The Apple Intelligence rollout has been slow, staggered and steady since the company first unveiled its take on AI at WWDC this year. It continues today with the release of the latest developer betas for iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. The updates in iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia (15.2) bring long-awaited features like Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT integration for those running the preview software, as well as Image Wand for iPads and more writing tools.
That represents the first time for people who haven't opted into beta software to check out Apple Intelligence, which the company has widely touted as the headline feature for the devices it launched this year. The iPhone 16 series, for example, were billed as phones designed for Apple Intelligence, though they launched without those features.
Now that the next set of tools is ready for developers to test, it seems like we're weeks away from them arriving to the public. For those already on the developer beta, the update will land automatically. As always, a word of caution: If you're not already familiar, beta software is meant for users to test new features and often to check for compatibility or problems. They can be buggy, so always back up your data before installing previews. In this case, you'll also need to have an Apple developer account to get access.
Genmoji is arriving today
Today's updates brings Genmoji, which lets you create custom emoji from your keyboard. You'll go to the emoji keyboard, tap the Genmoji button next to the description or search input field, then enter what you want to create. Apple Intelligence will generate a few options, which you can swipe and select one to send. You'll be able to use them as tapback reactions to other people's messages too. Plus, you can make Genmoji based on pictures of your friends, creating more-accurate Memoji of them. Since these are all presented in emoji style, there won't be the risk of mistaking them for real pictures.
Apple is also releasing a Genmoji API today so third-party messaging apps can read and render Genmoji, and folks you text on WhatsApp or Telegram can see your hot new gym rat emoji.
Other previously announced features like Image Playground and Image Wand are also available today. The former is both a standalone app and something you can access from the Messages app via the Plus button. If you go through Messages, the system will quickly generate some suggestions based on your conversations. You can also type descriptions or select photos from your gallery as a reference, and the system will serve up an image which you can then tweak. To prevent confusion, only some art styles are available: Animation or Illustration. You won't be able to render photorealistic pictures of people.
Image Wand will also be arriving today as an update to the Apple Pencil tool palette, helping to turn your cruddy sketches into more-polished works of art.
ChatGPT integration for Siri and Writing Tools
As announced at WWDC, Apple is bringing ChatGPT to Siri and Writing Tools, and each time your request might be well-served by OpenAI's tools, the system will suggest heading there. For example, if you ask Siri to generate an itinerary, a workout routine or even a meal plan, the assistant might say it needs to use ChatGPT to do so and ask for your permission. You can choose to have the system ask you each time it goes to GPT or surface these requests less often.
It's worth reiterating that you don't need a ChatGPT account to use these tools, and Apple has its own agreement with OpenAI so that when you use the latter's services, your data like your IP address won't be stored or used to train models. However, if you do connect your ChatGPT account, your content will be covered by OpenAI's policies.
Elsewhere, Apple Intelligence will also show that you can compose with ChatGPT within Writing Tools, which is where you'll find things like Rewrite, Summarize and Proofread. It's also another area that's getting an update with the developer beta — a new tool called "Describe your change." This is basically a command bar that lets you tell Apple exactly what it is you want to do to your writing. "Make it sound more enthusiastic," for example, or "Check this for grammar errors." Basically, it'll make getting the AI to edit your work a bit easier, since you won't have to go to the individual sections for Proofread or Summarize, for example. You can also get it to do things lke "Turn this into a poem."
Visual Intelligence cometh for iPhone 16 owners
Finally, if you have an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro and are running the developer beta, you'll be able to try out Visual Intelligence. That lets you point your camera at things around you and get answers for things like math problems in your textbook or the menu of a restaurant you pass on your commute. It can tap third-party services like Google and ChatGPT, too.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-intelligence-expands-in-ios-182-developer-beta-adding-genmoji-visual-intelligence-and-chatgpt-170920932.html?src=rss
It’s a slower October than usual in the tech industry, thanks mostly to Google and Microsoft having held their typical fall hardware announcements earlier this year. Still, we’ve seen a fair number of companies reveal new devices in the last two weeks, while Amazon’s October Prime Day raged on. Whether you were busy shopping or watching Elon Musk talk up robotaxis and cybervans, the Engadget team continued to review recently (and not-so-recently) launched products. As usual, this bi-weekly roundup is here to help you catch up, though because I missed last week's edition (as I was out on time off), the cadence is just a bit off.
From Meta’s Quest 3S VR headset and the DJI Air 3S drone, to Sony’s midrange suite of audio gear, these weeks have coincidentally been about the less premium, more affordable “un-flagships,” if you will. And it turns out you don’t have to throw chunks of your retirement savings at companies to get solid devices that are well worth the money.
Meta Quest 3S review: Impressive VR for $300
by Devindra Hardawar
The Quest is arguably the industry's leading VR headset for consumers, especially considering it costs a fraction of alternative options while offering a relatively high-quality immersive experience. Unlike the Apple Vision Pro, which costs $3,500, the new Quest 3S is much more palatable at $300. And, as Devindra observes in his review, it's comfortable, fast and allows wearers to access Meta's large library of VR apps and content. To quote Devindra, "It’s not Meta’s first $300 VR headset, but it’s still a tremendous accomplishment."
Sony LinkBuds Fit and LinkBuds Open and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds reviews
by Billy Steele
The main thing I learned from Billy's recent reviews of Sony and Bose headphones is that flagship, premium-level noise cancelation is making its way down to the midrange products. And I, for one, am happy about it. Looks like most of the things you'll miss if you opt to save some money are features like spatial audio, head-tracking and stuff that's supposed to be make for a more immersive, intuitive listening experience. Personally, I'm okay missing out on those things for now — I really just want decent sound, good voice quality and competent reduction of background noise.
Definitely check out Billy's review of Sony's LinkBuds trio of devices even if you're not in the market for headphones, because he put his ears through literal pain to test the strangely designed earbuds for us. In fact, a rejected headline for the review was "Why am I in pain?" We salute you, Billy.
DJI Neo and DJI Air 3S reviews
by Steve Dent
Continuing in the trend of excellent products that cost less than usual, the DJI Neo is an excellent drone for just $200. Calling it the best $200 drone ever made may sound hyperbolic, but we truly can't think of any other drone that cost the same that came close to delivering similar performance as the Neo. And though one of its main drawbacks, according to our reviewer Steve, is that it sounds like a banshee, I honestly think that would be a pro for me just for the pure comedy of it all. I never thought I'd be in the market for a banshee-sounding drone but here I am thinking $200 would be a fair price to pay for the aerial videos I could get, and I could easily lay upbeat, operatic singing over the footage anyway.
On the other end of the spectrum, Steve's also tested the higher-end DJI Air 3S drone and Canon's EOS R5 II, both of which will cost you a lot more money. The good news is that Canon's EOS R5 II is now so much improved that it better takes on Sony's rival offerings, while bringing intriguing features like eye-control autofocus. Sure, it's still too early to be reliable. But if you have the money for these premium products, you'll get to experience bleeding-edge tech, maybe part of the appeal is that they may not always work well.
reMarkable Paper Pro review
by Dan Cooper
I know Dan was a bit worried about giving a device as niche as the reMarkable Paper Pro such a high score, but after some discussion, we both agreed it fit. As it stands, the reMarkable Paper Pro is arguably the best e-paper writing tablet with a color screen, even after this week's announcement of Amazon's first color Kindle. Per Dan's review, the Paper Pro not only levels up with the addition of color, but also got much faster and reliable in the process.
I particularly enjoy how much care has been taken to more seamlessly blend handwriting and typed text for a more natural note-taking and annotating experience. And though it falls outside this edition's general theme of being a less-expensive product with premium specs, I'm still incredibly tempted to find ways to cough up the $600 or so needed to bag myself a Paper Pro with the accessories Dan recommends.
Phoenix Springs and Neva reviews
by Jessica Conditt
I'm not the most engaged gamer, but I love learning about games from Jess. She recently reviewed sci-fi mystery Phoenix Springs and dreamy platformer Neva, with pieces written so beautifully that I can't help but itch to check out each title so I can feel the way she clearly does about them. Phoenix Springs even follows a technology reporter and covers my favorite genres (science fiction and mystery), while Neva's art looks simply gorgeous. I don't yet know if I'll ever find the time to play new games, but these two have certainly been added to my list.
Upcoming reviews: On the horizon
The Engadget team geeks out about a multitude of things, and as we get started on our holiday gift guide writing, we're thinking about products we like for ourselves and our loved ones. Many of us love e-readers and writing tablets. I certainly have my eye on one of the new Kindles that were announced this week, particularly the new Kindle Scribe and possibly the Colorsoft. Those won't be available until later this year, so for now I'll keep hungrily eyeing the reMarkable Paper Pro. I'll also be wondering what Amazon hardware chief Panos Panay has up his sleeves, other than cans of Diet Coke — something I learned he (like many people) enjoys when I got the chance to speak with him in an interview this week.
Many of us are millennials and have gigantic soft spots for retro gaming. Our executive editor Aaron Souppouris talked to the folks at Analogue, and you can read his beautifully constructed piece to learn more about the upcoming Analogue 3D.
This week, Apple sort of surprised us by announcing the new iPad mini, which has been tweaked to offer more storage and power with an A17 Pro processor. It'll also support Apple Intelligence, of course, and though it seems like a minor update, some of my coworkers and I still love the idea of a small tablet. If only it had a better screen.
All of those recently announced things are on our review roster, alongside things like the Google TV Streamer and Samsung Galaxy S24 FE that launched in the last few weeks. As we approach November and all the holiday shopping that brings, hopefully the hardware launches properly slow down. We're still anticipating an Apple event for Macs, and can still remember being surprised by the announcement of Humane's AI Pin late last year. But for now, we're chugging along while occasionally bathing in nostalgia and longing for a simpler time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-budget-friendly-gadgets-that-are-good-140033873.html?src=rss
Panos Panay has a Diet Coke problem. It’s a topic that quickly came up when I walked into the small interview room, after he offered me a choice of beverages and I said my partner has a similar addiction. After a quick conversation on the advantages of drinking plain water over diet colas, I knew his wife, like me, advocates for less soda, but I still knew nothing of how much the man actually consumed a day.
The room was drenched in sunlight, with various neutral and pastel pink couches and armchairs laid out in a vague semicircle facing an unassuming elevated platform. Around the stage were neatly planted assorted greenery with lavender and what looked like baby’s breath lending a general softness to the scene.
There was a leather stool on the stage that looked just big enough to perch on but not comfortable enough to actually rest, and next to it was a smaller wooden end table where a solo water bottle sat. Panay did not once sit during his 38-minute presentation. Clad in a black collared shirt, black jacket, black jeans and black shoes with a brown trim, Panay brought his typical sentimental delivery to the Kindle launch event.
As usual, he didn’t shy away from mentioning his family, showing a carefully taken picture of his daughter Bella reading a Kindle on a couch. He called out members of the media by name, saying hello to Lance Ulanoff in the front row and asking David Pierce if he could hear. At one point, he walked over to the middle row to hand a new Kindle off to tech Youtuber Jacklyn Dallas, asking her to tap repeatedly on the screen to scroll through pages and see for herself how much faster he believed it was.
Amazon
I say all this to impress on you that the Panos experience is one that’s inviting, engaging and can even lull you into feeling so charmed that you might overlook the fact that he repeatedly calls the Kindle Scribe a 2-in-1. It was certainly enough to give me more patience than I normally would have for a tech leader that had spent almost a third of his presentation talking about the Kindle’s history and where it fits into people’s lives. Instead of thinking “get on with it, I want to hear about the new devices without all this preamble,” I simply laughed at the jokes, made eye contact and related to the personal anecdotes. And though I knew we were past the 38 minutes he had promised the speech would last, I didn’t mind that he was still talking.
