reviews
Latest
Lenovo Flex 5G review: Stunning battery life ruined by Windows on ARM
I guess the Flex’s 5G antenna takes up a lot of space. Display and audio The Flex 5G’s 14-inch full HD display is decent. The Surface Pro X has a sharper resolution, but I haven’t really noticed a significant difference. Microsoft Surface Pro X Not tested (was not compatible) NA 1.85GB/s / 775.76MB/s
Amazon Fire HD 8 review: A good, cheap tablet with one big compromise
Despite the hype around the latest iPad Pros, there’s something to be said for cheap slabs. Amazon's Fire tablets are the most affordable options out there and the new $90 Fire HD 8 is a good value -- if you can stomach Amazon's software.
Moto G Stylus review: The highs and lows of a $300 smartphone
The $300 Moto G Stylus packs a stylus, a macro camera and a 4,000mAh battery into an affordable package. But a few shortcomings show that you'll likely always be sacrificing something when paying less than top dollar for a smartphone.
Galaxy Book Flex review: A pretty QLED laptop with a useful S Pen
It’s not as tall as the XPS 13’s or MacBook Air’s, but it offers enough vertical space.
Fitbit Charge 4 review: Affordable GPS at last
It's been years since a Fitbit fitness tracker had built-in GPS. The new $150 Charge 4 band brings the company back to its roots and gives users a more affordable GPS tracker.
Apple Magic Keyboard review: Blurring the line between iPad and MacBook
The iPad Pro is a phenomenal tablet, and the Magic Keyboard makes it feel more like a bonafide computer than ever. Typing is a pleasure thanks to Apple’s updated scissor-switch keys, and the fact that its key layout is nearly the same size as the 13-inch MacBook Pro’s means acclimating doesn’t take long. The glass trackpad is a star, too, thanks in large part to improvements Apple made to iPadOS. That said, the iPad only has a 40 degree range of motion on its hinge so it’s not quite as flexible as a laptop, and we have questions about how well these keys will hold up to everyday grit and grime. If money is no issue, or if you’re just willing to splurge, the Magic Keyboard is the gold standard of iPad keyboards. Just know that it’s not ideal for every situation.
'Half-Life: Alyx' is the flagship VR game we've been waiting for
Half-Life: Alyx is a Half-Life game through and through. While it might not be the long-awaited "Episode 3," it's not just a trifling VR side-story either. It carries on Half-Life's tradition of pushing PC gaming forward -- this time, by focusing entirely on virtual reality and all of the narrative and gameplay opportunities it provides. And it effectively revives the series after an excruciating 13-year hiatus. In many ways, Half-Life: Alyx is the flagship single-player experience that the VR industry needs right now.
Facebook and eBay crack down on fake product reviews after UK warning
Facebook and eBay are taking steps to crack down on fake and misleading product reviews, following an advisory notice from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Both companies have signed agreements to better identify, investigate and respond to fake reviews, resulting in Facebook removing 188 groups and disabling 24 user accounts, and eBay permanently banning 140 users.
Fujifilm X-T30 review: A street photography and 4K-video champ
Amid all the drama in the full-frame mirrorless camera world, Fujifilm quietly unveiled the world-beating APS-C sensor X-T3, last fall. With an all-new 26.1-megapixel X-Trans 4 backside-illuminated (BSI) sensor, it was a major improvement on the X-T2 in speed, autofocus capability, ergonomics and, especially, video. Then, to further press its advantage on Sony, Fujifilm subsequently launched the X-T30 with the same sensor and image quality as the X-T3, for $600 less. Despite that price gap, the X-T30 is packed with features. It has full APS-C 4K video, shooting speeds up to 30 fps and AI-powered face- and eye-detection autofocus. All of that is squeezed into a lightweight, well-designed body that's ideal for travel and street photography. You can't have everything, though, so the X-T30 is missing some features found on its higher-end sibling. To find out how it would fare against rivals, like Sony's A6400, I took it for a spin on the streets of Paris.
Steam mods will filter 'off-topic review bombs' from ratings
One of the issues with relying on user reviews to rate content is the possibility that some of those reviews may not be written in entirely good faith. Recently Rotten Tomatoes took new steps to manage the impact of fake reviews submitted for Captain Marvel, while Netflix responded to several instances of "review bombing" by removing written reviews from its service entirely. Over the years Steam has taken a few different steps to deal with the issue, but now its latest response is a combination of automated scanning and human moderation teams. In a blog post it explained the plan: "we're going to identify off-topic review bombs, and remove them from the Review Score." In practice, what it has is a tool that monitors reviews in real-time to detect "anomalous" activity that suggests something is happening. It alerts a team of moderators, who can then look through the reviews who will investigate, and if they do find that there's a spate of "off-topic reviews," then they'll alert the developer, and remove those reviews from the way the game's score is calculated, although the reviews themselves will stay up.
