Reviews
Engadget's experienced review team thoroughly tests products and services across a wide range of categories.
All Reviews
The Kia Telluride is surprisingly high-tech and stylish (for a Kia)
For better or worse, automakers are categorized. BMW makes luxury cars, and Honda makes cars that last forever. Porsche builds cars that go fast while the driver wears black driving gloves. As for Kia, it's been placed in the "cheap, small car" bucket. The Telluride should change all that.
Jaybird Vista review: The best true wireless buds under $200
For any truly wireless earbuds to be worth a damn, they need to be comfortable, sound great, and fit securely. Jaybird's new Vista buds ($180) hit all those benchmarks — and more. They're fully waterproof and sweatproof. They're incredibly light, weighing just 6 grams, or as much as a sheet of paper. And they sound significantly better than Jaybird's Run, its last wireless earbuds, or any of the company's previous headphones. After spending a few weeks with the Vista, they're easily my favorite workout headphones of the year.
Whistle Go Explore review: GPS-powered puppy protection
I'm happy to say that I've never come close to losing Ellie, my beloved nine-year-old chocolate Labrador. But that doesn't mean I haven't occasionally had a moment of panic thinking about how truly terrible that would be. For years, the default protection against such a scenario has been "microchipping" — implanting a tiny ID chip under a pet's skin that can be scanned to reveal contact information for the animal's owner. While this is still a smart thing to do, it's only useful after your pet has gotten away and has been rescued by someone who tries to reunite the animal with its person. There's a lot that can go wrong before that happens, if it ever does. Whistle has been working to offer a better solution for several years now. What originally started out as a "Fitbit for dogs" evolved into a GPS-enabled pet tracker that alerts you when your pet left a designated "safe" zone and lets you see where it is on a map. Last week, the company released its latest trackers, the Whistle Go and Go Explore, which features real-time location tracking, improved battery life and a few other tweaks to the Whistle formula. Ellie and I have been testing the $129.95 Go Explore for almost a month, and while it's not without quirks, it's still a potentially important safety net for any dog. On a day-to-day basis, its activity-tracking features aren't particularly necessary, which made it easy for me to think of it as an unnecessary gadget. On the other hand, if Ellie ran off, I'd be very glad she was wearing it.
The Ferrari 812 Superfast is exactly what it sounds like
Every shift of the gears unleashes a burst of torque as I link corners on the mountain roads of Northern California. I hit the brakes hard as I head into a curve. I'm not even sure I needed to brake. The wheels are firmly planted to the asphalt and I power out of the apex and on to the next turn. I'm tapping into maybe 50 percent of the Ferrari 812 Superfast's ability as a supercar and it's outstanding.
Klipsch T5 True Wireless review: Great-sounding, but flawed earbuds
Klipsch has been making high quality audio gear since 1946, mostly catering to the audiophile and HiFi crowd. It makes plenty of speakers, soundbars and headphones for casual listeners too, and back at CES, the company debuted its first true wireless earbuds. At $199, the T5 True Wireless offer most of what you need in a pair of true wireless earbuds -- including a pretty cool Zippo-like charging case. But,they're far from perfect, and a few of their flaws could be deal breakers for you, even if they do cost $100 less than much of the competition.
HP Omen X 2S review: A dual-screen curio
A dual-screen gaming notebook sounds like a smart idea at first — who wouldn't want another display to keep an eye on Twitch streams and Discord chats? But is worth taking a gamble on unproven tech? That's what I've been asking myself as I've tested out HP's Omen X 2S, the company's first notebook with two screens. It certainly looks intriguing at first, but it's clear HP still has plenty of work left to do to make the extra display worth it.
Sony WF-1000XM3 review: Simply the best true wireless earbuds
Sony is no stranger to the true wireless-earbud craze. The company introduced the WF-1000X almost two years ago and followed with the WF-SP700N in 2018. However, even with that experience, Sony hasn't really seemed to hit its stride. There are always issues holding the products back from making the leap. Sony has perfected its over-ear noise-canceling headphones, the WH-1000XM3, and now it's leveraging some of that technology to improve its true wireless buds. Enter the $230 WF-1000XM3, Sony's best true-wireless product and a new contender for the top spot overall.
