Wednesday 31 January 2018

Mario Kart Tour is the next mobile game from Nintendo

Mario Kart Tour logo official

After releasing Super Mario and Animal Crossing games on mobile devices, Nintendo has revealed which of its properties it'll be bringing to smartphones next.

Nintendo will launch Mario Kart Tour on mobile. Little is known about the game, but Nintendo says that it'll launch "in the fiscal year ending March 2019."

No platforms were named, but both Super Mario Run and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp were released on Android and iOS, so it seems likely that Mario Kart Tour will hit both platforms as well.

Mario Kart is another major series for Nintendo, with eight main entries in total. What will be interesting is seeing how Nintendo adapts Mario Kart for the smartphone and how well the game will work with touchscreens.



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LG bootloop class action settlement offers $425 in cash or $700 toward a new LG phone

LG G5 hands-on

Some LG devices have had a nasty history of bootloops, so much so that LG ended up facing a class action lawsuit about it. Now it looks like a settlement has been reached.

Law firm Girard Gibbs has set up a website dedicated to the settlement of a class action lawsuit against LG about the bootloop problems that affected many of its phones. According to the website, which was up earlier today before disappearing, members of the class action lawsuit could get either $425 in cash or a $700 rebate toward a new LG phone.

The class action lawsuit focused on the LG G4, LG G5, LG V10, LG V20, and Nexus 5X for their bootloop issues.

The website included a proof of claim for those who took part in the class action lawsuit to fill out. That form must be filled out by February 12, 2018.

Having your phone reboot over and over and over again is frustrating, as most people have a lot of personal data on their phone and rely on it to stay connected to what's happening in the world. It's good to see that customers affected by LG's bootloop issues will be compensated for dealing with the problem.



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HTC U11 getting $100 discount

HTC U11 Amazing Silver

With Valentine's Day coming up, you may be thinking about buying a new smartphone for a loved one or maybe for yourself. HTC wants you to make that a U11.

HTC is offering a discount on the HTC U11. The U11 is normally priced at $649, but for a limited time, you'll be able to score one for $549. This price will be good from February 1 through February 15.

The HTC U11 is one of HTC's current flagship smartphones. Its feature list includes a 5.5-inch 2560x1440 Super LCD 5 screen, octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. There's a 12MP UltraPixel camera on the back of the U11 and a 16MP camera on the front, a 3,000mAh battery inside the phone, and the entire body is IP67-rated for dust and water resistance.

One of the highlight features of the HTC U11 is Edge Sense. With it, you can squeeze the sides of the U11 to perform actions, like launching the camera app or calling up the Google Assistant.

You can get a closer look at the HTC U11 by hitting the link below.



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Should Android copy iPhone X's gestures?

Apple iPhone X

One of the defining elements of the iPhone X, aside from that "notch design", is the fact that there isn't a physical Home button on the front of the handset. This is an element of the iPhone that has been present right out of the gate for the smartphone, so its departure is certainly noteworthy.

But not just because the button is gone, either. What Apple replaced it with was also catching plenty of attention back in September, and again in November when the phone launched: All those new gestures. For folks who used webOS back in the day, it might not have felt completely ridiculous, but for the longstanding iOS holdouts, it is admittedly quite the change.

I am personally a big fan of the gestures on the iPhone X, just as I was with webOS way back when. I'm all for more webOS in my life, any way that I can get it.

The iPhone X's gestures came back into the news cycle yesterday, thanks to OnePlus. The smartphone manufacturer is rolling out an option for OnePlus 5T owners (it's currently in beta, so not available to the general public) to remove the standard Android navigation buttons, and instead opt to use gestures that are very, very similar to Apple's implementation.

Sliding up from the middle of the screen gets you Home, and pausing after sliding up will open the app switcher. Swiping up from the bottom left or bottom right of the display will get you to go back. In practice the gestures look pretty intuitive, and I imagine that OnePlus 5T owners in the future that adopt the functionality will like it.