I was able to question him about 2-in-1s when we sat down to talk, though. The term brings to my mind the image of Surface tablets and iPads, not to mention the Surface Duo and Surface Neo that Panay launched at a remarkably similar Microsoft event years ago. Kindles? Not so much. But according to Panay, the Kindle Scribe “does two things, and it does it remarkably well. Turns out, it only does two things.”
People want to read on their Kindles, but they also want to write in books. “Both experiences have to stand on their own in a great way,” he added. “You can buy this device for writing, or you can buy this device for reading and then you can bridge it.”
But if a device tries to be too much, it might get too complicated. When I asked what was next for the Kindle Scribe and what challenges it faces, Panay said “You’ve got to be careful not to make it a Swiss army knife. That’s probably the biggest challenge — what it’s not gonna be.”
Panay explained that “at Amazon, the focus on the customers is off the charts,” saying the team talks to users, reads reviews and studies how people use their products to better understand needs. “Fundamentally, for this team, [it’s to] know what the customer needs, be passionate, make sure you deliver it.”
“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”
The approach Panay has brought over to Amazon is one that considers his history at Microsoft (and his entire life). He never explicitly mentions this, but I cannot help wondering if he’s learned anything from that company announcing the Surface Neo dual-screen laptop and not actually releasing it.
Panay also said that in getting to understand customers’ needs, Amazon also has to try to predict what they might want. “You also have to understand where the technology is headed and you have to have roadmaps,” he said. “You have to have invention and creation that sets you up for where it’s headed, so when people land, they have the next thing they need and hopefully it was your product that got them there.”
“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”Panos Panay
That desire to predict trends makes me nervous, especially at a time when every major company is rushing to stuff generative AI features into their products. How should companies like Amazon resist the urge to jump on bandwagons and avoid making products that ultimately are the result of useless hype? To Panay, the answer is patience.
“Patience is everything,” he said. “What is the right thing for the product at the right time? How is it useful? How is it elegant?” He acknowledged that “we’re at a time where AI for sure is transformational. This is not a fad.” There are things AI can bring to the Kindle Scribe and other products that could elevate them. But “making it useful for everyone is important to me, and making it simple.”
There are just two AI-based notebook features for the Kindle Scribe, and they basically read your scribbles and convert them to something more legible and digestible. They’re not groundbreaking concepts — I’ve seen at least 5 different companies launch summarization tools in the last year. But Panay made it clear through personal anecdotes on stage that these are important to him and his staff. He doesn’t want to let people see his handwritten notes, but he will let them see the version tidied up by AI. Whether the rest of the world’s Kindle users will find these helpful, I’m less certain.
For now, Panay wants to perfect the Kindle Scribe experience. “You can never make anything perfect, I’m never satisfied. But it’s so close right now… to feeling like paper, to feeling like an eraser, to feeling like you’re writing, to no distractions in your way.” He called it his favorite child during the presentation (but later saying that he felt guilty doing that).
There are plenty of other children in the Amazon hardware family that Panay oversees. He’s not only in charge of the four Kindles launched today, including the new color ereader called the Colorsoft, but the company’s smart home, robotaxi, satellite, consumer robots and Alexa products, as well as Fire TVs and tablets, too.
“It's an eclectic group of products at some level, but it's actually quite a connected one at the same time.” There’s also stuff that Panay couldn’t yet talk about on the record, but he said there’s “so much magic yet to be shared with the world.” In a more realistic manner of speaking, it’s about seeing these things “connected in a way that can make a difference for people’s lives every day in their homes and outside of the home.”
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
There are other ways the Kindle Scribe could evolve that wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination, either. The most obvious is getting a color display, and Panay agreed “it’s not a stretch at all, probably” before going on to say he can’t discuss future roadmaps. But I can certainly speculate.
While it’s interesting to see Amazon come up with a whole new name for the Colorsoft, indicating that it’ll perhaps be a separate product line, it would make sense for the Colorsoft to be a one-off and for the color panels to get integrated into other existing Kindles in future.
Another potential technological change to Kindles is making them foldable. To that end, Panay simply said “It’s an interesting concept.” When I pointed out that he’s no stranger to folding devices, he acknowledged “I’m definitely not,” before adding that “we have a ton of concepts in the lab.”
Crucially, though, he reiterates he doesn't “want to create tech for the sake of creating tech.” If the idea is right, Panay is open to considering it. “But right now, keeping it simple is where we’re at.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/panos-panay-on-launching-his-first-products-since-moving-to-amazon-163024504.html?src=rss
Seventeen years is an odd anniversary to call out. But at an event launching four new Kindles, Amazon’s head of devices and services Panos Panay reminded a group of media that “Kindle is 17 years in the making, almost to the day.” Panay added that the device is currently seeing its highest sales numbers, and that 20.8 billion pages are read each month on a Kindle. But people aren’t just reading on Kindles. Since the introduction of the Kindle Scribe in 2022, there has been even more development in e-paper writing tablets, with a notable recent product in the reMarkable Paper Pro. While that $580 device supports a color writing experience, Amazon’s Kindle Scribe still only works in black and white. But it might offer enough by way of software updates to make up for its monochrome manner.
Plus, being able to write on what’s already a popular ereader makes that book-like experience even more realistic, and the Kindle Scribe represents what Panay called the “fastest growing category” of Kindles. You could almost call it a 2-in-1, since it’s an ereader and writing tablet at once. “I have a lot of passion around 2-in-1s,” Panay said at his presentation, and he used that term repeatedly to describe the Kindle Scribe. I haven’t thought about it that way, but I was less worried about semantics and more about how the Kindle Scribe and its new features felt at a hand-on session yesterday.
I’m the sort of person that needs to physically write out something while I plan a project. Whether it’s lofty goals to get my life together or draft up a strategy for covering certain software releases at work, my hands grasp at the air for an imaginary pen and paper. For that reason, the Kindle Scribe and other writing tablets call out to me. I reviewed the original Kindle Scribe almost two years ago and since then Amazon has slowly expanded the feature set and made the device more useful.
With the original Scribe, Amazon got a lot of the basics right. The latency and smoothness of the writing experience were close to feeling like pen and paper, and the device felt sturdy and slick. The new Scribe felt very similar in that sense, with little noticeable difference in the way the stylus interacted with the screen, and I didn’t encounter any jarring lag in the brief time I had with it.
Where the Scribe left me wanting more was software, and that’s also the area Amazon appears to have focused on this year. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not like the company didn’t tweak the hardware. There are some refinements like new white borders, a smaller grip, different color options and an updated stylus with a soft-tip top that feels more like a conventional eraser.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
But inside the device lie the more intriguing changes. Most significant in my opinion is the new Active Canvas. It directly addresses one of my biggest complaints in my review, which is that the writing experience within books and publications was a little wonky.
To quote myself, this was what I said in 2022: “You can also take down notes when you’re reading an e-book. But it’s not like you can scribble directly onto the words of your e-books. You can use the floating toolbox to create a sticky note, then draw within a designated rectangle. When you close the sticky note, a small symbol appears over the word it was attached to, but otherwise, your scribbles are hidden. No annotating in the margins here.”
All of that has changed with the new Kindle Scribe. When you’re in an e-book, you can now just start writing on the page, and a box will appear, containing your scribbles. You no longer need to first find the floating toolbox and select the sticky note tool. Just write. It’s so much simpler, and in the Kindle Scribe I played with it worked almost instantly. Not only is the box embedded within the text, with the book’s words rearranging and flowing to accommodate it, but you can also resize the rectangle to take up however much space you like. The rest of the page will reflow to make room as necessary. I was particularly impressed by how quickly this happened on the demo unit — it was more responsive than switching between notebooks on my existing Scribe.
Plus, the box containing your note will stay in place instead of being hidden and replaced by a small symbol. It’s clear that Amazon’s earlier implementation was a rudimentary workaround to allow people to write on fixed format media, whereas the new approach is more deeply integrated and thought out.
And unlike what I said two years ago, you can now annotate in a new collapsible margin. Tapping the top right corner brings up options to pull up the column, and you can choose from having it take up about a quarter of the width or spread out to about three quarters. Content in the margin will be scrollable, so you theoretically won’t run out of space.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
Now, this isn’t a perfect replica of annotating on a real textbook, but it might be better since you won’t have to scrawl all around the borders or write upside down just to squeeze in your thoughts. I’m not sure yet, as I really need to spend more time with it to know, but I like that Amazon clearly has taken in feedback and thought about how to add these requested features.
The company also added the ability to use the Pen and directly highlight or underline within those books, and pretty much any Kindle title will support most of these features. They’d have to be content that allows for font resizing, to start, so things like PDFs, which are fixed, won’t work with the Active Canvas. Word documents are compatible as well.
I spend more time writing in blank notebooks than in actual books, and for those scenarios, Amazon is using generative AI in two new tools: Summarization and Refined Writing. The former is pretty straightforward. If you’ve handwritten 10 pages worth of brainstorming meeting notes, the system can scan all of it and collate just the highlights. You can have this be added as a page to the existing notebook as a summary, or save it as a separate document on its own.
Refined Writing, meanwhile, is like Apple’s Handwriting Assist on iPadOS 18 but on a larger scale. While Apple’s software feels like it’s about nipping and tucking stray words that are out of alignment, Amazon’s takes your entire handwritten page and converts it into text in a script-like font. This works best if you tend to write in a single column with clear indentations and paragraphs. I tend to draw random boxes all over the place for breakout thoughts, and the system will not perfectly replicate that. For example, a two-column shopping list I quickly drafted on a demo Scribe was merged into one, and the checkboxes I drew were interpreted as capital letter Ds that were inserted at the start of every bullet.
Amazon
It might not seem immediately useful, but if you’re the sort of person that’s shy about their handwriting, this could save you some shame. More importantly, it can make you writing more legible in case you need to share, say, your screenplay treatment with a production partner. Or if your scrawled shopping list just isn’t making sense to your partner. I also like that even after you’ve converted your notes into text, you can still erase them using the top of the pen and make edits. You’ll have to run Refined Writing again to regenerate a neatly formatted page. Oh, and I appreciate the flexibility you get here. You’ll have a few fonts and sizes to choose from, and can select the pages you want to reformat or have the entire book done up altogether.
None of the notebook features are destructive, meaning you’ll usually be able to retain your original written content and save the generated material as addendums. The AI work is done in the cloud, with your data being encrypted throughout the process. The Kindle Scribe also displays an animated page showing it’s busy with the generative AI task, which in my experience so far took at least 10 seconds. It might be different on the original Kindle Scribe, which will also be getting these software features either later this year or, in the case of the expandable margins, in early 2025 when it arrives on the new Kindle Scribe.
In its 17 years, the Kindle has done a lot to disrupt physical books, and since the introduction of the Scribe, it’s been poised to do the same for notebooks. As someone who’s relished being able to carry around the equivalent of a thousand books in a super thin device, the idea of replacing a bunch of notebooks with a Scribe is immensely intriguing. Amazon does find itself up against some stiff competition from reMarkable and Boox, but it has its sheer size and the power of its Kindle library in its favor. The Kindle Scribe will be available in December for a starting price of $400, and I hope to have a review unit in soon enough to see if I love or hate the new annotation and AI features.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/kindle-scribe-hands-on-you-can-scribble-on-your-books-130043335.html?src=rss
I don't know how many more times I can say what an intense two weeks it's been since the last time I posted an Engadget review recap without sounding repetitive. Ever since we launched the first of these roundups last month, companies have relentlessly launched new hardware each week, contributing to a growing pile of products for our team to review. With all these announcements overlapping, it can be easy to miss a review that, say, was published at the start of the iPhone 16 event or another that went up at the same time as Meta's Connect keynote this week.
