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Google Assistant's Ambient Mode turns Android devices into smart displays
Google wants to put your device to work even when it's charging or resting on a living room table or kitchen counter. Today at IFA, the company announced Ambient Mode for Google Assistant. The new feature will turn the latest Android devices into smart displays.
Lenovo's Yoga laptops get the 10th-gen Intel treatment and AI smarts
Lenovo is joining the likes of Dell and Acer in upgrading its products to feature Intel's 10th-generation laptop CPUs. The new systems include the 14-inch and 15-inch Yoga C940 2-in-1, the Yoga C740 in the same two sizes and the 13-inch Yoga C640. Of the lot, the new 14-inch Yoga C940 is the most interesting, since it's also certified under Intel's Project Athena standard for thin, light, long-lasting laptops.
Lenovo's take on Google's Nest Hub has a built-in camera
Lenovo is fully embracing its recently found identity as a part-time smart home device maker by announcing three new smart displays here at IFA 2019. First is the Smart Display 7, which expands the company's existing lineup of Google-based connected displays by adding a small 7-inch version. The other two are the Yoga Smart Tab and Smart Tab M8 -- 10-inch and 8-inch Android tablets respectively that show the Pixel Stand charging UI when idle. The company already launched a Smart Tab back in January which turned into an Echo Show clone when docked to a Lenovo-made speaker base. These new iterations put Google's Assistant front and center instead.
The Moto One Zoom continues Motorola's ambitious phone streak
Rather than stick to its usual slew of solid mid-range devices, Motorola has been branching out. Under its One-series banner the Lenovo-owned brand released a phone with an uncommon 21:9 display, and another with a sideways-mounted camera meant to act as a sort of action camera. That all happened this year, too — it seems clear that Motorola is trying to change its image, fast. And to help it down that path, it officially revealed the Moto One Zoom at IFA in Berlin today.
Lenovo made an Avengers game for its Mirage AR headset
Lenovo's first AR headset had a strange limitation. It would only play games, and at launch there was just one of them: Star Wars: Jedi Challenges. Sure, that's a massive franchise, but it was hard to believe the company expected people to spend $200 on an AR kit just to play a single game. As it turns out, the Star Wars title will no longer be the Mirage AR's solo offering. Continuing its partnership with Disney, Lenovo is releasing a new Marvel: Avengers game called Dimension of Heroes, along with some new controllers.
Jabra's Elite 75t true wireless earbuds are smaller and last longer
I haven't been shy about my affinity for Jabra's Elite 65t. They're solid all-around true wireless earbuds and they cost significantly less than a lot of the competition. Do they sound as good as some of those $300 units from the likes of Sony and Sennheiser? No, but they're reliable and the audio is good enough when you consider the $170 price tag. Over a year and a half after the Elite 65t debuted at CES, Jabra's follow-up is ready: the Elite 75t.
Withings's Move ECG is a stylish fitness watch with a killer price
Withings' latest watch has kept us hanging on for quite some time. Originally announced in January and meant to arrive in the Spring, the Withings Move ECG is ready to buy, starting today for $129.95 / €129.95 / £129.95. I've spent the last couple of days with one on my wrist, trying to fathom whether it was worth the wait.
Watch Sony’s IFA 2019 event in under 6 minutes
Sony has just finished its IFA press conference, where the star of the show was the launch of the new Xperia 5. The device has a 6.1-inch, 21:9 ratio OLED display, and boasts that it has Dolby Atmos sound and three cameras. Not to mention that it'll pair with a DualShock controller, making those Fortnite matches on the go a hundred thousand times easier. But if you want to see the announcement for yourself, watch the edited highlights of Sony's event in less time than it takes to get an overpriced coffee at that place on the corner.
HMD's Nokia 7.2 could be the new mid-range smartphone to beat
The Nokia 7.1 was a fan-favorite, so a sequel was all but inevitable — what's more surprising is just how ambitious it is. HMD just pulled back the curtain on the Nokia 7.2 at IFA in Berlin today, and if nothing else, it's a clear sign that the Finnish company is aiming for the top of the mid-range smartphone pack.
Samsung’s Galaxy A90 5G might make you forget about the Galaxy S10 5G
Samsung isn't just launching 5G devices at the upper echelons of its product line, because not all of us can afford a flagship. The Galaxy A90 5G is the company's first 5G handset for those folks who aren't willing, or able, to blow upward of a grand on their phone. And, at first blush, it looks like the sort of smartphone that's so good that you might completely forget it's not a high-end, look-at-me flagship.
MysteryVibe's Poco is a tiny, flexible bullet vibrator
Bullet vibrators are small and discreet, but they're hardly offering the world-class experience you may want, or need, while traveling. It's a problem that MysteryVibe is seeking to solve with its third product, the Poco, a smaller version of its flexible vibrator for sexual wellness on the go. Poco, like all of MysteryVibe's products, is named after an Italian word used in music notation, literally translated as "little."