OnePlus hopping on that gesture bandwagon led a lot of folks to go back-and-forth on whether or not it's a good idea. Should other companies copy Apple in this same way?

Like I said above, I'm a fan of gestures and while I wouldn't normally say that any company should outright copy another, I am all for more gestures being adopted into smartphones.

I think Android might have a bit of a bonus, though, compared to iOS. After all, if you want the previous standard of operating iOS, with the Home button, you can't get the iPhone X. However, if you want the standard for operating Android on the OnePlus 5T, you can just turn that option on and the gesture navigational controls are gone. You can switch back-and-forth as you see fit.

Options are a good thing, to be sure. And I can see why someone would prefer that over just having one thing. "Adopt or switch platforms" is pretty rough. I know I wouldn't know what I'd do if I actually hated the iPhone X's gestures. After all, this is the future of iOS.

But, it got me wondering. Do you think gesture navigational controls are the future of smartphones in general? Should more Android manufacturers adopt this method like OnePlus is currently testing? Or should Android just stick to its buttons? Let me know!



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Nokia 6 and Nokia 5 getting Android Oreo updates

Nokia 6 official group

The OnePlus 5T isn't the only Android phone getting its Oreo update this week.

HMD Global has announced that it's now pushing Android 8.0 Oreo to the Nokia 5 and Nokia 6. This over the air update will go out in phases to ensure everything works smoothly, so it may take a day or two to hit your device.

As for what's included, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 owners can expect new features like picture-in-picture and notification dots. Also included are the January 2018 Android security patches.

HMD Global has been working hard on getting its Nokia phones updated to Oreo, pushing updates to the Nokia 6 (2018), Nokia 7, and Nokia 8 in recent months. Now we can add the Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 to that list. These updates are good for HMD because it shows consumers that the company is fairly quick about updating their phones and it could convince them to make their next smartphone a Nokia-branded one.



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Samsung Gear Sport review

US Cellular cuts unlimited data prepaid plan price to $55

US Cellular logo large

US Cellular's got some prepaid news to share today.

US Cellular has dropped the price of its unlimited prepaid data plan from $70 to $55 per month. With this plan you get unlimited talk, text, and data, with data speeds up to 1.5Mbps for up to 15GB of usage. After that threshold, you'll be dropped to 2GB speeds for the remainder of that cycle.

Other prepaid plans on US Cellular include $40 for 3GB of data, $35 for 1GB of data, or $30 for data at a price of $0.03/MB. All plans include unlimited talk and text.

For a limited time, new and current US Cellular prepaid customers on prepaid plans $40 or higher can get a free Samsung Galaxy J3 or Moto E4 Plus for free.



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iPhone X review

Google Flights will now predict flight delays

Google Flights predict flight delays

Google Flights is becoming an even better tool for searching airline prices.

Google says that Google Flights is improving when it comes to delays. Not only will Google Flights now share the reasons for a flight's delay, but the service will try to predict flight delays using historic flight status data and machine learning algorithms. Google says that it'll only flag a delay when it's at least 80 percent confident in its prediction of a delay.

Additionally, Google Flights will now surface more info about the extra fees related to a flight. For example, it'll show you if options like overhead bin space, the ability to select your seat, and baggage fees are included with the price of a flight or if they cost extra.

It can be frustrating when you're trying to save some money by purchasing a cheaper fare type like "Basic Economy", only to find out that options that you want like the ability to select your seat cost extra. Google Flights is working to eliminate that frustration by clearly surfacing that info, making it worth a try the next time that you're searching for a flight.

Google Flights baggage fees



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Nvidia Shield (2017)

Update: The Nvidia Shield 6.3 update is rolling out this month. With the new update, you'll be able to control more than 1,000 smart home devices using Google Assistant on the Shield - including Nest and LG SmartThinQ products - watch commercial-free recordings on PLEX and stream lossless music from Tidal. 

Original review continues below...

