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Huawei’s a name you might not be familiar with, but the Chinese smartphone manufacturer is a big-time player pretty much everywhere that isn’t the United States. Last year, Google pegged Huawei to design its Nexus phones, and Huawei delivered the superb Nexus 6P, a fantastic device that gave flagship smartphones a run for their money at a slightly reduced cost.
The Huawei GX8 (MSRP $350, online for $299) isn’t quite on the Nexus 6P’s level, but like the 6P, the value is undeniable. The GX8 isn’t a top-of-the-line device, but for $300 it does a remarkable job imitating one.
Every inch of the GX8—from its glass-and-metal build to its hefty weight—practically screams, “I’m a premium smartphone!” With that being said, the GX8’s 5.5-inch screen might take some getting used to if you’re coming from a smaller phone.
Around back is the GX8’s primary camera, which protrudes slightly but not enough as to be a nuisance. Beneath that is the phone’s fingerprint scanner — another feature typically found on higher-end handsets.
Overall, I enjoyed holding the GX8 in a normal, stationary position, but the second I readjust its placement in my palm or changed my grasp to tap a button, its size and metal exterior made it feel uncomfortably slippery. It’s a phone I’d recommend handling before purchasing.
When it came to the GX8’s speed, it didn’t take much time for it to wow me. Our benchmark processor tests confirmed my first impression: For the most part, the GX8 performs at a level slightly below the top-of-the-line, but close to last year's best.
I do, however, find Huawei’s EMUI skin—which runs atop Android Lollipop—to have more than its fair share of quirks. These range from minor cosmetic issues to flat-out poor feature implementation, but more often than not, I found myself just wishing the changes weren’t there. The customizable gesture software also felt half-baked most of the time.
Despite those faults, the GX8 is still a phone of pleasant surprises. Take, for instance, its microSD slot, which can accept up to 64GB of expanded storage. I’m not sure why so many manufacturers still neglect external storage, but it’s always an invaluable addition.
Of all the GX8’s performance charms, the one I appreciate the most is its stalwart battery life. In a heavy workload simulation, the GX8 petered out a little over four and a half hours. Considering that the iPhone 6s tops off at a hair under four hours, this performance from a mid-range phone is nothing to scoff at.
In general, you can expect the GX8 to last you from your morning routine until you go to bed, which is usually good enough for most people.
The GX8’s primary camera is a robust 13-megapixel a wide aperture of f/2.0, and for the most part, it does what it needs to do with relative grace. The inclusion of optical image stabilization definitely helps when your hand isn't steady; the sensor is zippy when hunting for a subject and keeps it in tight focus despite minor hand ticks.
Unfortunately, the GX8 struggles where a lot of smartphone cameras often do—in low light. The camera’s noise reduction software tends to crush details in dimly-lit settings.
In everyday situations, however, the GX8 holds its own and snaps perfectly adequate pictures. One of the things I dig about the shots I get is how vibrant they appear without being over-saturated to a cartoony degree. The GX8 also shoots 1080p video with better-than-average results, and its 5-megapixel front-facing camera will satisfy selfie-addicts.
While you won’t quite get a handset to compete with today’s better-known flagships with Huawei’s GX8, you’ll still get a phone that would’ve been flagship quality a year ago — for just $300-$350. Even with its tiny flaws, the GX8 is what other low-cost, high-value phones should aspire to be.
For more in-depth smartphone reviews, head to Reviewed.com.
LAUNCHER IS BASED ON ANDROID N DEVELOPER PREVIEW.WITH ADDITION OF ALL THE CUSTOMIZATION AND HANDY FEATURES LIKE “SLIDE SCREEN” GESTURES NOTIFICATIONS COUNTER ETC.
LAUNCHER IS BASED ON ANDROID N DEVELOPER PREVIEW.WITH ADDITION OF ALL THE CUSTOMIZATION AND HANDY FEATURES LIKE “SLIDE SCREEN” GESTURES NOTIFICATIONS COUNTER ETC.
N Launcher
LAUNCHER IS BASED ON ANDROID N DEVELOPER PREVIEW.WITH ADDITION OF ALL THE CUSTOMIZATION AND HANDY FEATURES LIKE “SLIDE SCREEN” GESTURES NOTIFICATIONS COUNTER ETC.
Facebook apparently has been working on mobile pay and secret chat features for its Messenger app, according to a report published this week by The Information, based on clues found in extracted software code on Messenger for iPhone.
Commands embedded in the software hint at secret conversations, similar to what's found in WhatsApp, the voice and messaging service owned by Facebook, according to the report.
Other references reportedly found in the code include commands to pay in person and pay in Messenger when picking up an item.
"Since Facebook has long said it would continue to develop and support its own message app, it makes sense that it would adopt specific WhatsApp features into its own solutions," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
The mobile pay feature is credible as well, King told TechNewsWorld. However, it remains unclear whether Facebook would compete with Android Pay and Apple Pay directly, or if it would piggyback on one of those services.