TCL's first major smartphone is affordable like its TVs
You may know TCL as the maker of affordable TVs, but the company makes a whole lot more than that. Like Samsung and LG, the Chinese conglomerate also produces appliances like washing machines, as well as mobile phones. That's not just under the brands it owns like BlackBerry and Alcatel, either. TCL itself has smartphones, too -- they just haven't been widely available outside of China. That is, until now. At IFA 2019, the company is unveiling the TCL Plex -- its first globally available smartphone (not counting the US, anyway). And it's surprisingly feature-packed.
The Sonos Move is more than a Bluetooth speaker
For its entire history, Sonos has prided itself on delivering high-quality, wireless home audio. Among other things, that's meant using WiFi rather than Bluetooth to stream music. Even as "premium" Bluetooth speakers flooded the market, Sonos stuck to its guns, convinced it was doing things the "right" way. And even though the company's speakers generally deliver an excellent audio experience, plenty of its fans still have asked for Bluetooth over the years. In the same vein, Sonos users have been asking about outdoor speakers for years now. So far, all Sonos speakers have been designed to be placed in one spot and left there; the company doesn't make any battery-powered devices, and everything is dependent on an internet connection. That all changes later this month when Sonos releases the Move, its take on the battery-powered, portable speaker. The $399 Move is the first Sonos speaker with batteries and Bluetooth, and it's built to resist pretty much any environmental situation it could be subjected to. In these ways, it's the most unique speaker Sonos has made in years, and it required the company to drop some dogmatic thinking about the technology in its products.
Samsung's reinforced Galaxy Fold feels stronger than before
At last, Samsung is ready to unveil the refined Galaxy Fold. After an embarrassing initial rollout earlier this year that was plagued with multiple damaged review units, the company was forced to delay launching its foldable flagship. It went back to the engineering room to figure out how to make the handset more durable, and seems to have sorted out its issues, announcing in July that the Fold would be available in September. Well, here we are now in September at IFA 2019, and Samsung has finally given us our first hands-on with the redesigned device.
Sony's Xperia 5 is another long OLED smartphone
And we thought Sony was staying quiet. It did have a phone to launch at IFA, but it wasn't the Xperia 2. The company skipped a few and landed on the Xperia 5. It'll come with a long 6.1-inch 21:9 ratio, HDR-compatible OLED display, with Dolby Atmos sound built-in. It'll come in four colors: black, white, blue and red. While it's still rather long, Sony says its "slim, 68mm wide design" keeps it easy-to-use and that it's 14 grams lighter than Xperia 1. We plan to test those easy-to-use claims for ourselves very soon.
Garmin's pretty Venu watches pack a long-awaited AMOLED upgrade
Garmin is known for its capable fitness watches, but it doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to style. That's about to change, thanks to a slew of new devices the company unveiled today at IFA 2019. In addition to different case and band options for devices like the Vivoactive 4 and 4S, as well as various designs for the entry-level Vivomove, Garmin also showed off a whole new range of watches called Venu. Not only do these come in four attractive case color options, but they also stand out for being the company's first wearables with AMOLED screens.
Garmin’s new Vivoactive watch can track your yoga sessions
Garmin has turned up at IFA with a whole host of new watches, including the flagship Venu and its Avengers-branded special editions. But the company has also taken the time to refresh its line of cheaper Vivoactive GPS watches. The new Vivoactive 4 and 4S models offer the same features you would expect from the series, with the addition of respiration tracking. Watches can now monitor your breathing when you're doing yoga — previously limited to when you wore a chest strap.
Live from Samsung's IFA 2019 press event!
Samsung already revealed the Galaxy Note 10 a few weeks ago, but the company is still hosting a press conference here in Berlin for IFA 2019. Between then and now, the Korean giant has announced the Galaxy A90 5G, brought HDR10+ to 8K TVs and shown off the Exynos 980 CPU and Modem. We'll be there live and expect more info on the return of the Galaxy Fold to be the major news of the day. Of course, it's Samsung, so you never know what other surprises may be in store.
Sennheiser's new Momentum headphones are improved, but still pricey
Sennheiser has been fine-tuning its Momentum Wireless headphones for a few years now, and at IFA 2019, the company is unveiling a third-generation model. While the overall design is mostly the same, the company added a host of new features to bring these over-ear headphones in line with the likes of Sony's WH-1000XM3 and the top options from Bose. At $399.95 (€399), they're pricier than a lot of the flagship headphone competition, even if Sennheiser did stack the spec sheet.
Seagate's latest portable SSDs are wrapped in fabric and camo
How do you spice up an external drive when it's difficult to stand out based on specs alone? Make them look right at home clipped to your backpack. Seagate has introduced a line of One Touch SSDs covered in either fabric (if you prefer plain black or white) or Special Edition camo patterns. It's a simple trick, but it might do the job if you're tired of sterile-looking drives that scream "technology." They're very pocketable as well, at just under 3 inches long.