There’s plenty to appreciate about the new Nvidia Shield. But out of everything –the 40% reduction in overall size, the integration of Google Assistant, the addition of Amazon Instant Video for the first time on Android TV – the best changes are the ones that happened to the streaming video box’s operating system, Android TV. 

It’s far and away better than it was when the gaming-centric streaming box first came out close to two years ago. A greatly improved universal search function on top of a larger selection of apps on top of Google Home and Assistant integration have finally empowered Nvidia’s hardware to really shine.

Said simply, if there’s ever been a time to take a serious look at Nvidia’s already-great streamer, this is the time to do it.

But let’s hold on for a second. Maybe this is your first experience with the Nvidia Shield, the $199 / £189 (about AU$260) 4K-capable, HDR-ready video streaming device that’s been developed by a primarily graphics card-focused company. 

If it is, what you’re reading about is one of the most powerful streaming video players on the planet – one that can double as a gaming system, and triple as the center of your smart home. It has the power to stream your favorite shows like Amazon Fire TV or any one of the Roku players, but with the added perk of being able to play Android TV and some PC-quality games via GeForce Now. Finally, while other streaming devices might make you tack on a Bluetooth controller in order to really enjoy games (cough, Apple TV), Nvidia Shield comes with a completely re-designed gamepad that works much better than it did previously.

It has its shortcomings, but overall Nvidia’s Shield TV has enough on offer to persuade even the most ardent of skeptics to give this little streamer a shot. 

Design

When you picture a streaming video player you might call to mind a sleek, flat square no more than an inch or two high, or a small hockey puck-shaped plastic box. 

Nvidia Shield isn’t quite like either of those. Nvidia eschewed traditional design years ago and has developed its own style for the Shield that’s neither round nor flat, but an interesting mix of criss-crossing lines, unique slants and stark angles.

The headline feature here is that the 2017 Shield is 40% smaller than before, bringing it from about 20cm (8-inches) wide down to about 13cm (5-inches). It’s able to shed some plastic by dropping the micro-SD card slot that used to hang out on the back and retail in only one hard drive size – 16GB. (Of course, Nvidia tells us that the 500GB version of the Shield will still be available at the old 2015-version size, too, but it will cost a bit more and be called the Nvidia Shield Pro, check out our original Nvidia Shield review for an overview of the hardware). 

So what ports are left? Spin it around and you’ll still find Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0a and two USB 3.0 ports. Although the box is compatible with 802.11ac Wi-Fi your best bet for consistent 4K video streaming or GeForce Now gaming is going to be running an ethernet cable directly from your router into the box. 

All that said, its diminutive stature actually makes the console smaller than the included controller, something which has also gotten a facelift for the new year. 

The 2017 Shield TV controller is less bulky than its predecessor and much more angular. The surface of the controller is covered in a triangle pattern that, in some ways, makes the controller easier to hold in your hand. These new controllers won’t offer the touchpad that you’d find on the ones that shipped with the original Shield, and that’s because Nvidia said those were a holdover relic from the “web browser on your TV” craze. That said, you can still use the original gamepads with the 2017 Shield should you have any of them laying around.

And while the latest controllers say goodbye to the touchpad, you can still find a built-in microphone on each and every controller. That’s used, among other reasons, to activate Google Assistant – a Siri equivalent built for Android devices – which we’ll touch on soon.

The controller is a step in the right direction on all accounts, but admittedly it’s still not the best pad out there for extended play sessions, especially when stacked up against Sony’s DualShock 4 or Microsoft’s Xbox One controller. We could enumerate the number of tweaks Nvidia needs to make here, but the first steps Nvidia should consider taking here would be to make it weightier, more durable and redesign the triggers, D-Pad and face buttons. 

Nvidia says the controllers are rated for around 60 hours of battery life, but didn’t say if that number is for active use or standby mode. The controller turns itself off after a period of use to save on power so it’s sort of tough to say how long it can last on one charge.