That's why I write these — it's a good opportunity to catch up on reviews that we recently published and revisit some of the products now that we've had more time to spend with them. And looking at my list of items for this edition, there's plenty to go over. From Apple's iPhone 16 series, AirPods 4 and Google's Pixel Buds Pro 2 to the PlayStation 5 Pro and some games and software, here's a recap of things we've been testing lately.
Apple AirPods 4 with ANC review
by Billy Steele
Just a few days after Apple unveiled the AirPods 4, Billy had to file his draft for the review, which was slated to go up on Monday. Thankfully, these were a fairly straightforward update, with evaluating the new active noise cancellation (ANC) feature being the main task. Of course, Billy went further than that, gauging how much the device's H2 chip and refined design impact the AirPods' performance. He also went many extra miles, delivering report after report on topics like how the new hearing aid and hearing test features for the AirPods Pro work and a deep dive on how Apple designed ANC for an open-ear headset. Just head on over to Billy's author page for a full list of the many articles he's dutifully written up on the AirPods (and more).
Apple Watch Series 10 review
by Cherlynn Low
Words alone can't express how grateful I am that Apple didn't end up releasing three new models of the Apple Watch like was previously rumored. Considering the review of the Apple Watch Series 10 was published just one week and a day after the launch event in Cupertino, having to test more than one smartwatch was going to be a challenge. Heck, even reviewing a single new smartwatch was tricky, considering the other reviews we were preparing at the same time. That's why when we first published our review on Tuesday, we did not feel ready to present a formal score, instead sharing just our evaluation of the Apple Watch Series 10 up till that point. We eventually updated our review after spending a few more days getting to know the watch better, adding a score and more findings later that week.
Here's the summary. Though you might expect a lot more fanfare and features for the tenth Apple Watch simply because it's the tenth generation model, there's not a lot that's changed. And the company arguably didn't need to do much, since the Apple Watch is a fairly mature device. What it did manage to deliver — a bigger display in a thinner body — is impressive, and the Series 10 continues to deliver the best smartwatch experience that any iPhone owner can get.
Of course, there are questions around the blood oxygen detection feature that remains the subject of litigation between Apple and Masimo. But whether that (or the new sleep apnea feature) are available doesn't actually impact my experience with the watch, and therefore had little bearing on our score. If you're using an older Apple Watch that has the blood oxygen detection enabled and it's something you use frequently, it might be better to hold on to your device for now.
The story of this year's iPhones is also a pretty straightforward one: Cameras, buttons and a lack of Intelligence. Apple Intelligence, that is. But through my testing, I started to realize that a couple of features began to stand out. The most obvious is the new Photographic Styles, which put Instagram's filters to shame.
On the iPhone 16s, you can swap these out both before and after shooting. You can also edit the amount of saturation, shadows and more within each Style. Most importantly, Apple has finetuned its processing and depth map so it's better at keeping skin tones within the realm of reality even as you crank up the saturation or contrast. I'm a huge fan of these improved filters and in the week since my review went up, I've been tempted to post nothing but Photographic Style samples to all my social media. The only thing keeping me from actually doing that has been tedium and a complete lack of spare time. But maybe one day I will.
The other thing that I learned was a subtle shift in Apple's overall approach was greater customizability. Old Apple was rigid and rejected the idea that its design might not be the best for all its users. These days, Apple is more than willing to let you set up your app grid however you like, and iOS 18 brings the ability to finetune your Control Center and lock screen shortcuts to your preferences (and needs) as well. I was surprised when I found out that not only could you tweak the sensitivity of the Camera Control's touch and pressure sensor, but you can disable the feature altogether.
I prefer this approach as it puts the user's needs and preferences first while still maintaining a secure and private environment. And while we still await the formal arrival of Apple Intelligence in October, it's likely that many of the AI-based features, which will be available throughout the iPhone 16 lineup as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, won't hugely impact our experience and score. Still, like we mentioned in our reviews of this year's flagship phones, we based our verdict on the devices we tested as they were, and might revisit our score when headline features like Intelligence roll out.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus review
by Billy Steele
I have to thank Billy for picking up the review of the base iPhone 16 models this year. Not only was he able to help with the workload, Billy also delivered a thorough and alternative perspective on Apple's non-Pro iPhones. I was heartened to see that he agreed with me on several things, namely that Photographic Styles are awesome and Camera Control is kind of clunky. I do have to admit that I hated having to look at a frog in the sample photo he included in his piece — frogs are my mortal enemies.
I barely mentioned the Camera Control in my section about the iPhone 16 Pro above, but this new button is just awkwardly placed, and I was glad to see Billy's experience was similar.
Both of us agree that it's nice to see the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus get features that are on their Pro counterparts. Sadly, though these phones were designed for Apple Intelligence, that just wasn't available to the public at the time of our review, which just makes it feel like they're missing something. That's not to say these aren't excellent phones. They're a nice step up from last year's base iPhones and come in an aesthetically pleasing array of colors that I adore.
We also have a guide from senior reporter Jeff Dunn on how to choose the right iPhone, which might be particularly helpful since this year's models all seem so similar. My main advice is: if you're into multimedia creation on your iPhone, get one of the Pros. If you need your phone to last more than a day, definitely spring for the Pro Max, as the iPhone 16 Pro will absolutely conk out after about 20 hours.
macOS Sequoia review
by Devindra Hardawar
Apple season isn't limited to new hardware. Last week, the company also released the latest updates to its software for its iPhones, Macs, watches, TVs and more. Our resident computing expert Devindra has been spending time with the new macOS since the beta was available, and was able to quickly put together his thoughts on Sequoia. His joy at being able to mirror his iPhone on his MacBook is evident in his review, and we were so convinced by his review that we also published a guide on how to mirror your iPhone in macOS Sequoia afterwards. To quote Devindra: "It sort of changed my life."
Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 review
by Billy Steele
I'm sure by now you can appreciate how hard Billy has been working, particularly these last few weeks. On Wednesday, Billy published his review of the Pixel Buds Pro 2, which went up the same time as the start of Meta's Connect keynote. This is the last of our reviews of Google's new hardware this year, at least until it launches something else. Billy's evaluation is that these buds are smaller than before, which is a double-edged sword. They could be a better fit for some people, but the fact that they have smaller touch-sensitive panels means they're slightly harder to maneuver. Still, they produce decent sound and integrate with the company's new Gemini assistant to make hands-free requests more convenient.
Now that the last of the Pixel reviews are finally out of the way, we can finally consider the company's family of hardware as a whole and honestly, I'm impressed. I actually scored the Pixel 9 Pro higher than the iPhone 16 Pro, which is possibly the first time a Google flagship has been rated better than one from Apple. I think Google has proven with its 2024 devices that it has the chops to take on its gigantic rivals, and now just needs to continue its momentum if it wants to reach a larger audience.
PlayStation 5 Pro preview
by Jessica Conditt
After Sony announced the PlayStation 5 Pro the day after the Apple iPhone event, senior editor Jessica Conditt was able to spend some time with the console ahead of its November 7th release. In her preview, Jess says that for the right kind of gamer, the "audaciously priced" PlayStation 5 Pro is absolutely worth it.
Who's the right kind of gamer here? According to Jess, "If you regularly play PS5 games and can afford to waste (at least) $700 on a more powerful console with extra gills, you absolutely should get a PS5 Pro."
Of course, we'll have to get a device in for testing before we can deliberate on a score and official verdict. But with faster memory, improved rendering as well as support for VRR, advanced ray-tracing and “8K gaming,” the PS5 Pro seems like a promising upgrade.
Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review
by Nathan Ingraham
Speaking of gaming, deputy editor Nathan Ingraham published a review this week of the latest in the Legend of Zelda series: Echoes of Wisdom. Nate was a diehard Zelda fan growing up, and found himself taken right back to his youth with this latest instalment.
My gaming tastes begin at Solitaire and end at Animal Crossing or Just Dance, so something as involved as Echoes of Wisdom is not my cup of tea. But even just looking at the pictures in Nate's review have me impressed at the dedication to detail and quality. As Nate puts it, the story involves "a series of otherworldly rifts that have opened up throughout Hyrule, swallowing up huge parts of the land and the people who reside there." That's absolutely the sort of plot that would draw me in, and when I read that this time around you'd play as Princess Zelda as she attempts to rescue Link, I was even more intrigued.
Perhaps that reversal of roles will also appeal to you, or maybe you're drawn in by the idea of completing puzzles in an adorable 3D environment. I have to admit I'm looking at my Switch and considering playing this instead of getting ludicrously upset at Match Factory. If you're a fan of the series, Nate thinks you should absolutely check out Echoes of Wisdom.
Fujifilm GFX100S II and Logitech MX Creator Console reviews
by Steve Dent
Our photography expert Steve Dent published a couple of reviews this week, showcasing his expert knowledge of cameras and the editing tools that accompany them. His analysis of the Logitech MX Creator Console, for instance, has me itching to get one so I can easily tweak and edit graphics in Adobe's suite of apps. Meanwhile, his review of the Fujifilm GFX100S II left me wondering how many months I can go hungry so I can afford the $5,000 camera because I imagine it'll make me as adept at taking photos as Steve. If you're curious about the actual picture and video quality of Fujifilm's camera, check out Steve's video on our YouTube channel.
Up next: What's on the horizon
Like I said, with all the events taking place these few weeks, there's plenty of gadget reviews to come. For example, Samsung had a mini event this week where it unveiled the Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra, which are premium tablets that are regarded as the best in the Android space. The company also showed off the Galaxy S24 FE and Galaxy Watch FE LTE, which are lower cost variants of its flagship smartphone and smartwatch. All of these products are good candidates for us to test, since our audience (like yourself!) is likely to be wondering about whether they're better than their premium counterparts.
This week, Meta also launched the Quest 3S, which is a budget-friendly VR headset that should take the place of the aging Quest 2. Few people are out there shopping for VR headsets, at least, when compared to iPhones or even midrange Android phones. But it's still worth our time to test something like the Quest 3S, as it helps us learn about the technology that's available, even in relatively small product categories.
Meta also showed off its Orion AR smart glasses, but as that's more of a prototype right now, I don't expect we'll be properly reviewing it. Similarly, the fifth-gen Spectacles that Snap unveiled last week will only be available to approved developers who are willing to fork over $99 a month. That's not something we're likely to formally review, either.
It's hard to keep up with all the stuff that big tech companies keep launching and want you to buy, but we do our best. We're anticipating just a few more events coming this year, and are getting ready for the holiday shopping season, too. I'm sure people outside the tech industry are feeling a similar ramp up in work and life. Hopefully, we all get some time to rest and take care of ourselves soon. As always, we appreciate your time and wish you the best. Until the next Engadget Review Recap, good luck.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-iphones-airpods-pixel-buds-and-an-early-look-at-the-playstation-5-pro-130018618.html?src=rss
In a surprise 30-minute event today that could have been an email, Samsung unveiled new additions to its portfolio of devices this year, including the Galaxy S24 FE and the Galaxy Watch FE LTE. The highlight of today's news has to be the new Galaxy Tab S10 tablets, though, since they've long been regarded as the best premium Android tablets around. The Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra start at $1,000 and $1,200 respectively (the same price as the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max) and are available for pre-order today before they retail on October 3.
With the Tab S10 series, Samsung proclaims it has brought its Galaxy AI to the category, thus making AI available for all. Features introduced on its flagship S24 phones earlier this year like Circle to Search and Sketch to Image are now supported on the tablets, and those that worked with the S Pen on the S24 Ultra, like Handwriting Assist and Note Assist, are here too. I spent some time with the new hardware and, though it's too early to tell if these updates work well, I can still say these are probably going to remain the best Android tablets around.