Panasonic S1R review: Big, powerful and too expensive
In a brutal camera market, only the strong survive. Until recently, Panasonic has not just survived, but thrived by focusing on niche, video-centric mirrorless cameras like the GH5. With the S1 and S1R models, though, it's going head-on with rivals Nikon, Canon and Sony in the more competitive, and potentially lucrative, full-frame mirrorless market.
Jammy’s digital guitar is a futuristic idea let down by today's tech
When I was younger I took my acoustic guitar with me wherever I traveled. It's ridden in the back of a van to the Poconos, taken rides down to the Jersey Shore and even flown to the Grand Canyon and Disney World. But it was always a hassle to bring places. It's bulky and fragile. Even if I trusted an airline to treat my guitar with care (which, to be clear, I 100 percent do not), it's prohibitively expensive these days to check something of that size every time you fly. Over the years a number of companies have tried to address this problem, most notably Martin with its Backpacker guitar. But if you prefer your electric guitar and a handful of pedals, then you've been SOL. This is where Jammy is supposed to come in. It's a portable digital guitar, with actual metal guitar strings, that comes apart and easily fits in a carry-on or even a backpack. You can plug a pair of headphones straight into it or connect to a regular guitar amp. It also has a companion app that allows you to change the sound from acoustic to electric or add effects. What's more, since it's digital, it can never go out of tune! It all sounds too good to be true. And for the most part it is.
The best (and mostly free) apps to help you keep up in class
By design, school is supposed to challenge you -- to push at the boundaries of your understanding of the world and make you a more well-rounded person. It's not supposed to be easy as much as it is fulfilling, but thankfully, there are ways to make your educational journey a little less difficult. Luckily for you, a lot has changed since most of the Engadget team went to school. To help out, we've gathered a few apps here that should prove especially useful as you gear up for more long days of learning. (Trust us, you'll probably miss them someday.) Oh, and don't worry: Every one of these handy apps is available for iOS and Android, so everyone gets to benefit.
The best streaming services for cord-cutters on a budget
Even though there are dozens of video-streaming services to choose from, thankfully they're not all the same. And for those of you who may be on a budget, like students, that's a great thing, because it means you can likely find one that suits your needs. Whether you're trying to save money or simply don't care to have a cable subscription, there are plenty of standalone streaming services for watching TV, movies and sports, both live and on demand, that aren't too expensive.
IKEA SYMFONISK review: Sonos speakers at IKEA prices
Although IKEA is mostly known as a purveyor of flatpack furniture and Swedish meatballs, it has dabbled in electronics as well. In years past, it's launched its own line of smart bulbs, Bluetooth speakers and a lamp with a built-in wireless charger. This year, it's upping the pedigree of its electronics offerings thanks to a partnership with Sonos. The new line of Sonos-powered speakers is called SYMFONISK -- apparently Swedish for "symphonics" -- and will feature two debut models: a bookshelf speaker and a 2-in-1 lamp-speaker combo. At just $99 and $179 respectively, the idea here is that they're able to offer Sonos-level quality without the Sonos-level price.
The best note-taking apps for students
Every student needs a good note-taking system. The human brain, after all, can only store and retain so much information. There's nothing wrong with relying solely on pen and paper (and if that's your preference, go for it!). But if you're reading Engadget, we suspect you're interested in some kind of digital equivalent: an app that can store those handwritten notes or, if you're ready to take the plunge, let you record everything with a keyboard or stylus. It should be fast, intuitive and, most important, accessible from all of your favorite devices.
NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super review: A modest, necessary upgrade
When NVIDIA announced its revamped Super RTX video cards earlier this month, the bulk of the attention was on its affordable midrange entries, the RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super. For just $399 and $499, they delivered significantly faster speeds than their predecessors, and they arrived just in time to go head to head with AMD's latest Radeons. Then there's the RTX 2080 Super, which replaces the RTX 2080 at the same $799 price. Based on its specs alone, it didn't seem like a huge leap forward. That's something my testing confirms.
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar review: A full bag of tricks
Sennheiser has spread the gospel of its Ambeo tech for years. The broad pitch is incredibly immersive audio for AR, VR and your living room. As far as consumers are concerned, though, Ambeo is just a headset that records 3D audio and headphones for Magic Leap. At CES 2018, Sennheiser revealed it was cramming the technology inside a soundbar, so we could all use it for a more common activity: watching TV. It took the company another year and a half to release the $2,500 Ambeo Soundbar, and the wait was mostly worth it.
Acer Predator Triton 900 review: Who needs a crazy swiveling screen?
Remember when we said gaming laptops were going to get wild this year? Behold Acer's Predator Triton 900, a massive 17-inch notebook with one of the craziest screens we've ever seen. It can swivel forward and backward to give you something like the flexibility of a standalone monitor. But is a funky screen hinge enough to justify a $3,800 starting price? Probably not.
Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro review (2019): This is the one
Last fall, Apple finally updated the MacBook Air. In doing so, it made choosing the best entry-level Mac laptop far more complicated than necessary. The Air was directly pitted against the 12-inch MacBook and the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro (sans Touch Bar). There was no clear-cut best option: There was too much feature overlap, and no one machine was a winner in all regards. Fortunately, Apple simplified things quite a bit last week by discontinuing the 12-inch MacBook and updating the Air and entry-level Pro. The Air simply got a $100 price drop and a True Tone display, but changes to the Pro were more extensive. But after about two years of status quo, the $1,299 MacBook Pro got some substantial changes: It now has an eighth-generation Intel quad-core processor, better speakers, a True Tone display and the controversial Touch Bar with Touch ID. Oh, and both laptops also have Apple's supposedly more reliable keyboard design, which the company first introduced in May. Now it's a lot easier to compare these lineups. If you want to save cash and aren't working on processor-intensive tasks, the Air is probably for you. But if you require more horsepower, the MacBook Pro's quad-core processor is a major improvement for an extra $200.
Sony Xperia 1 review: Powerful, but not sensible
I don't love admitting this, but it can be hard to take Sony's phones seriously sometimes. That's not because of a lack of effort on its part — it's more that the phones they do release often seem gleefully out of step with the mobile mainstream. Need further proof? Just look at the Xperia 1. This is the first high-powered flagship Sony has released in some time, and it's nothing if not unusual. Super-tall, super-high-res screen? Check. A vibration motor that plays along with your music? Uh-huh. A surprisingly small battery? Sadly, yes. There's little question that the Xperia 1 is the kind of device only Sony would make, and that no other smartphone maker out there is working with the same set of priorities. Occasionally, that means the Xperia 1 feels refreshing. The rest of the time, though, it's enough to make you wish Sony had just made a few decisions differently.
Petcube's Bites 2 and Play 2 are smart speakers in disguise
Unsurprisingly, most smart-home gadgets are fairly human-centric. But what about all the furbags that live with us? Don't they deserve a little slice of the connected dream? Petcube certainly thinks so. The company has two pet-camera products, the Bites and the Play. The former lets you sling treats at your cat or dog, while the latter has a laser allowing you to "play" with them remotely. Both models have just been refreshed, with a few interesting upgrades: a wider camera view (180 degrees, up from 138) and Alexa baked in. They're available starting today.
NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super review
For once, AMD made NVIDIA sweat. NVIDIA's new RTX Super graphics cards are clearly a response to AMD's new midrange GPUs, the Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT. For months, AMD has been hyping how much faster they are than the first RTX cards. The only solution for NVIDIA was a surprise batch of faster cards, which, in turn, led to AMD announcing a price drop at the last minute. Witness the capitalist ideal of competition in action.