Here’s some good new, though: Each and every Nvidia Shield will now ship with a basic remote – something that used to be an optional accessory – for free. The remote has a built-in microphone in case you stray too far from your controller, a set of three simple buttons for navigation and a touch-capacitive channel to raise and lower the volume.

It’s an excellent addition, and something that makes it much easier to use the console as just a streaming box if you don’t want to bother with the gaming side of things for a session. 

Let’s focus for a minute on Android TV, the brains behind the Nvidia Shield and the user interface you’re going to need to get accustomed to should you pick up a Shield.

While Roku’s interface is minimal and Amazon Fire TV’s is more or less just a collection of shows and movies from Amazon Instant Video, Android TV tries to show you a buffet of content from different sources. The top row is all recommended content based on shows that you watch on Netflix, your YouTube history, games you’ve played and Twitch streamers you like. Of course, this could change if, say, you’ve installed STARZ or HBO GO, and then yours could be completely and utterly different.

Below the recommended row is the apps row where you’ll find mostly a bunch of first-party Google apps – Google Play TV and Movies, Google Play Music, Google Play Store, etc… – at first, but can then be outfitted with whichever apps you find on the surprisingly robust Android TV store.

So what, exactly, can you watch on the Shield? As far as its media playback abilities are concerned, Nvidia’s game-centric streaming box is a pretty capable one. It has nearly every main streaming service we could think of – HBO Now, Showtime, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Kodi, Plex, Disney Movies Anywhere, Hulu, Sling TV, Crackle, EPIX and many, many more.

The box also contains ITV Hub in the UK, which makes it the first Android TV device to do so. 

Many of these apps weren’t available when the original Shield launched in 2015, which made tough to recommend primarily as a streaming device, so it’s nice to see how much the platform has evolved in the last two years. Moreover, though, Android TV has seen a number of functionality improvements, including a more robust universal search that should be able to hunt down your favorite TV shows and movies on a number of services.

But the real reason you’d want to pick up the Nvidia Shield over, say, a Roku Premiere or Amazon Fire TV is because the Shield is first and foremost a gaming device. Like the last iteration, the 2017 Shield will be able to play Android TV games natively as well as stream titles taken from Nvidia’s online streaming service GeForce Now or from your own PC via GameStreaming. 

Each of these sources could warrant their own in-depth look, but instead of bogging you down with the details we’ll try to keep their descriptions concise. 

Android TV games that you can download are generally a few years older (see: the Tomb Raider reboot) or are ports of their mobile counterparts (see: Age of Zombies). Games from GeForce Now are much, much newer but come with the caveat that they’re all streamed from a server that’s probably located pretty far from where you live. Lastly, GameStreaming allows you to take games from your PC and stream them to your Shield. It’s a neat concept and not one you’ll likely ever find on any other streaming video player, although you can achieve similar functionality with the cheaper Steam Link. 

Once you’re done with your game session, you’ll probably want to kick back and binge-watch your favorite show or movie. To that end, expect some one notable improvement to the Shield platform in 2017: Amazon Prime Video. 

By some way and we’re not sure how, Nvidia got Amazon to agree to put a Prime Video app on the Shield – Amazon, the company who refused to sell Chromecast on its store because it “offered a less than ideal streaming solution”. 

So Nvidia deserves some serious kudos for making that happen.

Performance

How do all of these apps work? In short, quite well. Obviously streaming is much more consistent when using a wired connection to your router, but we were able to get surprisingly smooth HD playback over Wi-Fi – even in a relatively slow network environment. 

Now, that being said, if you want to really see what this box is capable of, you should plug it into your router, plug into a 4K, HDR-ready TV and watch your favorite shows in all their ultra high-res glory. 

Currently the Nvidia Shield supports Netflix, Amazon, Vudu and Google Play Movies and TV in 4K UHD and all of them look excellent playing through the streaming device. We got a chance to watch House of Cards and Mad Dogs, both in 4K and, surprisingly, using Wi-Fi instead of an ethernet cable. 

