI claims it’s because the Department of Homeland Security incorrectly believes the drones were produced in forced labor camps and is blocking the drones using the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

In a letter it sent to distributors – which has been shared on social media – DJI refutes these accusations stating “DJI strongly affirms that no forced labor is involved at any stage of our manufacturing process.

“Our company does not and has never operated manufacturing facilities in the Xinjiang province of China, nor do we obtain any materials from that region. All of our manufacturing is based in Shenzhen, where our company is headquartered, or Malaysia.”

Following up with a post on its official blog DJI says it has all of the evidence it needs to clean up this “misunderstanding” and prove it doesn’t make its drones in the Xinjiang region of China.

Until the issue is resolved however it’ll be harder for US businesses to get their hands on DJI’s enterprise and agricultural drones, as well as regular folks from snagging the DJI Air 3S – at least from retailers other than DJI itself.

The first ban of many?

Even if this existing issue is resolved, DJI’s future in the US will remain uncertain.

The wider US import ban is still looming, and while it has yet to pass through the Senate it feels like it may be a matter of when, and not if, unless there’s a major attitude shift in the US government.

Though the ban looks set to only affect imports as it is currently written, so if a DJI drone catches your eye, you should still consider grabbing it – as already-approved models won’t be permanently grounded even if a ban does pass.

So take this DJI Air 3S issue as a taste of what’s unfortunately likely to come in the coming months and years from the world’s best drone manufacturer.

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News

New iOS 18.1 Hearing Aid Functionality Are as Good as They Sound

Apple announced a trio of major new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2 in September, including clinical-grade hearing aid functionality, a hearing test, and more robust hearing protection. All three will roll out next week with the release of iOS 18.1, and they could mark a watershed moment for hearing health awareness. Apple is about to instantly turn the world’s most popular earbuds into an over-the-counter hearing aid.

To use the new hearing health features, you need to connect your ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 to an iPhone running iOS 18.1, or an iPad with iPadOS 18.1. From there, if you tap into the ‌AirPods Pro‌ section, you’ll see an option to take a hearing test, which should be your first stop.
Apple’s hearing test mimics the hearing tests you might have had conducted at a doctor’s office or by an audiologist, and it’s meant to determine whether you have any hearing loss. If you do have hearing loss, the test determines which frequencies you’re struggling with.

With the AirPods in your ears, you can tap “Get Started” to take the hearing test. The test takes approximately five minutes, starting first with the left ear and then moving on to the right ear. You’ll hear a series of tones at different frequencies and sound levels, and the idea is to tap the ‌iPhone‌’s screen whenever you hear a sound. The tones that you hear test for four frequencies, including 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, and 4kHz.

Apple puts your ‌iPhone‌ in Do Not Disturb mode for the test, and also uses your AirPods to make sure it’s quiet enough for the test to be conducted. The test is designed for adults that are 18 years or older, and it shouldn’t be done when you have allergies, a cold, an ear infection, or a sinus issue, which can affect the results. Apple also recommends waiting to take the test at least 24 hours after you’ve been exposed to loud noise like a concert or construction, as this can also impact the hearing test.

After going through the hearing test steps, you’ll get your Hearing Test results, with separate decibel levels detected for each ear. If you get a 5 dBHL reading for each ear, for example, you have little to no hearing loss and will not need adjustments to your AirPods.

Apple says that results up to 25 dBHL indicate little to no hearing loss. 26 to 40 dBHL is a sign of mild hearing loss, while results of 41 to 60 dBHL suggest moderate hearing loss. 61 to 80 dBHL is severe hearing loss, and a result above 80 dBHL is considered profound hearing loss.

If your test shows mild to moderate hearing loss, you’ll have the option to turn on the Hearing Aid feature of the ‌AirPods Pro‌. With this enabled, the ‌AirPods Pro‌ can use the data from your test to boost the frequencies that you have trouble hearing, making it easier to hear voices and other sounds around you.

Note that if your test showed no hearing loss, Apple will not recommend changes to your AirPods tuning, and there will not be an option to turn on the Hearing Aid feature.

To see even more information from your Hearing Test, you can go to the Hearing section of the Health app and tap into the test to see a graph of which frequencies you had the most trouble with.

Along with Hearing Assistance, the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 also offer Hearing Protection as part of Apple’s Hearing Health feature set. This includes a Loud Sound Reduction option that is enabled automatically. Loud Sound Reduction listens for loud noises around you in Transparency and Adaptive Modes, and reduces the level of the noise to prevent hearing loss.

In the Health app under the Environmental Sound Reduction section, you can see the amount of sound reduction you’ve gotten from your ‌AirPods Pro‌ from hour to hour.

If you have the iOS 18.1 developer or public beta and ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2, you can try out the new hearing test and hearing aid feature right now. Otherwise, this functionality is set to become available to the public when iOS 18.1 launches next week.