"That would require a far lower initial investment and less risk than starting its own service, and eliminate the complexities of negotiating partnerships with banks and financial services," King said.
Facebook does not intend to get into the payments business directly, but would consider partnering with other companies, CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated during a conference call with analysts earlier this year.
"On payments, the basic strategy that we have is to make it -- especially in a product like Messenger -- that, where the business interaction may be a bit more transactional, to take all the friction out of making the transactions that you need," he said.
"So we don't view ourselves as a payments business. That's not the type of company that we are. We'll partner with everyone who does payments," Zuckerberg added.
Other possible additions to Messenger include shopping and delivery features, and the ability to synchronize calendars so users can update to-do lists, share articles and update their status.
Digital Assist?
The rumored features have the potential to turn Messenger into a virtual digital assistant, according to Susan Schreiner, an analyst at C4 Trends.
"Potentially, it could learn our likes and dislikes, make suggestions about articles to read or e-books to purchase," she told TechNewsWorld. "The Messenger app already enables you to send money to friends, so the next logical step would be using the app for in-store purchases."
Facebook would have to overcome a couple of hurdles, said Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.
"Facebook is an advertising distribution channel," he told TechNewsWorld. "Mobile pay will give them more insight into personal transactions. It will be a crowded market, but they have mindshare and are on a huge number of smartphones in good buying demographics."
If the company really wants to turn the secret chat feature into a confidential experience like WhatApp's, it will have to be willing to give up certain information, Teich said.
"Secret chat would presumably keep no record at all of messages sent," he said. "That means metadata too -- otherwise throwing away the message payload, but keeping data such as time and length of messages, sender and receiver."
At last week's Microsoft Build conference, I attended the Hololens Academy -- a whirlwind effort to turn me into a master programmer able to create things out of thin air. It failed. Apparently it takes longer than an hour to teach someone who hasn't coded in decades to be a master programmer -- go figure.
However, by the end of the class I was gleefully throwing fireballs at the heads of my co-wizards and their digital familiars. That took me down a Hogwarts-like path to the idea that with Hololens, doing things pretty similar to what Harry Potter did in the movies won't be that difficult.
I'll explain, and then close with the new car I just ordered, which is almost as magical -- an SUV that is also a damned good sports car, the Mercedes Benz AMG GLA45.
Microsoft's Hololens
Microsoft last week started shipping Hololens to developers, and I've now spent a number of hours playing with the product over various phases. It is very different from virtual reality, in that it blends what is real around you with what is being rendered.
With VR, you currently get a choice of two types of solutions: the untethered solution, which uses a smartphone in a head-mounted carrier and allows you to move around but lacks high performance; and the OculusRift solution, which is tethered to a high-end PC and far more real, but incredibly dangerous because you are more likely to trip over the cord or damage that high-end PC.
Both of these have issues with stuff around you, though, as neither integrates what is around you, resulting in a lot of stories of folks taking headers over furniture (which often doesn't survive the encounter). I'm starting to wonder whether a VR requirement is a padded room.
Hololens is both untethered and takes into account what is around you. If two people are wearing the headsets, they could seem to be sitting across from each other at a table, even though they physically were thousands of miles apart.
This has led to the concept of holoportation, which also was showcased last week, and the idea that in an instant, you could move to virtually any place in the world and actually feel like you were there. This also showcased that you effectively could capture full 3D instances of persons or pets, and create the impression that they were still with you -- particularly if you layered on some form of advanced artificial intelligence -- long after they had passed.
Wizarding World
Now that the tools surrounding Hololens are improving, it has become possible for more and more people to create interactions with the offering. That was the purpose of the Hololens Academy. Once I could create, animate and share virtual items that others could see and interact with, the result actually started to feel like magic.
Magical gestures or commands could create, delete, move or animate the objects we created, and it began to feel as though with just a few adjustments, that we actually could breathe virtual life into them at some future point.
With a connection to some form of general-purpose robotic construct, you even could create things with variable appearances that could interact with the real world. Suddenly, with a core set of programing skills and an imagination, you could emulate most everything Harry Potter did in the movies -- including fighting dragons and throwing fireballs. Granted, flying on a broom or breathing underwater likely would require tools we don't yet have.
Playing With Magic
The final task we were given at Hog..., I mean the Hololens Academy, was to create fireballs, throw them at our constructs, and blow holes in the floor. We previously had been introduced to our avatar familiars -- little floating robots that hovered just over our shoulders -- and they provided targets for our fireballs.
We weren't wearing anything like a VR vest that would translate fireballs hitting us into physical sensations, but we could stun and even blow up some of the strictly virtual familiars.
You could see that turning the robots into owls wouldn't be that hard, and replacing finger gestures with light sticks (or wands) for casting actually might improve accuracy -- and certainly the connection to magic. By the time it was over, I was in full-blown Harry Potter imagination mode.