Also new this time around is the ability to Cast in 4K, i.e. send UHD video streams from your mobile device to your Nvidia Shield. 

If 4K UHD video isn't your scene, Google has also updated the YouTube app on the Shield to support 360-degree video.

On the audio side of things, Shield supports pass-through of 5.1 and 7.1 audio and delivers an excellent surround sound experience. It also supports Dolby Digital (AC3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3), DTS-HD, DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-X and DTS Core Audio Streams in pass-through mode.  

GeForce Now as a service has also been improved since we first saw it a few years back – gameplay is smoother and it rarely, if ever, disconnects you.

Here comes a caveat: Just as we’ve mentioned for both the Sling TV, PlayStation Now and, well, pretty much any streaming service or streaming video box review, your mileage will vary. You might buy the Shield expecting 4K playback out of the box only to take it home and find out that your 10Mbps connection can’t really handle UHD video all that well. It also requires having a 4K UHD TV, a given for most people, but you’d be surprised how many times that’s been the answer to a problem we’ve tried to troubleshoot for friends and family.   

But here’s the larger problem. What you’re getting for $199 / £189 / AU$260 is a competent micro games console, better than any other Android TV gaming console hybrid out there. And yet, it really doesn’t hold a candle to the Xbox One and PS4, two proper game consoles that play the latest games – without needing to stream them – and cost just a bit more. Those systems have nearly all the functionality listed so far, and are therefore probably the better buy unless you really, really want a 4K streaming player and a games console rolled into one. If you just want 4K streaming system and don’t need a games console you’re probably better served looking at the Chromecast Ultra or much cheaper Roku Premiere+. 

One more point: because the only thing that Nvidia has changed about the 2017 Shield is its size and controller, you can get so much of what this console offers at a hefty discount if you’re willing to just find a retailer still selling the 2015 model.

Smart home integration

The Nvidia Shield was always intended to be something more than a simple game console or streaming device. The purpose of the console Nvidia pitched journalists on at CES 2017 was a hub for the home, one that could not only answer inquiries via Google Assistant, but actually control your burgeoning smart home via Samsung SmartThings. 

Now, after six months of waiting, that functionality has finally arrived.

We’ve seen Google Assistant on a handful of devices before – including the Google Pixel smartphone and Google Home – but this is the first time the company has allowed its AI to escape the confines of a Google-made product. 

What makes having Google Assistant so special on the Shield is that it’s always listening to you through the microphone on the controller. If you don’t have the controller handy, the Nvidia Shield remote will work just as well by holding down the microphone button. 

Want to see how your favorite sports team is doing? All you need to do is ask. Need movie recommendations? The Shield has you covered. Want to turn off the lights, lock the door and turn down the heater? Starting today, the Nvidia Shield with Google Assistant can do that, too. 

And while we now have Google Assistant embedded into every device, there's still one part of this equation that's missing: a device called Spot, that works like a smart microphone and plugs into any wall outlet in your house, giving direct connection to your Shield, wherever, whenever.

While we're still waiting on Spot, we have had the chance to hook the Shield up to the new Samsung SmartThings Link, a small USB dongle-sized device that plugs into the back of the Nvidia Shield. With it, the Shield becomes a Samsung SmartThings Hub – one that scan for new SmartThings devices and automate processes around the home. It's a neat system, and one that we could see being of value down the road as Samsung SmartThings continues to grow. 

Between Google Assistant and Samsung SmartThings, the Shield has become a competent smart home device – one that rivals Google Home or the Amazon Echo, largely because it borrows some of the best technology from both.

The Nvidia Shield has always satisfied a niche market incredibly well. It has and always will be one of the most premium streaming video boxes on the planet that’s made even better by baking in a fair amount of features for gamers. 

The latest Shield, however, goes one step further by offering Amazon Instant Video, and will soon be able to act as the head of your smart home. 