Being able to use Apple’s $250 earbuds as a hearing aid is a huge deal for those who can benefit from this capability. That’s substantially less expensive than over-the-counter hearing aids from Jabra, Sony, and other brands. But the AirPods won’t be right for everyone. People with more severe hearing loss will still need to seek out other solutions (including those pricier products). And the main tradeoff with the AirPods Pro 2 is battery life: they can last for around six hours with the hearing aid engaged, which doesn’t match what you’ll get from many OTC and prescription hearing aids.

But this is a big milestone — and it seems inevitable that Samsung, Google, and other tech heavyweights will follow Apple’s lead fairly quickly.We spent a long time bemoaning the loss of the headphone jack. With advancements like this, and earbuds helping to improve so many people’s quality of life, we’re finally starting to see a worthwhile payoff.

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News

Flagship Android Battle: Pixel 7 and 7 Pro vs. Galaxy S22 and S22+

Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones are finally a reality. But they face tough competition from Samsung’s Galaxy S22 lineup. In the Android world, the Pixel and Galaxy phones generally lead the way in the US market, so we’re anxious to put them side-by-side. For now, that means nitpicking spec differences, though we plan to fully review the new Google handsets in the days ahead.

Google Pixel 7 vs. Samsung Galaxy S22
Looking at the two lower cost phones first, we have the Pixel 7 and Galaxy S22. The price difference is stark: The Pixel 7 starts at $599, whereas the Galaxy S22 costs $799. That $200 in savings could easily make the Google device a more viable option for your budget. Both devices come with 128GB of storage but no microSD card slot. If you need more storage, the 256GB versions of the Pixel and Galaxy devices cost $699 and $849, respectively.

For power, the Pixel 7 uses the Tensor G2 chip and the Galaxy S22 runs on the top tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform. We still have to benchmark the new Tensor hardware before we can definitively declare a winner, but based on the first-generation Tensor’s performance, we expect similar overall output from the newer processor. Both phones stick with 8GB of RAM.

The Pixel 7’s 6.3-inch, 2,400-by-1,080-pixel screen is a little bigger than the Galaxy S22’s 6.1-inch, 2,340-by-1,080-pixel panel, but the pixel density is almost identical at 417 and 423 pixels per inch (ppi), respectively. The S22 does offer a higher refresh rate (up 120Hz), however, whereas the Pixel 7 maxes out at 90Hz.

Cameras are a huge factor for many in the smartphone buying decision. The Pixel 7 comes with a 50MP primary sensor and a 12MP ultra-wide lens, which matches up exactly with the Galaxy S22’s 50MP main sensor and a 12MP ultra-wide unit. But the Samsung phone also includes a 10MP 3x telephoto lens, something the Pixel 7 doesn’t have. Google’s exclusive software features such as True Tone, Magic Eraser, and Face Unblur might be more important to you, however.

Connectivity isn’t much of a differentiator. Both phones support Wi-Fi 6E and the latest 5G technologies.

Google and Samsung both pledge five years of security updates for their phones, which means you should be safe through 2027. That said, Samsung promises four years of software version updates whereas Google offers just three. Something else to mull is whether you prefer Google’s clean version of Android or Samsung’s stylized OneUI.

Google Pixel 7 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S22+
The Google Pixel 7 Pro competes most closely with the Galaxy S22+. It starts at $899, whereas the S22+ sells for $999. Because of the similar price, the spec differences matter more here than in the previous comparison.

Both phones come with 128GB of internal storage and don’t offer any storage expansion. If you want more space, Google offers 256GB and 512GB versions for $999 and $1,099, respectively. Samsung charges $1,049 for a 256GB version of its phone but doesn’t have a 512GB variant.

The processor specs (listed above) are the same: The Pixel 7 Pro uses the new Tensor G2 chip and S22+ runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform. Interestingly, the Pixel comes with 12GB of RAM while the Galaxy stays with 8GB of memory.

The Pixel 7 comes with a 6.7-inch, 3,120-by-1,440-pixel QHD+ screen and the Galaxy S22+ has a 6.6-inch, 2,340-by-1,080-pixel panel. Google easily takes the resolution win (513ppi compared with 390ppi), but both phones have a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz.

Both handsets offer a 50MP main sensor and 12MP ultra-wide camera, but the Pixel 7 Pro adds a 48MP telephoto lens with a 5x optical zoom and up to 30x Super Res Zoom. The Galaxy S22+ features the same 10MP 3x telephoto lens as the base S22.

Connectivity shouldn’t be an issue with either: Each supports the latest 5G and WiFi 6E standards.

On paper, the 7 Pro offers better specs across the board and costs less. But we still want to wait for a chance to complete a full review before we make any definitive conclusions. Again, a choice between stock Android and Samsung’s One UI could factor into your decision. And keep in mind that you get that extra year of software feature updates with Samsung.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Google Smartphone Replacement Battery
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Samsung Smartphone Replacement Battery

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Laptops News

Living with the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

One of the more interesting—and more curious—laptops I’ve tried in a while is the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, one of the few ARM-based Windows systems on the market. The machine is designed to provide the laptop features we expect with the advantages we expect from phones, such as better battery life and instant on. It does have some nice features, and is a definite improvement from last year’s ThinkPad Flex 5G, but I’m still not convinced that Windows on ARM is ready.