I do think it would be wickedly cool to go all in and actually use these to create a full-on Harry Potter experience. I expect, given that we already are talking about using VR headsets on roller coasters, that it's very likely Harry Potter World someday will have a ride that uses a future version of Hololens, and it will be amazing.
Wrapping Up
I don't think we have scratched the surface of what we could do with future versions of Hololens and the idea of creating magical entertainment experiences. Imagine games that blend the virtual with the real -- for example, a tennis game in which the rackets could change the image and capabilities of the ball once it was hit, granting more or fewer points based on degree of difficulty.
PokÊmon for real and the ability to have wizard battles in the actual world are just the tip of the iceberg.
The next few years truly could be amazing as we blend Hololens with AI and robotics to create worlds and experiences we can't even imagine now. I can hardly wait.
Well, it was time for my wife and I to replace our Supercharged Infinity FX35, which at more than 8 years old, was not happy with the cold mornings in Bend, Oregon. The issue we faced was that we wanted something that was as fun to drive as our Jaguar F-Type, but still an all-wheel-drive car with lots of room for the dogs.
We don't drive the Jaguar enough, because it really isn't very practical, but we love the huge grin it puts on our faces. So off we went on an impossible search for a combination sports car/SUV. The Porsche Macan was competent but pricey, and it just didn't leave us grinning. Then we saw the new for this year Mercedes AMG GLA45. With active exhaust and more horsepower out of a little 4-cylinder engine than you can get in any other car, it looked really good on paper -- and it was around US$20K less than the Porsche.
Well, off we went for a test drive, and upon getting out of the car, we both had huge grins on our faces. It was the closest thing to driving the F-Type that we'd ever had in anything that wasn't an F-Type Jaguar.
Mercedes-Benz AMG GLA45
Of course, then we found it came in purple, my wife's favorite color, and we were sold. We'd actually found a car that was both incredibly practical in terms of interior space, and small external size (for parking), and incredibly fun to drive because it is wicked fast and makes sounds a lot like our Jaguar does. When we found this YouTube video, we knew we weren't crazy.
So because it does the impossible -- successfully blends a small SUV with a sports car -- and because it puts huge grins on our faces when we drive it, and because we ended up ordering the thing in purple, the Mercedes Benz AMG GLA45 is my product of the week.
HP on Tuesday unveiled its latest challenger to Apple's laptops at theInternational Luxury Conference in Versailles, touting it as the thinnest laptop in the world.
At 10.4 mm, the HP Spectre's chassis is as thin as a triple-A battery, the company noted.
The Spectre is powered by Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and weighs in at 2.45 pounds. It has a 13.3-inch Gorilla glass display, and stereo speakers from Bang & Olufsen.
It provides up to 9 1/2 hours of battery life, according to HP.
The new line "carries some of the thin design and high-end finishing touches that HP introduced in its EliteBook Folio earlier this year," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
HP "is hoping that surpassing Apple in terms of thinness will spark notebook sales," he told TechNewsWorld.
Thin Isn't Enough
That said, thinness "is simply one aspect driving product innovation and user satisfaction," King pointed out.
HP "also needs to develop an Apple-like cachet around its products as being must-haves for consumers," he said. Competitors, including Dell with the XPS 13 and Lenovo with its Yoga line, "have succeeded in such efforts over the past couple of years, which is to say that Apple isn't the only vendor HP needs to worry about."Dell's XPS 13 "has been particularly effective in matching or surpassing features in the 12-inch MacBook," observed King. Dell "understands that thinness is just one aspect of laptop innovation and value, and has consistently delivered XPS 13 solutions with excellent or superior compute performance, energy efficiency and graphics."
Add in touchscreen capabilities -- "something Apple has resolutely avoided, though current rumors suggest a touch-enabled MacBook may be coming later this year -- and Dell's SPX 13 is arguably equal or superior to a similarly sized MacBook," he said.
Why Apple Rules Them All
Outstanding features may not be enough to knock Apple off its notebook throne.
"Apple's greatest advantage is their vertical integration," noted Linn Huang, a research director at IDC.
Competitors increasingly are copying Apple's design, and consumers "are thinking less about design today than they did two to three years ago, because the usage model has moved to the browser," he told TechNewsWorld.
"The more our consumer services transition to the cloud, the more the usage model gets stuck in the browser," Huang said, so "I'd expect that there'd be more homogeneity among products. Ultimately, if you're only using the browser at home, it doesn't really make too much of a difference whether you're using OS X or Chrome or Windows."
That being the case, Apple "has the lead, because OS X plays very nicely with iOS -- much better than iOS does with Windows or Chrome," he added.
Apple also offers a multiplicity of devices in the ultralight notebook class.
"We classify all Apple's MacBooks, including MacBook Pros, as ultraslim devices," Huang said. "While XPS and HP's product will gain a lot of ground, Apple will still be king in the thin and light segment, at least in the United States."
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