When I picked up a Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra at Samsung's event today, I once again marveled at how thin and light it was, despite having already experienced the same feelings with all of Samsung's previous tablets. To recap, the Tab S10 Ultra has a 14.6-inch screen, while the Tab S10+ comes in at 12.4 inches. Both these AMOLED panels have anti-reflective finishes, and the devices are rated IP68 for durability, despite being so satisfyingly slim. They feel like blades you could potentially use to slice very soft sponge cakes with.
I was able to pick up a Tab S10 Ultra with very little effort or muscle strain, and though it's usually difficult to maneuver such a wide screen, the fact that I could easily wield it with one hand made things easier.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
There's not much that's changed compared to the Galaxy Tab S9, other than that the S10 series uses MediaTek's Dimensity 9300+ processors, instead of Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips. I'm not convinced that these chips have the power or energy efficiency to multitask or execute AI tasks efficiently, but that's not something I can determine at a hands-on event.
Samsung's AMOLED panels remain vibrant and bright, providing excellent media consumption experiences. It was hard to gauge how effective the anti-reflective treatment was under the harsh lights set up for the event, but for the most part I found things easy to see.
And though I didn't linger too long on any of the Galaxy AI features on the Tab S10 series, I can tell you I've had fun playing with the very same tools on the S24 flagships we've reviewed throughout the year. Whether it's the S24 Ultra with an S Pen or the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, Samsung's slate of hardware this year have all received the Galaxy AI suite of writing and photo editing tools. We've already had time to ruminate how useful any of these things really are in the real world, and in general our impressions have been a resounding "meh."
I have been impressed with how Sketch to Image has been able to transform crappy drawings of animals into realistic looking beasts in photos, and Circle to Search is a Google tool that makes it easier to look up items by drawing a ring around them. Many of the other Galaxy AI features, like most generative AI tools today, are only moderately helpful.
We'll need to spend more time with the Tab S10 Ultra, Tab S10+, Galaxy S24 FE and even the Galaxy Watch FE LTE to determine if they're worth spending your money on. But for now, I have to admit that it's nice to see Samsung roll out all its Galaxy AI features across its lineup, resulting in a sense of cohesion and parity even in its lower cost offerings. Apple Intelligence, meanwhile, will require an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro, and won't work if you only have an iPhone 15. It's clear we're deep into the generative AI age, and will not be able to avoid them much longer, especially now that they're getting more prevalent across the Android ecosystem.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/galaxy-tab-s10-ultra-hands-on-ai-arrives-on-samsungs-premium-android-tablet-171105485.html?src=rss
It may seem like Apple is behind the competition a lot of the time. The company appeared to be slow to developments like widgets, bezel-less displays with camera notches and screens with high refresh rates. And with the iPhone 16 Pro, it appears to once again be late to the party, bringing generative-AI features and a real button for the camera to its 2024 flagship. But if you'll allow me to play therapist for a moment, I think it's not that Apple is slow. I think Apple is cautious. Perhaps overly so.
Caution on its own isn't a bad trait — in fact, it could be considered thoughtful. Rather than rush to the cutting edge with its peers, Apple deliberates, usually finding a slightly different approach that is often an improvement on what's out there. Just look at the Vision Pro headset or Apple Silicon. Or even the iPod, the iPad and the AirPods, which were far from the first of their kind when they launched.
With the iPhone 16 Pro, the focus is on cameras and Apple Intelligence. The problem is, Apple Intelligence isn't quite here yet. We can test some features in the developer beta that's currently available, but that's not necessarily the same as the experience the public will get when the update rolls out in October. It’s not unprecedented for new iPhones to launch without some marquee features, sure, and thankfully there's still plenty that the iPhone 16 Pro brings. From Camera Control, the Fusion Camera and other video-related updates to slightly bigger displays and iOS 18, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are intriguing successors, even absent the vaunted Intelligence features that are still to come.
Video review of the iPhone 16 Pro
The iPhone 16 Pro’s design and displays
I’m getting deja vu. Looking back at my review of the iPhone 15 Pro, I see a picture of that phone and its predecessor lined up side by side to show just how much thinner the bezels are. Apple has once again trimmed the borders on its flagship phones, but while doing that enabled it to reduce the handsets’ size in 2023, this year it allowed the company to cram in larger screens without much change in footprint.
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max displays have increased in size from 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches up to 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches, respectively. Both handsets have grown ever so slightly, too, by just under 1mm in width and about 3mm in height.
Basically, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are a hair wider and taller than their predecessors, but maintain the same 8.25mm (0.32-inch) profile. And yet, in spite of this minimal change, you won’t be able to keep your old cases if you’re upgrading from an iPhone 15 Pro to an iPhone 16 Pro.
Not only would the cases not quite fit, you’d also need something with either a cutout or a sapphire crystal and conductive layer to be able to use the new Camera Control. Of course, Apple sells compatible cases, as do some third parties like Otterbox, so you have plenty of options.
I’ve spent most of this year’s hardware review season remarking how Samsung and Google’s flagships feel like iPhones, and I’ve now reached a strange inception point. As I’ve been comparing competing phones for this review, I’ve been surrounded by about a dozen handsets from all these different companies on my couch, including last year’s iPhones, the Galaxy S24 Plus and the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL. Trying to figure out which one is the iPhone has become more confusing than ever, as they all feel similar in build. The best way to verify at a glance is looking at their camera arrays or my wallpaper.
All that is to say that the iPhone 16 Pro feels similar to its predecessor, which is what these other companies have been attempting to emulate. Apple would be right to feel flattered by this imitation, and yet I have to wonder if it’s time to do something different. Google’s Pixel 9 Pro is actually a whole six grams lighter than the iPhone 16 Pro at 221 grams (7.79 ounces), and I’m absolutely smitten by its rich pink hue and shiny edges. Though I like the new golden Desert color for the iPhone 16 Pro, I do wish Apple’s premium flagship had more fun and vibrant exteriors. That said, I do love the base iPhone 16 in pink, teal and Ultramarine.
Brian Oh for Engadget
Camera control is (not) just a button
Arguably the biggest change to the iPhone 16 lineup, not to mention the iPhone 16 Pro, is the introduction of Camera Control. This is a button on the right side of the device, which has touch and pressure sensors on it to enable greater control with swipes and semi-presses. (That’s in addition to the Action Button on the top left that was added to last year’s Pros, and carries over to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, too.)
One of the things this was supposed to do was let you push lightly on the button to trigger focus, similar to what half pressing a DSLR shutter button would do. That function won’t be available at launch, so I can’t say if it’s effective.
But by and large, Camera Control is a very Apple approach to a feature that has been around for years. From phones by Sony and Nokia with dedicated shutter buttons to Android handsets with hardware-based double-click shortcuts, the notion of quick access to your camera without having to futz with the screen is a popular one. For good reason, too — I’ve hated having to swipe or long-press the icon on my iPhone’s lock screen in the past, and even though I could set the iPhone 15 Pro’s Action button to open the camera, it just wasn’t positioned well and I’d have to give up my mute button.
So Apple isn’t breaking new ground with its hardware shortcut for a frequently used app. But it does do a few things differently with the touch sensor. You can swipe on it to tweak things like exposure, zoom levels and tone, and the half-press still works as a way to select options or go back out of menus within the new Camera Control interface. In theory, it’s a nice way to make changes on the fly.
In reality, there were a few issues, and they largely have to do with placement. The button sits a little farther from the base of the phone than I’d like, so my fingers have to reach a bit more to press it, whether I was in landscape or portrait mode. This wasn’t usually a problem when I had both hands free and could steady the iPhone with my other hand and readjust my grip.
But if you’re trying to take a quick shot with just one hand, the button’s location can feel unintuitive. Of course, everyone has different finger lengths and ratios, so it’s entirely possible that other people find this logical. It also depends on your grip — if you’re cradling the bottom of the device in your palm, it’s harder to maneuver. If you’re covering part of the screen and reaching for the button head on, it’s slightly easier to use camera control.
Brian Oh for Engadget
Still, even for those with the strongest claws, swiping and half-pressing and double-half-pressing on the sensor is tricky. I was only ever really able to do that if I had my thumb holding up the bottom edge and my middle, ring and little fingers steadying the right end of the phone. Maybe this is a new camera grip I just need to relearn for this button.
The awkward placement is a minor gripe compared to what I found most annoying: the button’s touch sensor. Not only was it difficult to swipe through different settings when holding the device with one hand, it also reacts to accidental touches and swipes. Sometimes, the phone would slide down my palm and change the exposure or zoom level, completely ruining the vibe. I should point out that you can go into accessibility settings to either tweak the swipe sensitivity or turn it off altogether, if it really bothers you. Honestly, if you’re planning on making adjustments with Camera Control, it’s best to have time, patience and both hands free.
In those situations, I had a lot of fun editing settings and watching them be reflected in the viewfinder in real time. I also liked zooming in and out of subjects, recomposing a shot and tweaking exposure till I liked what I saw, before then pushing down to snap the picture. (This action does lead to some small issues, but more on the actual photo quality later.) I especially loved this while recording video, since it makes slowly zooming in or out of a subject smoother than using the onscreen slider.
Then again, for scenarios where I just want to fire off a quick shot without worrying about exposure or zoom settings, the pain of finagling with the sensor mostly goes away. In exchange, being able to rapidly snap pictures is a joy. I found myself taking more pictures than ever thanks to camera control, which if you know me is a feat worthy of the Guinness Book of Records.
A random person cut me off in line? Click. Funny sign on a building I pass by in a Lyft? Click, click. From your lock screen, you’ll have to press the button twice — once to wake the phone up and once to open the camera. Then press again to take the photo. It’s not ideal, but not too far off the same process on a Pixel phone, for instance. Plus, you can long-press the iPhone’s button to start recording a video, and it’ll automatically stop when you let go.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
This sort of rapid access to the camera is the best thing about the new button, and I could see it being potentially useful not just for shutterbugs like me, but for the upcoming Visual Intelligence feature that Apple teased at its launch event. The company’s version of Google Lens could allow people to ask questions about things in the real world around them. But of course, since this wasn’t available during my review period, I wasn’t able to test it.
For now, you can go into Settings to either change the number of clicks it takes to trigger the camera app, remap it to a Code scanner or the Magnifier tool or disable it altogether. Since you can also set up the Action button to do these things, you have more choices now over where you want your camera shortcut or free up the former volume slider to do something else.
The iPhone 16 Pro: Fusion camera for fast and slow moments
Even if you’re not a glutton for buttons, there are still some camera updates that might intrigue you. This year’s flagships sport what Apple calls a 48-megapixel Fusion Camera, which has a faster quad-pixel sensor. This enables what the company describes as “zero shutter lag,” which is wording it has used repeatedly over the years. In this case, it’s referring to how quickly the camera will capture a shot after you press the shutter button (onscreen or hardware).
I will admit I was initially confused by this update, in part because it requires relearning some behaviors I had adopted to mitigate the shortfalls of older cameras. Basically, the iPhone 16 Pro’s cameras are now so fast that when I asked someone to throw something so I could capture it in motion to see how still the images were, my shots ended up being of the person holding the object.
Our video producer and I were very confused, and it wasn’t until the “zero shutter lag” concept was explained clearer to me that I got it. I had become used to pressing the shutter early since cameras, in my experience, would be fractions of a second slow. Apple has become so fast that it actually captured the literal moment I tapped the button, instead of the split second after, when the object was in mid-air.