The machine looks like an ultraportable ThinkPad, with a 13.3-inch display, black matte color, magnesium cover, and the familiar red pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard. Measuring 0.53 by 11.8 by 8.13 inches (HWD) and weighing just 2.5 pounds (3.16 pounds with the included 65-watt charger), it’s light and easy to carry.

It doesn’t offer much in the way of ports, however: the left side of the machine has two USB-C ports, but without support for Thunderbolt; and the right side has a SIM socket, a lock, and a headphone/mic jack. No USB-A, no HDMI. There’s a 5MP webcam enclosed in a lip that protrudes from the top of the screen, with a key that physically covers the webcam, though no user-accessible shutter.

Like most of the current ThinkPad series, it has a decent-size touchpad with physical left and right buttons. It has a reasonable keyboard, but it seems a bit shallower than that on other recent ThinkPads I’ve tested.

The X13s has a fingerprint reader embedded in the power button, on the upper right-hand part of the keyboard, though this was problematic. On the other hand, Windows Hello worked quite well with facial recognition.

What makes this unit stand out is the processor, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. This is an 8-core processor running at a nominal speed of 3GHz, with Qualcomm’s Kryo CPU cores and Adreno 690 graphics, manufactured on a 5nm process, rumored to be made by Samsung. My test model had 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, along with a 13-inch 1920-by-1200 display with the currently popular 16:10 ratio.

Compared with the earlier Snapdragon 8cx in the Flex 5G, this year’s processor is said to be much faster, and now supports 64-bit x86 (Intel or AMD) applications through emulation as well as 32-bit x86 and native ARM applications. It supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1 and includes a Microsoft Pluton TPM architecture for added security.

The good news is that you can run most Windows applications. There are now ARM-based versions of the Microsoft Office suite, so Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Edge all work. It does fine with Chrome, Firefox, and Zoom.

It’s notably slower on most benchmarks than I would have expected. Qualcomm has been positioning the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 as competitive with Intel’s Core i5 processor, but I didn’t get performance scores that were anywhere near that (even given that most of the machines I’ve tested lately were Core i7’s so I didn’t expect the scores to be quite as high.) On the Applications test in PC Mark 10, it scores 7862 vs. scores of about 11,000 or higher on Core i7 or Ryzen 7 lightweight x86 notebooks; and it scored less than half as well on Cinebench. Still, in daily use with light-duty tasks, I didn’t notice a lot of difference from running an AMD- or Intel-based laptop.

On more performance-oriented tests, the Snapdragon just didn’t compete. It took the ThinkPad X13s 89 minutes to run a big spreadsheet in Excel (a native ARM application), compared with 41 minutes for the current (Intel-based) X1 Carbon Gen 10. On the X13s, converting a large video using Handbrake took 3 hours and 38 minutes with the native version of the app; and 4 hours and 5 minutes in an emulated 64-bit version, compared with 1 hour and 55 minutes on the X1 Carbon. And a big Matlab model just simply would not run. Bottom line: this isn’t the right machine for you if you run heavy-duty applications.

It’s also a problem if you want Thunderbolt connectivity. I knew the chipset didn’t support Thunderbolt, but I expected such devices to work via USB-C, albeit at lower speeds. That didn’t seem to be the case. It wouldn’t recognize an OWC Aura Thunderbolt drive at all, and while it recognized Lenovo’s Thunderbolt dock, it wouldn’t pass through video signals.

The model I had included a Snapdragon X55 sub-6 5G modem, and the unit came with an AT&T cellular account. I saw download speeds ranging from 50 to 80Mbps and upload speeds ranging from 7 to 21Mbps in New York; in Connecticut, I saw download speeds as low as 17 Mbps and as fast as 131 Mbps. These are fine for most purposes, but hardly exceptional. Cellular connectivity is a relatively rare option on laptops, but there are a variety of other models that do offer it, and I’ve seen similar or better speeds on x86-based machines.

For video conferencing the 5-megapixel webcam over the display was very sharp—better than on most of the ThinkPads I’ve tested lately, but it displayed a yellowish tint and tended to blow out direct lighting behind the screen. Speakers on either side of the keyboard were again fine, but nothing special.

The X13s has a list price of $2,169 with the unit I tested going for $2,309, which seems pretty high; however, as I write this, it’s available on Lenovo’s website for $1,385. Better, but it still seems high for what you’re getting.

What makes the X13s stand out is the ARM processor, which by itself offers somewhat faster resume from sleep and somewhat better battery life, but with the tradeoff of notably worse performance for heavy-duty applications. It’s a tradeoff that only works if you really, really care about getting the best possible battery life.

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