Facebook employees caught leaving five-star Amazon reviews for Portal
Facebook released its Portal and Portal+ smart displays two months ago, at the tail end of a scandal-ridden year in which data leaks and privacy incidents were abundant. So, the company faced a tough battle in convincing consumers to buy a smart display for their homes, no matter how well the camera tracking works. Still, Facebook does have some happy customers, judging by Portal's five-star reviews on Amazon. Or at least it seems that way until you take a closer look, and see that some of them were apparently left by Facebook employees.
Google pulled 'millions' of junk Play Store ratings in one week
Google is just as frustrated with bogus app reviews as you are, and it's apparently bending over backwards to improve the trustworthiness of the feedback you see. The company instituted a system this year that uses a mix of AI and human oversight to cull junk Play Store reviews and the apps that promote them, and the results are slightly intimidating. In an unspecified recent week, Google removed "millions" of dodgy ratings and reviews, and "thousands" of apps encouraging shady behavior. There are a lot of attempts to game Android app reviews, in other words.
Amazon Echo Show (2018) review: Much-needed refinements
When Amazon unveiled the Echo Show last year, many people made fun of it for its bulky, awkward appearance. But it proved to be a pioneer in the smart display category, showing that adding a screen to a voice assistant was actually useful. So much so, that Google followed a few months later with its own line of Echo Show rivals, thanks to partners like Lenovo and JBL. Google's smart displays were better-looking and had a more intuitive interface, with desirable features like step-by-step recipes and YouTube integration.
Netflix will remove user reviews from its website next month
Aside from a looming 'Ultra' tier that could raise prices while restricting features like 4K, HDR or simultaneous streams, Netflix has recently notified users of one feature that's definitely going away: written user reviews. While Netflix dropped the five-star rating system from its apps early last year, on the website users can still write down and share their thoughts.
Google adds user reviews to help you decide on Assistant apps
Beyond automating your home through Routines and sending money to a friend, the capabilities of Google Assistant are expanding rapidly. So you don't waste time trying out lousy features, Google is letting users now post reviews on Assistant apps and integrations to help others determine the usefulness of each, according to Android Police.
Fitbit Versa review: A stylish smartwatch at the right price
When Fitbit launched its first true smartwatch last year, it had something to prove. The company had just bought beloved smartwatch pioneer Pebble, and up till then had struggled to produce a wearable with a proper operating system. So it's no surprise that the Ionic was stuffed full of features. It not only tracks a comprehensive range of fitness metrics and provides onscreen workout tutorials, but also stores your music, streams to Bluetooth headphones, runs third-party apps and makes contactless payments. It even has a blood-oxygen sensor just waiting for the company to turn it on (but right now is completely useless). It's also not a surprise, then, that the Ionic wasn't cheap. While $300 isn't much compared to the Apple Watch and Samsung's Gear Sport, it might put off people who are fitness novices looking for a simpler device. The Ionic also didn't look like a regular watch, thanks to its hexagonal design that screams "Fitbit." The company addresses all that with its second smartwatch, the Versa. For starters, it will cost just $200, and comes with a simplified operating system that reduces the swipes you need to see your daily info. Most important, the Versa is the best-looking Fitbit yet.
Google Play removed thousands of legit ‘Game Dev Tycoon’ reviews
Google has removed some 77 percent of reviews for Game Dev Tycoon's mobile port on Google Play. Developer Greenheart Games contacted Google to find out why the (mostly) five-star reviews were disappearing, and was told that the scores were removed on purpose, with little other explanation. Greenheart's theory is that Google uses the same algorithm to police free-to-play game reviews on the Play store that it does paid games; Game Dev Tycoon costs $5 and you can't write a review unless you've purchased it. Free-to-play games, on the other hand, anyone can write a review with practically no time investment.
Amazon Echo review (2017): Good price, bad sound
Two years after its birth, the device that inspired dozens of copycat smart speakers and spawned thousands of integrations is getting a makeover. Amazon's "all-new" Echo is smaller and cheaper and promises better sound. But with a pile of new competitors and even more in the pipeline, the second-generation Echo needs to prove it's still worth your money.
Valve thinks charts will negate Steam review bombing
Review bombing in the gaming community is a woefully old concept, but after it took the spotlight again this month, following yet another racist outburst from YouTuber PewDiePie, Valve is taking action to mitigate the damaging effects it can have on game developers. Instead of single review scores, game pages will now be accompanied by a histogram displaying a visual history of user reviews.
Airbnb helps you tell everyone why you left that dive early
Airbnb is changing its online reviews system so it's easier to leave feedback for a property you vacate before your stay is complete. Previously, the only way to do this was through Airbnb's customer service department, which is something most people probably can't be bothered to do. Now, if you leave the property early, you'll be able to leave a review as you normally would with a completed stay. This means you can give other Airbnb users a heads up if the property turns out to be a dump or the host is unnervingly creepy.