Brian Oh for Engadget
This is going to change how people take jump shots, I’m sure, but basically if you and your friends are taking pictures of yourselves floating in the sky, the photographer doesn’t have to hit capture before telling you to jump. I know this is a very specific and silly example, but it’s also the most relatable illustration of how much quicker the Fusion camera is.
Also, why can’t camera stories be silly and fun? That’s what a lot of the best moments in life are, and some of the new features are great in those situations. The support for 4K video at 120 fps in Dolby Vision, for example, led to some beautiful high-quality, rich and colorful clips of my friend’s adorable pomeranian trotting along on a walk. Her little tongue slowly peeking out as she bounded towards the camera looked crisp and smooth when I played it back at 25 percent and 20 percent speeds, too.
The iPhone 16’s new Photographic Styles are excellent
Depending on your mood, the new Photographic Styles can be fun or serious. Apple’s tweaked the built-in camera filters to not only offer more options but give you greater control. Due to how the company has refined its processing each year, there’s also an improved depth map captured when it detects a face in the scene. This, combined with a greater focus on color science around skintone, has led to what might be my favorite new iPhone 16 feature.
Whether I shot them in Portrait mode or not, photos of people that I took using the iPhone 16 Pro were a dream to edit. Simply switching between the Standard, Natural, Luminous, Quiet or Ethereal styles already resulted in improvements to the colors and shadow, but I could also tap on each thumbnail to access the new editing touchpad and drag a dot around. This let me more precisely tweak the hues and contrast levels, and an additional slider below let me adjust how warm the image was.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
An ugly selfie with my cousin in the hideous overhead lights of a meeting room became a beautiful snapshot after I switched to the Ethereal or Luminous styles. Both of those are quickly becoming my favorites, but I’m more impressed with how well Apple was able to segment the subject from the background. In almost every shot I edited, adjusting the slider mostly only changed the background, keeping people and their complexions within the realm of reality instead of applying harsh oversaturation or extreme contrast levels to them. They also added a background blur that lent a pleasant soft focus effect, and most of the time the system accurately identified outlines of people in the scene.
Perhaps my favorite part is the fact that you can change between styles after you’ve shot the photo on the iPhone 16. As someone who dwells on her Instagram filters and edit tools for some time before each post, I definitely appreciate how much nicer Apple’s versions are and only wish I could retroactively apply them to photos I had taken at a recent wedding. Alas, since the edits are dependent on information captured when the photos were taken, these new retouching features will only work for pictures taken with an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro.
Audio Mix on the iPhone 16 is… mixed
One final camera update I’ll touch on before telling you about actual photo quality is Audio Mix. This uses the spatial audio now recorded by default with the new studio mics on the iPhone 16 Pro (or even the system on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus) to understand the direction of sound sources in your footage. Then, when you edit the clip, you can choose between Standard, In-frame, Studio and Cinematic mixes, as well as drag a slider to reduce background noise.
You’ll have to be recording in fairly specific acoustic scenarios to get the most out of Audio Mix. I tested it in a variety of situations, like my cousin talking on his phone on a busy New York street, me interviewing my fellow gym buddies after a tiring workout with the background music quietly playing or my friend talking to me while his wife talks about something else off-camera in their fairly quiet kitchen.
For the most part, going to Cinematic or Studio modes from Standard resulted in a noticeable reduction in environmental noise. My favorite is Studio, which generally seemed to improve voice clarity as well, making people sound like they could be talking on a podcast. In-frame, however, rarely did what I expected and occasionally produced some warped distortion. It appears there might need to be more distance between various sources of sound for this to work best, and I have to spend more time testing to better understand this tool. You can check out our review video for examples of a clip with different audio mixes, but for now, while the promised improvements aren’t what I expected, there at least appears to be some benefit to Audio Mix.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
The iPhone 16 Pro’s photos versus the Pixel 9 Pro
On to the actual photos and how they hold up against the competition. I’ve long considered Google’s Pixel phones to be the gold standard in smartphone photography, since I prefer the company’s color and detail processing. I know some people feel that Google tends to oversharpen, so bear in mind that, as with most things, your preference may be different from mine.
When I compared photos I took with both phones on the same laptop screen, the differences were minimal. Occasionally, Google would expose better, being more able to retain shadows near a bright light source than the iPhone 16 Pro. But the Pixel’s nightscape shots had more light leakage into the sky, whereas Apple was more adept at keeping the background dark against the outline of a skyscraper.
Honestly at this point we’re really nitpicking and pixel-peeping to find differences. Both companies deliver great cameras, and though I still prefer Google’s approach to Portrait shots, Apple has been slowly but surely closing the gap with improvements to its depth maps every year.
I will mention, though, that a lot more of the photos I shot on the iPhone 16 Pro came out blurrier than the Pixel 9 Pro, and it might have to do with the fact that I was using the Camera Control to snap them. This was the issue I alluded to earlier, where using a physical button to take a picture is more likely to introduce shake than a software shutter. It’s not like Samsung or Google phones are immune to this problem, though I will say that the way Camera Control is built, where the recessed button depresses into the phone’s frame, does leave it a bit more vulnerable to this than, say, using a volume rocker might.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
Oh and finally, a quick note for my Gen Z readers: I know how much you all prefer flash photography compared to night modes in low light scenarios. (Thanks to my much younger cousin for the valuable insight.) I’ve done the testing and can say that I prefer Google’s Pixel 9 Pro for its software, warmer flash compared to the iPhone 16 Pro’s, which is stronger and brighter, leading to my face looking washed out.
iOS 18 is here, but not Apple Intelligence
It’s been about two months since the public beta for iOS 18 was released, and it was nice to get a taste of upcoming features like the new customizable home pages, expanded Tapback reactions and the redesigned Photos app. With the iPhone 16 launch, iOS 18 is basically ready for primetime… with some caveats.
This year, more than ever, it’s hard to figure out what’s coming to your iPhone and what isn’t. With the release of Apple Intelligence slated for October, features like writing tools, Cleanup for photos and the redesigned Siri won’t be ready till next month. And even then, your non-pro iPhone 15 won’t be compatible.
It’s confusing, and can make choosing your iPhone a trickier decision. But for this review, at least the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are getting everything. I cannot wait to try out multi-track recording in Voice Memos, and I hope Apple sees this yearning as a sign that it should bring this to more devices.
It was nice to get time with iOS 18, even in the absence of Apple Intelligence. Honestly, I’m not even sure I’d like those features that much. In a similar way, Gemini AI was nice on the Pixel 9 Pro series, but didn’t feel like must-haves.
Some of the new iOS 18 touches I noticed immediately were the refreshed Control Center, which took some getting used to as I had to re-learn how to swipe back to the home page, since there are more pages to scroll through now. I especially enjoyed seeing the new little chat bubble appear on my voice recordings, indicating that a transcript had been generated for them. And though I haven’t exchanged messages with Android-toting friends yet, I’m glad to see RCS support is finally live this week.
Brian Oh for Engadget
Though I was excited for the new custom routes tool in Maps, I struggled to actually create them. You can set your start and end points and have the app close the loop for you, or just tap landmarks or points on the map to get the route to basically connect the dots. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I tried to get the route to cut through a building where I knew a pedestrian walkway existed, Maps resisted me at every turn, forcing the route to go through more established (and therefore more crowded) paths instead. It’s not unreasonable, but certainly not the open-world route-creation feature I was envisioning.
The best thing about iOS 18, and also some new features in the iPhone 16 lineup (like in the camera controls) is the customizability. I do appreciate that if you don’t like something, you can usually turn it off. With the new ability to place apps outside of a rigid grid, you can now lay your home screen out just the way you like. The redesigned Photos app lets you create and pin collections so you can more easily find the pictures most important to you. And again, I’m glad Apple is giving people the option to turn off Camera Control altogether or adjust its sensitivity.
Performance and battery life
The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are powered by Apple’s A18 Pro chip, which are built on “second-generation 3-nanometer technology and [feature] a new architecture with smaller, faster transistors.” All this is meant to deliver “unprecedented efficiency,” according to Apple’s press release.
Some small software glitches aside, I’ve never run into slowdown on the iPhone 16 Pro, but I was certainly surprised by the smaller handset’s battery life. In general, the iPhone 16 Pro would barely last a full day, which is reminiscent of the iPhone 15 Pro, too. It’s worth noting that before this review I was primarily using an iPhone 15 Pro Max as my daily driver, which usually gets through a day and a half with no problem, so the drop in endurance is even more pronounced for me.
Most days, I’d pick up the iPhone 16 Pro at about 9AM and would get to about 9pm before getting low battery alerts. If I started the day a bit later, closer to 11AM for instance, I got to 1am before the iPhone 16 Pro ran completely dry. On Sunday, I unplugged the phone at about 9:30AM and was shocked on the train home to get a warning that remaining power was at just 20 percent. It was only 6:50PM, and the night had barely just started!
You’ll get significantly better battery life on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which delivers the same almost two-day runtime as its predecessor. And sure, a phone with a smaller battery not lasting as long makes mathematical sense. But considering the Pixel 9 Pro is a comparably sized handset and manages to last about two days, there’s no excuse for the iPhone 16 Pro to conk out before the night is up.
Brian Oh for Engadget
Which iPhone 16 should you get?
One of the best things about the iPhone 16 Pro lineup is that, unlike last year, there isn’t much of a tradeoff in cameras if you opt for the smaller device. The iPhone 15 Pro Max had a 5x telephoto zoom camera, while the iPhone 15 Pro only went up to 3x. As a budding photographer of skittish wild animals, I opted for the Max, especially since it was much lighter than its predecessor thanks to the titanium build.
With the iPhone 16 Pro having essentially the same camera system as the Pro Max, I thought it was time for me to go back to a size that was much easier on my hands. Alas, with the disappointing battery performance, I might just have to stick with a Max, and you might too.
There’s also the non-Pro iPhone 16 models to consider, and you can check out my colleague Billy Steele's review of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus for more details. Just as there were fewer differences than ever between the Pro and Pro Max, the tradeoffs aren’t as significant this year, either. Apple brought the previously Pro-exclusive Action button to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, while also including the Camera Control on its less-premium phones.
The main things that set the two lines apart this year are processors, screen quality, camera sensors and onboard mics. You’ll lose support for ProRaw photos and multi-layer recording by opting for the cheaper devices, too. Basically, if you want all the best features Apple has to offer, or you plan on using your phone to create high-quality videos and get 5x telephoto zoom in your photos, the Pros are the way to go.
Otherwise, you’ll still have all the iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence features coming to the Pros, as well as spatial audio recording, which enables the Audio Mix I described in the camera section earlier.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
Wrap up
Apple’s caution is sometimes warranted. Especially at a time when mistrust of AI-generated content runs rampant, the company taking its time to get Apple Intelligence right is understandable. But its deliberation doesn’t always lead to winners. While I appreciate the attempt to differentiate camera control with the touch sensor for more versatility, I’m not yet convinced of its usefulness.
The good news is, and I cannot stress this enough, you have the option to tune it to your liking. And that’s a theme I’m seeing in recent Apple features that hint at more thoughtfulness than usual. If you don’t like something, or if something isn’t right for your needs, you can adjust or disable it. In iOS 18, you have greater control over your home screen’s app layout and can pin custom collections for easier reach in the Photos app. The Action button introduced last year could have been a spectacular fail had Apple not let you still keep it as a mute switch, but it managed to give people more functionality while maintaining the status quo for those who are just as resistant to change.
Change is scary. Change is hard. But without change there is no progress. Apple’s cautious approach is a tricky balancing act that’s evident on the iPhone 16 Pro. Some new features, like Audio Mix and custom routes in Maps, deliver mixed results. Others, like Photographic Styles, are hits. Then there are the basic ingredients, like good battery life and durable, attractive designs, that Apple cannot neglect.
The iPhone 16 Pro’s subpar battery life holds it back from beating the competition, which is stiffer than ever this year, especially from Google. Luckily for Apple, most people who have iPhones are going to stick with iPhones — it’s just easier. For those already sucked into the ecosystem, the iPhone 16 Pro (and particularly the Pro Max) are worth the upgrade from a model that’s at least two years old. If you already have an iPhone 15 Pro (or even a 14 Pro), for the sake of our planet and your wallet, you might prefer to hold off on upgrading, especially since this year’s devices aren’t that much different.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/iphone-16-pro-and-pro-max-review-apple-focuses-on-cameras-and-customization-120052459.html?src=rss
The Apple Watch has been around for ten years. Looking at pictures of the device then, it might not seem like much has changed — even the apps drawer seems identical. But subtly and quietly, the Apple Watch — the company’s first new product line of the post-Steve Jobs era — has evolved to become capable of so much more today. Over the last few years, there have been some big leaps forward for the Apple Watch’s feature set, up to and including wrist-based ECG and heart-rate readings that were once the purview of science fiction. We’ve heard many testimonials, mostly from Apple at its events, about how the Apple Watch has saved lives — whether it be by detection of a fall or atrial fibrillation. Smartwatches as a category have matured and found their place, it seems, and the Apple Watch has carved out a comfy spot within the space.
So color me surprised when the Series 10 launched to very little fanfare last week. I guess I was expecting Apple to be a bit more self-congratulatory, but the company seemed to gloss over the product’s birthday. Instead, we got to learn about the device’s thinner profile and bigger screen with greater viewing angles. It also has smaller onboard speakers, apps for water sports enthusiasts and health features like the new sleep apnea monitoring and alerts. It may sound underwhelming compared to the seemingly futuristic features we were seeing in the Apple Watch’s early days, but the Series 10 is just following in the footsteps of the iPhone. It’s a mature product that’s traded massive annual overhauls for iterative updates that add up over time. For a smartwatch that has consistently been called the best in its class, the Series 10 largely continues that tradition, even as it walks back a feature or two thanks to ongoing copyright litigation.
Design and display
Compared to the Series 9, the latest Apple Watch is ever so slightly bigger and noticeably thinner and lighter. It’s not such a great difference that you’ll notice without having the two side by side, but every time I pick up the Series 10 I definitely feel a tiny spark of joy. The squatter shape, slimmer profile and more rounded corners somehow make the new watch feel a bit like a biscuit, while the Series 9 comes off more like a smaller mahjong tile.
Both sizes of the mainstream Apple Watch have grown ever so slightly, with the 41mm version now coming in at 42mm and the 45mm one sitting at 46mm. I’ve worn the smaller Series 10 and Series 9 on both wrists for a few days now and genuinely don’t find there to be a major difference in daily use. As significant as I think the thinner body and lighter weight is on the Series 10, it’s not like I was having trouble squeezing its predecessor through jacket sleeves before. I will say that the new model will certainly be more comfortable under the snuggest of my cuffs.
Apple cutting the Series 10 down to just 9.7mm thin is certainly a feat, considering the Pixel Watch 3 is still a pretty chunky 12mm thick. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 is the same height, so Google needs to play a bit of catch-up here.
The Series 10’s bigger screen does make some things easier to see, like road names on Maps and the clock when you’re in Spotify. You’ll likely find greater gains here by choosing larger font sizes, which is a bit of an obvious note but at least on the Series 10 you’ll have more room to work with. If you need something even bigger, you should consider the Watch Ultra 2, which has a 49mm screen.
Apple’s also using a wide-angle OLED this year to make things easier to read even if your wrist is simply resting on the table, not held up in front of your eyes. Again, in my side by side observations, the change is noticeable but not in a huge way. There does appear to be greater contrast between the digits of the time against the photo in the background, too, which makes the clock more visible at an angle.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
However, it’s worth pointing out that when you’re staring at the Series 10 face on, you might find its bezels noticeably thicker than on the Series 9. Even if you’re planning on upgrading from a Series 9, where you’ll be most primed to feel the bigger bezels’ impact on design, it’s still a tiny complaint, if at all. Thicker borders don’t really affect the watch’s performance.
Apple introduced some new watch faces with the Series 10, as it does with every successive generation. This time, the Flux face is supposed to make full use of the display’s wider angle view as it spills over the sides (sort of). There’s also a bit of an animation that mimics a second hand ticking across the screen, which is nice, but doesn’t add much to the experience.
There are other small design changes around the watch. For example, instead of an inch-long slit on the left edge for the speaker output, there now sits two half-inch grilles which blend more seamlessly into the watch. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the new jet black case color option, as well as the polished titanium models that replace the previous stainless steel ones. They’re nice options to have, if you can afford the $300 upgrade for the new lighter material.
Finally, part of why the Series 10 got thinner is its redesigned metal back, which allowed Apple to integrate the antenna into the case and compress two layers into one. There’s also a little so-called isolation circle to help maintain cellular performance. This isn’t something you’ll feel necessarily, but it does contribute to the Series 10’s overall thinness.
The Apple Watch Series 10’s speaker
Something Apple brought to the Series 10 is the ability to play music and podcasts through the watch’s onboard speaker. It might seem silly to want to use the tiny device for any sort of media, especially things like songs where you’d like at least some semblance of sound quality for the experience to be enjoyable. In the few days I’ve had the Series 10, I never found the need to stream songs from the speaker on the watch, until I had to test it.
At the maximum loudness in a quiet conference room, I enjoyed listening to Running Through the Night by Seori and Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter. It wasn’t as bass-heavy as I’d like for a regular listening session, but given the circumstances and the size of the watch, the mids and trebles were plenty clear and punchy. You’re not meant to rely on this for long periods anyway, and it’s just there to scratch an itch if or when it arises. With noisier environments, though, it’s a struggle.
Screenshots
The Apple Watch Series 10 vs. sleep apnea
Arguably the biggest feature coming to the Series 10 is sleep apnea monitoring (though that feature is also available on the Series 9 and Ultra 2 via watchOS 11). This is only for people who haven’t been diagnosed with sleep apnea, meaning if you already know you have this condition, it’s not designed to help you see if your CPAP machine is effective, for instance.
I’ve not been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and might very well be one of the 80 percent of people that has the condition and don’t know it. Still, it would be nice to know for certain and when watchOS 11 dropped yesterday, those of us on iOS 18 with compatible Apple Watch models were able to opt in to notifications. I went to the Health app to set this up, answered a series of questions about my age and whether I’d been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and was informed I was set up for the feature.
In the explanation Apple provides during the onboarding process, it says “Apple Watch tracks your breathing while you’re asleep and records any disturbances in a 30-day period.” It can notify you if those disturbances “are suggestive of sleep apnea,” so you can go to a doctor for a proper diagnosis.
It’s been only about a week since Apple announced sleep apnea notifications were coming, and clearly 30 days haven’t passed. I have yet to glean enough information for any alerts, and cannot yet gauge the impact of this feature.
The Apple Watch Series 10 as a health and fitness tracker
Barring changes that come with watchOS 11, which older Apple Watches will also get, the Series 10 is essentially the same as its predecessor when it comes to tracking your activity. As long as you’ve set things up right, you’ll get reminders to log your mood, take your meds and move after you’ve been idle too long.
Having just reviewed Google’s Pixel Watch 3, I can’t help but wish Apple were a tad more sensitive and consistent at automatically prompting me to start logging a walk. There’s no real guidance as to how long you have to have been active for the watch to suggest you’d been working out. That leads to some confusion and pure frustration when you think you’d walked or run enough for the auto detection to kick in, but only to find out you maybe hadn’t moved in the right way or for long enough.
I’ve been a yearslong Apple Watch user, so I’ve grown extremely familiar and reliant on its interface and the data it collects. I like diving into my calendar view and looking proudly at all the days I closed my rings. The Health app does a good job of presenting my recent trends and how that compares with my performance a year ago, subtly shaming me into realizing I should maybe take a few more walks a week. The Series 10 doesn’t differ much from the Series 9 in that way, and if you’re already in Apple’s ecosystem, this will largely feel extremely familiar.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
The Apple Watch Series 10’s water-sports features
There are some new tools on the Series 10 that are borrowed from elsewhere in the family, though. Apple’s brought the Watch Ultra’s Depth app over and introduced a new Tides app across the Series 10 and Watch Ultra 2 that should be helpful for those who spend a lot of time in the water.
I’m not a big water sports girl, but I do occasionally hang out at beaches. Whether it’s Long Island’s pristine, sandy shores or the rocky terrain of Red Hook’s Valentino Pier, I’ve certainly encountered sudden swells in water level that I’ve had to run to avoid. It’s not the biggest problem, of course, but I can see how the Tides app would help anyone plan a day. I launched the app, and in a few seconds, the Series 10 located the closest beach, informing me that the tide was falling and that water levels would hit their lowest at about 2:07AM.
I didn’t verify this by going to Newport Beach at 2:07AM to measure water levels, but even from my brief testing it appears to be a helpful app for those who need to know this information for a full day of surfing, for example. It’s also useful for those who want a convenient way to locate the closest body of water, since the map view shows beaches around you.
It’s hard to imagine the Depth app being useful for a non-snorkeler or non-scuba diver like me, as I’ve watched one too many videos of underwater cave diving gone wrong. But the Depth app and water temperature sensor could theoretically be useful in other scenarios. If you have a deep enough tub, you could potentially stick the Series 10 on your wrist into the bottom and get a reading for whether the water is too hot for your kid.
Unlike on the Apple Watch Ultra (1 and 2), which go down to 40 meters (131.2 feet), the Series 10’s depth gauge will only provide readings up to 6 meters. That does mean you won’t want to take this scuba diving, and it’s not rated for that, either. All three models I mentioned here offer the same water temperature capability, though.
The Apple Watch Series 10’s battery life and charging speed
In the few days I’ve had the Apple Watch Series 10, it’s generally outlasted the Series 9, not usually by much. One day, after a cross-training workout at 8AM followed by a GPS-enabled walk and a day full of Slack and Telegram alerts, the Series 10 still managed to have 46 percent left at 11:45PM when I got home. The Series 9 was struggling at 19 percent, and both had the same display and Always On settings. This is one aspect that I’d like more time testing to better understand, but considering the new watch’s slimmer profile and bigger screen, the fact that it even has similar runtime at all would be respectable.
Apple also updated the charging setup on its latest smartwatch, which should bring the Series 10 back to 80 percent in 30 minutes. It’s worth noting you’ll have to use a fast-charge-certified accessory, such as a charging cable from the Series 7 or later, which you can tell by confirming that the wire is braided. Faster recharge speeds are nice, since they make up for any shortfalls in battery life by making sure you don’t need to wait too long for your device to get back up to a healthy level.
Still, considering many devices from Garmin, Fitbit and even Samsung can last longer than two days and even up to seven days per charge, the Apple Watch’s day and a half feels like a number that could be higher. If the company were looking for ways to push the envelope further, battery life is certainly the area to investigate. I don’t mind charging my watch every morning (or night), but some people want to be able to go camping over a long weekend and not have to worry about bringing along chargers. Don’t tell them to buy an Apple Watch Ultra for that benefit.
Wrap-up
It’s hard to sum up how I feel about the Apple Watch Series 10. On one hand, I definitely still need more time to form a conclusion about things I don’t feel familiar with yet, like sleep apnea alerts. On the other, I feel like I already know this product very well, thanks to its similarity to its predecessor(s). Plus, with watchOS 11 bringing a lot of similar features to the Series 9, Watch Ultra 2 and more, it feels difficult to recommend anyone with a recent device spring for an upgrade. Some of my friends considering the Series 10 are coming from the Series 8 or older, and for them Apple’s latest certainly feels worthwhile.
However, those using an older model should be aware that upgrading to a newer Apple Watch would cost them access to the blood oxygen detection features. The company has yet to bring back the Blood Oxygen app that it removed from the Series 9 and Ultra 2 that it sells in the US, as a result of a patent lawsuit filed by Masimo. It’s entirely possible the company is able to revive this feature simply through a software update, but if this measurement is crucial to your daily life, it might be worth sticking with your Series 8.
Those looking for a huge leap forward because of the number “10” in the device’s name should be prepared to be underwhelmed. But just because the Series 10 isn’t a reinvention of smartwatches doesn’t mean it isn’t still an excellent companion device and well-rounded health-tracker. If you’re simply looking for a new Apple Watch or don’t care for SpO2 readings, and are coming from a model that’s at least two years old, the Series 10 will feel like a solid upgrade. And it’s still the best for any iPhone owner.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/apple-watch-series-10-review-legacy-and-sequel-in-equal-measure-120021405.html?src=rss
Hardware season is in full swing. Apple launched the iPhone 16, AirPods 4 and Apple Watch Series 10 on Monday this week. On the same day, at the very same time, the review embargo for the Pixel Watch 3 lifted, and we managed to get most of our piece up then. Not only that, we also saw Sony announce the PlayStation 5 Pro this week, plus in the last two weeks there has been plenty of news out of the IFA conference in Berlin. There were things like Huawei's tri-fold phone, reMarkable's Paper Pro tablet, DJI's $200 Neo drone, a new GoPro as well as more concept Lenovo laptops.
As you can imagine, it's been a hectic couple of weeks for those of us who cover consumer tech, and the events are far from over. Reviews of all the big products announced recently will also be coming soon, if they haven't already, and I am once again back to help you catch up on all the reviews we published in the last two weeks. I will also explain why there are some products we haven't written up, like the OnePlus Pad 2.
Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Two reviewers, one comprehensive analysis
by Cherlynn Low and Sam Rutherford
Since our foldables expert Sam Rutherford is on parental leave, the task of reviewing the Pixel 9 Pro Fold became mine. But Sam, being the responsible and helpful reviewer that he is, took time out to share his thoughts and impressions with me. He even took the review photos for our piece, and I especially appreciate his using mahjong tiles as an interesting backdrop for his pictures. While I focused my testing on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as a viable smartphone alternative and its use as a multimedia consumption device, Sam provided his insight by comparing Google's foldable to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 6.
Our review brings together those two perspectives, making for a fairly comprehensive analysis, if I do say so myself. We've got camera comparisons between Google and Samsung's offerings, with evaluation of both their software, battery performance, build, shape and more.
I was also able to shoot a video encompassing all our reviews of the Pixel 9 family of phones, which covers the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL as well as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The footage goes into some extra detail around things like the Add Me and Made You Look camera updates, as well as what Emergency SOS via Satellite looks like on a Pixel phone. Check it out at the top of this article!
Pixel Watch 3 review: Fighting against Apple
by Cherlynn Low
Google didn't make our lives very easy with its Monday embargo on September 9th, especially with Apple's iPhone 16 launch event happening the same day. But the good news is, our review units had arrived about two weeks prior, so we had enough time with the Pixel Watch 3 to get a better sense for it in the real world. I spent my time with the smaller 41mm model while Sam was able to share some testing insight of the new larger 45mm variant.
Within a couple of days, Sam and I were trading notes about how impressed we were with the Pixel Watch 3's battery life. Since I hate wearing watches to sleep, Sam graciously filled me in on the watch's sleep-tracking and auto bedtime features. Once again, teamwork made the dream work here (quite literally for me, as I would not have been able to fall asleep otherwise).
On my end, I focused on workouts and activity-tracking, double-wristing the Pixel Watch 3 with my Apple Watch Series 9 everywhere I went for two weeks. I was stoked that the Google smartwatch was better at automatically detecting my every walk, run and bike ride, but found it a little too thick compared to the competition. I also enjoyed the new customizable run workouts that let me set sprint and rest segments during my treadmill sessions.
I know that a day and a half sounds just about average in terms of battery life for modern smartwatches, but considering older models could barely last 24 hours, the improvements to runtime feel huge. Together with some Google and Pixel integrations, the Pixel Watch 3 finally feels like it's ready to take on the likes of Samsung and Apple's flagship wearables.
Ultimate Ears Everboom: A floatable speaker that's more loud than good
by Billy Steele
In this review, Billy once again shows us what to look for when getting gear for a party outside. Judging by the beautiful pictures accompanying his review, it's clear that when he's not testing headphones or grilling meats in his backyard, Mr. Grilly Steele spends ample time at the beach for (work-sanctioned) speaker testing. I support it.
With the UE Everboom, Billy makes clear that the sound quality isn't stellar, and music lacks in the mid range. But if it's volume that you want, the Everboom delivers, beaming sound out in 360 degrees. Plus, it does so in a rugged, waterproof body that can also survive a toss into the pool, since, like the company's other speakers, it floats!
However, with a score of just 75, the Everboom didn't quite make the cut to be one of the products we award the Recommended title. You'll likely find a better device for your needs from competing brands like Marshall and Beats.
We didn't review: OnePlus Pad 2
With everything that's been happening in the industry and in our own lives lately, we have yet to review the OnePlus Pad 2. Or the 2024 Moto Razrs or Galaxy Watch Ultra, either, for that matter. We continue to test our review units so that experience can inform our evaluation of other products we write up. But time is a resource we never have enough of, and with companies constantly launching new products, it's hard to keep up.
Our lead tablet reviewer (and deputy editor) Nathan Ingraham has been spending time with the OnePlus Pad 2, and he does have some thoughts to share. He's a fan of its build and display, finding it light and well-balanced despite being fairly large with a 12.1-inch screen. Speaking of, he also likes the display, appreciating its 301ppi pixel density. In fact, he called this "one of the nicest tablet screens I've seen outside of the iPad."
I'll have to get Nate to look at a Samsung Galaxy Tab with a nice AMOLED panel before we make that official, but there are other things that set the OnePlus Pad 2 apart. If you own a OnePlus phone, Nate noted that "there are some smart software features" that could make this tablet a better option than an iPad or Galaxy Tab. But, as Nate points out, "the Android software situation, as always, is a rather unimpressive mixed bag." He called out multitasking and a lack of apps that make good use of larger screens as two areas that need improvement.
Still, for $550 (and currently going for $499 direct from OnePlus), Nate thinks the Pad 2 is a fair value. "I still can't recommend it over an iPad, but at least it doesn't break the bank."
Upcoming/on the horizon
Like I said at the start of this recap, there are plenty of gadgets hiding in our homes, ready to be tested. There's plenty more to come, including new Copilot+ PCs with AMD and Intel chips, as well as cameras, earbuds and more. If anyone watching this week's news were so inclined, they could probably make a very educated guess as to what we're getting ready to publish reviews of, especially given established timelines from previous years. That's all I'll say for now.
I did want to say how thankful we are for your patience as we make it through this intensely hectic time of year, and you may see reviews go up this month that are updated after publish with additional details. This might be done in an effort to get articles up in a timely manner while still being able to provide comprehensive insight on our experiences over time. For instance, my Pixel Watch 3 review went up on Monday, but I was able to update it on Wednesday morning with a whole section on the Wear OS and Fitbit app experience.
It's not anything that was new or that impacted my score, but was simply extra detail that I didn't have the time to write up while concurrently preparing for the iPhone event. With the packed tech launch calendar coming up, you may see us adopt a similar approach on reviews that might have tight deadlines.
As always, we appreciate all your time reading and watching our work. Have a wonderful weekend.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-foldable-wearable-floatable-140035783.html?src=rss
2024 might just be Google’s year – for its Pixel-branded hardware, at least. After impressing us with the Pixel 9 phones, the company is ready to release the Pixel Watch 3. Spoiler alert: It continues the trend of this year’s Pixel hardware feeling more mature and ready to take on the competition than ever. With the introduction of a new larger size and serious battery life improvements, the Pixel Watch 3 feels like a smartwatch worthy of the Fitbit and Google partnership. There are still some quirks the company has to iron out, but for now, the Pixel Watch 3 feels like the final evolution of a Pokémon that is ready to battle the big beasts from Samsung and Apple.
Editor's note: At the time this review was first published, Apple had just begun its "It's Glowtime" event, where it's expected to unveil new versions of its smartwatch. Our review of the Pixel Watch 3 was largely conducted in comparison to the latest available model — the Series 9, and was also scored as such. We updated this piece on September 10 to include more details on Wear OS, navigation and the Pixel Watch 3's companion apps. None of that experience affects our score for the device.
The Pixel Watch 3’s design: A new size
One of the biggest developments with the Pixel Watch 3 is the fact that Google has finally introduced a larger size. The previous 41mm size lives on, but it’s now joined by a 45mm one, which is nice for people who always felt the original was just a little too dainty. You’ll also be able to see more on the bigger screen, though the 41mm variant also has a bit more real estate since Google managed to shave the bezels down a tad (16 percent, to be exact).
My colleague Sam Rutherford tested the 45mm model for us, and his exact words were, “It’s SOOO much nicer to have the big one.” Sam adds that this is “the size I wanted all along,” and it’s nice to see my bigger-wristed peers get considered at last.
Fans of a more conventional-looking timepiece will appreciate that the Pixel Watch’s face is circular like it’s always been. Compared to the Pixel Watch 2, this year’s smartwatch doesn’t look noticeably different. It has shiny edges and, in the right light, the crown on the right side sparkles.
Some of my more stylish reviewer friends paired their Pixel Watch 3 with a stainless steel mesh band, making it look right at home as part of their designer-decked outfit. I used the basic silicon sport band that came with my review sample, which I loved because I got the lovely pink color this year that goes with some new pants and bags I recently acquired. I remain an ardent fan of Google’s soft elastic loop straps that make putting the watch on super easy. They’re available in more colors and patterns this year, which is always nice. Sam goes as far as to call this “the best-looking mainstream smartwatch,” and, depending on our definition of “mainstream,” I’d have to agree.
I still wish the company was able to reduce the size of the knob just a bit, or at least make it jut out less. It still pushes into the back of my hand whenever I do a pushup or a plank, unless I turn the watch to the inside of my wrist first. Though you’d also get this issue with the Apple Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Watch Ultra, it’s not as prominent on the regular Apple Watch and I have a bit more space before accidentally triggering my Series 9.
I also found the Pixel Watch 3 a little too thick. The Apple Watch Series 9 is 10.7mm (0.42 inches) tall, while Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 is even thinner at 9.7mm. Google’s smartwatch is the chunkiest at 12.3mm, and at these sizes, every millimeter feels like a lot.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
The Pixel Watch 3’s display: Bigger, brighter, dimmer and slower
Every fraction of an inch also feels outsized when we’re talking about displays that are just 41mm and 45mm (the screens themselves are actually 32.2mm and 36.2mm respectively). In comparison, the Pixel Watch 2’s panel was just 30.5mm. While I didn’t feel like I gained a ton comparing my 41mm Pixel Watch 3 to its predecessor, I certainly saw a lot more on the 45mm model’s screen. Some of that is obvious — a larger display has more room for content or bigger fonts. But the improvements in readability cannot be understated, especially for anyone that needed something more legible.
Google didn’t simply enlarge the Pixel Watch’s panels — it upgraded them. These watches feature the company’s Actua displays that debuted on the Pixel 8 phones last year, which means they can get as bright as 2,000 nits or as low as 1 nit.
That latter made a huge difference when I was in a theater watching Alien: Romulus. While I had to turn on Theater mode on my Apple Watch Series 9 to prevent its screen from scorching my retina during the show, the Pixel Watch 3 automatically dropped to the lowest brightness and remained readable without bothering me or fellow cinemagoers.
The Pixel Watch 3’s screen is also capable of a variable refresh rate of between 1Hz and 60Hz, so it can deliver smooth animations when, say, you’re watching the live feed from your Nest camera. But when you’re not doing anything, the system can drop down to a battery-friendlier 1Hz. This isn’t something I really noticed in my daily use, but I’ll tease right now that it probably has a significant impact on battery life.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
The Pixel Watch 3 as a health and fitness tracker
I was probably the most impressed by the Pixel Watch 3 as a health and fitness tracker. It does a lot of things that competing products like the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch do, like automatically detect certain workouts, prompt you to move if you’ve been idle for too long and keep tabs on your pulse and calorie burn as you’re exercising. But importantly, it does some of those things a lot better than its rivals.
As someone who likes to track every single walk I take, no matter how short the distance, I found the Pixel Watch 3 a dream. It consistently caught on that I had been out for a stroll, usually prompting me to log a workout once I hit the ten-minute mark. This also worked well on the many Citi bike rides I reluctantly took in New York City, and the Pixel Watch 3’s GPS tracking matched the Lyft app’s log every time. Only twice in about a dozen walks and bike rides did the Apple Watch Series 9 I was also wearing record these activities, probably because it has a higher threshold of about 20 minutes of activity to hit before it would register something.
Of course, the Galaxy Ring was the best at this, logging every little walk I took even if it was a mere quarter-mile journey that took just five to seven minutes. But that’s a completely different gadget that served a different purpose, so I won’t mention it much more in this piece.
With the Pixel Watch 3, Google introduced a few new features around running and cardio activities. You can now create custom running workouts, with specific segments for sprinting and resting. I found this very easy to use, and had no trouble setting up a short session with a 5-minute warmup, one-minute sprint, one-minute rest, a repeat of the run and rest segments, followed by a 5-minute cooldown. (I know, that’s the best running workout ever, very productive and demure.)
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For the sprint segments, I had the choice of setting targets for pace, heart rate, distance or duration. When I eventually got into those windows when I was on the treadmill, it was clear I had overestimated my ability to hit an 8-minute mile speed, even for just a minute. I had pushed the treadmill to the 8 mph speed setting and was still getting alerts from the Pixel Watch 3 to hurry it up. I could barely guess what number I needed to be at to meet the mark that the watch helpfully displayed on a spectrum on the left of the screen.
This is certainly not a tool for running newbies, who would be better served with some of the coaching tools in Fitbit Premium (or an app like Couch To 5K). But for runners with cadence and speed goals or those who only want to go fast enough to be in a fat-burning heart rate zone, this would be a useful tool. I liked letting the watch tell me when to run for my life and when I could catch my breath, but otherwise as a casual runner I was less impressed and more intrigued by its potential. Digging into the data was fun and insightful, and I have a general sense of what I could do better if I wanted to improve.
When I was back to my regularly scheduled training program, I used both the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Pixel Watch 3 in my F45 HIIT, cardio and weight-training classes. During every session, both watches were never more than a beat or two from each other when it came to stats like my heart rate, cardio zone and calories burned. At the end of each workout, both devices delivered recaps on my performance, and I have a slight preference for how Apple lays out the information. I appreciate that Google congratulates and encourages me for having completed a workout, but its little celebratory graphic at the top just takes up space. I also like that the words on Apple’s interface are slightly easier to read.
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The Pixel Watch 3 also delivers a new stat called “Cardio load,” which can be used in tandem with your daily readiness score to help you train at a level that’s suitable for your energy expenditure. If you’ve already done a lot that week, you might get a high Cardio Load number, which could mean a lower target the next day, depending on how well you’ve recovered. The latter figure is determined primarily by your sleep, and you’ll only start seeing your readiness scores after having worn the Pixel Watch 3 to sleep on at least seven nights.
I am a fussy sleeper and wearing anything on my wrist keeps me awake, and I wasn’t able to test the Pixel Watch 3’s sleep-tracking or readiness scores. But Sam has been wearing his 45mm model to bed and in his experience the Pixel Watch 3 remains as accurate a sleep tracker as its predecessors.
Daily readiness is a feature that used to be limited to Fitbit Premium subscribers, and it’s now available for free to all Pixel Watch owners, which is nice. Like the cardio load number, this score is not something I can easily evaluate. Not only is it a somewhat nebulous idea (how should I go about counting my cardio load during a HIIT session, for example), its utility is also dubious.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
I’m not saying this is a bad feature, particularly since I haven’t spent much time with it. I have used other sleep trackers in the past that would assign sleep scores and similar readiness results. The most I’ve ever done with that data is try to get a day off when I was told I had an awful night’s sleep. And that didn’t even work in my favor since none of my managers ever cared about that type of info.
I like the idea of balancing activity and recovery, and applaud Google for making a more concerted effort to encourage that with the Pixel Watch 3. This is one of those features that’s up to the user to make the most of, and is highly subjective, depending on each person’s thirst for data and validation.
Another metric that’s notoriously difficult to verify and do anything with is stress-tracking. On multiple occasions during my testing, the Pixel Watch 3 buzzed and told me it detected “potential signs of stress or excitement,” along with the time it noted that reaction. These alerts typically came in ten minutes after the fact, by which point whatever was exciting or stressing me out was usually over. One time, I remembered to look at the clock after I was agitated by a bad driver in an extremely congested lane going into the Holland Tunnel. Ten minutes later, I was greeted by the Pixel Watch 3, saying it noticed my frustration, exactly when I checked the time earlier.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
I was impressed by the accuracy of the observation, but otherwise didn’t quite know what to do with the information. The alerts were vaguely worded (probably deliberately so), and you have the option of logging your mood or starting a mindful activity in the moment. It’s not always easy to remember why I was annoyed or excited ten minutes ago, so I ended up either guessing or simply shrugging. Even if Google were to tally up the number of times I had these reactions, I have to wonder if having emotional reactions might just be a normal part of life. There is something useful to be observed here, I’m sure, but I’m not certain that this feature is fully baked just yet.
One more thing that Google brought with the Pixel Watch 3 is “loss of pulse detection” — a feature that is supposed to sense when the wearer has a heart beat. If you’re having a cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, the device can check if you’re responsive and ping emergency contacts if necessary. Thankfully, I didn’t have a cardiac anomaly during the two weeks I’ve had the Pixel Watch 3, and never had a chance to test this feature out. But I can also say that it hasn’t been triggered inaccurately or accidentally so far.
In use — Wear OS 5 still needs some work
If you’re already familiar with Wear OS, the latest version of the software won’t feel foreign. Swiping up, down or sideways will still bring up notifications, settings and tiles. Pressing the crown will pull up all apps, where you’ll find icons laid out in a grid not unlike that on watchOS.
There are a few new features on the Pixel Watch 3 that other Wear OS watches like the Galaxy Watch won’t have. For one, the Fitbit-powered morning briefing is supposed to appear every day with details on your readiness and cardio load scores and targets. But Sam and I both wish it was more obvious. Instead of just appearing when you first put the watch on every day, you’ll just see a small icon at the bottom of the home screen. It would even be preferable if the briefing showed up at the top of the notifications list each morning. This isn’t a major gripe though, seeing as neither Apple nor Samsung surface this data either.
Wear OS could also use some tweaking. Sam wishes basic functions like timers and stopwatches were easier to get to, though personally I don’t mind relying on asking the Assistant for those tasks. And though many of the available watch faces are nice, Sam wishes there were more options, as “nothing really stood out.”
I used both the Pixel Watch 3 and the Apple Watch Series 9 to navigate to a brewery in Red Hook, and the two devices fared similarly. I will say that Apple’s GPS seemed more responsive, pinging me earlier than Google’s to take upcoming turns. It even alerted me when I was basically at the entrance to the bar, whereas the Pixel Watch didn’t seem to realize I was at my destination even after I was seated inside the establishment.
Finally, an area you’ll be spending a lot of time as a Pixel Watch 3 wearer is the Fitbit app on your phone. And the Watch app as well. Neither of these have changed much, and they’re clean and easy to use. I feel like there’s a lot of blank space that makes the interface feel sparse, and could possibly be put to better use and improve readability. But, again, that’s not at all a complaint and, as it is, the app functions fine.
The Pixel Watch 3’s battery life: Huge improvement
The Pixel Watch 3’s biggest win is arguably its battery life. Google managed to prolong its runtime by quite a lot, ostensibly by doing a few things. First, the Actua displays’ ability to drop to 1Hz when a high refresh rate is unnecessary probably helped conserve some battery. Wear OS 5 might actually be more power-efficient as well and combined with the watch’s dual-chip architecture there were some gains made. Throw in the new auto bedtime mode that turns off notifications and the Always On Display when you’re asleep, and you’ve got a watch that finally lasts well into the morning after a full day and night.
According to Sam, the auto bedtime mode is effective, and “the screen has stayed off for me reliably every night.” To be clear, even in auto bedtime mode, the Pixel Watch 3 will still track your sleep, so you’re not sacrificing precious data in exchange for battery life. It’s also nice to not have to panic about putting the device on its charger the second you wake up.
Both Sam and I found our review units typically lasted at least a day and a half, with the 45mm version staying around a few hours longer in general. My 41mm model was neck and neck with my Apple Watch Series 9, with both wearables hitting about 15 percent at about 11pm after a day out. This number depends on how much you’ve actively used the Pixel Watch 3, of course. A day of numerous Citi bike rides tracked later and my unit was down to 30 percent the next morning, and though the Apple Watch had a bit more juice that same period, it barely logged any of the activity.
If you’re in a pinch, you should be able to squeeze a couple of hours more juice when you turn on Battery Saver mode. According to Google, you should be able to get 24 hours of use on a Pixel Watch 3, and the power-saving mode should extend that to 36 hours, by disabling the Always On Display and limiting background app activity.
One of the best improvements to the Pixel Watch 3 is its charging speed. The 41mm Pixel Watch 3 has basically the same size battery as its predecessor, but as it charges 20 percent faster, it’ll get to 100 percent in 15 minutes less time than before. That’s even if you place it on last year’s charger, meaning the tweaks happened on the watch itself, not on the charging cradle.
Cherlynn Low for Engadget
Wrap-up
It only took three generations. But for the first time, the Pixel Watch feels ready to unseat Samsung’s Galaxy Watch as the best smartwatch for non-Apple users. Those on iPhones will probably find it easier to continue to stay in their ecosystems, but if you’re looking for an Android answer to the Apple Watch, the Pixel Watch 3 might be it. People who own Samsung devices will likely benefit from the integrations with Galaxy phones, of course. So part of the Pixel Watch’s success here has to do with whether people have already bought into Google’s brand
Which brings me to what this means for Google’s greater hardware plans. One of the main reasons it’s hard to leave Apple for Android has been the former’s seamless vertical integration. Features like AirDrop and AirPlay make inter-device interaction so easy that there’s no good substitute elsewhere. Then there’s the RCS vs iMessage, green-bubble-blue-bubble stigma that locks people into iPhones, keeping many from switching.
Getting the Pixel Watch 3 to a point that’s as good as an Apple Watch is a major step towards vertical product integration parity, and could give Google a better shot at gaining and retaining new users. A lot of this will have to do with awareness and marketing, sure, but at the very least, Google finally has a solid smartwatch with which to start.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/pixel-watch-3-review-google-finally-got-it-right-especially-with-the-battery-life-170005758.html?src=rss