Of course, there are some real problems here – the controller still feels a bit like the third-party pad you’d hand off to a friend so that you could use the first-party controller, and GeForce Now can still get hung up or lag behind. 

More importantly, though, Nvidia Shield still sits in the no man’s land between a fully functional console that can play all of the latest games you care about and a basic streaming video player that can access UHD versions of Amazon and Netflix. You can spend a little more and have the former or, spend less, and have the latter. The Shield is just sitting there in the middle and that might make it less appealing for some folks. 

The final problem we see with the Shield, and it’s not so much a problem as it is a “buyer beware” situation, is that the old Shield can do almost everything this one can, and will likely cost you half as much. There are still plenty of reasons to upgrade if you liked the previous version, but most people would be just as happy picking up the two-year-old device.

So should you buy the Shield? If you want a machine that’s a jack of all trades, then the answer is “Yes, absolutely”. If you’re looking for a 4K streamer that can play some games natively and stream most others then the Shield does a good job of each of these tasks. 

That said, if you don’t mind dropping the game-streaming component or would rather play good ol’ fashioned discs instead of streaming, there are machines out there that can do each individual task better or cheaper (though rarely both). 

A dedicated games console like a PS4 or Xbox One  will do native gaming better, but you’ll pay more. A Steam Link will do cheaper local streaming, but it doesn’t do it as seamlessly. A Chromecast Ultra will do 4K/HDR streaming more cheaply, but doesn’t support Amazon Prime Video. 

The Nvidia Shield does each of these things well, and it integrates them seamlessly into a single package, but if you only want one or two then you might be able to save money with an alternative device. 

We liked

Nvidia has really gone back to the drawing board for the new Shield. It might not be a 100% different machine than it was two years ago, but a 40% reduction in size and complete retooling of the controller are certainly large steps in the right direction. On top of that, this is an Android TV box that can not only play multiple content sources in 4K, but it does Amazon Instant Video in UHD as well – a huge boon for us Transparent or Mozart in the Jungle lovers out there.

On top of that, the Shield is a fun micro gaming console. It might not be able to play the latest retail release on its own, but it certainly can stream it from a PC using GameStreaming or suggest any number of slightly older titles on GeForce Now or straight Android. The selection of titles will surprise you, even if you’re used to having more modern options.

We disliked

It’s a cop out to say it, but we really wish the Shield was a bit cheaper than it is. It’s at this tricky price point that makes it hard justify to someone who might be deciding between this and, say a Roku Ultra and Xbox One S. Going with the former saves money while the latter adds additional features you won’t find on the Shield.

But moreover, there are still some hang-ups that ruin a relatively pristine streaming device. GeForce Now is much improved but game playback isn’t exactly flawless if you’ve got a slower internet connection or home network. Likewise, the controller is a huge step forward, but still feels like a third-party pad you want to hand to someone else while you use an Xbox One or PS4 controller. These problems are minor in the grand scheme of things, and shouldn’t dissuade you from purchasing the Shield should it mostly fit what you’re looking for.

Final verdict

Nvidia Shield is much improved, yes, but it’s really the improvements that have been made to Android TV that really steal the show. Refining universal search to be more egalitarian was a massive leap forward, and the upcoming addition of Google Assistant is sure to scratch that smart home itch many of us have been feeling. 

There are some other options out there around this price point that are worth giving full consideration but, should you desire a 4K video streaming player that can handle some of your favorite games, Shield is perfect addition to your audio visual armory.



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Top 10 Android Apps of January 2018!

We've compiled a top 10 list of our favorite Android apps to hit the Play Store in January 2018. The apps highlighted in this video include Mirror Emoji Keyboard, Remindee, Paint Tower, Files Go by Google, Darkmatte Icon Pack, and Haven: Keep Watch. Which app is your favorite?



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Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless

The Corsair Void Pro RGB is the follow-up to Corsair’s Void RGB headset, which ups the audio and recording quality while bringing 7.1 surround sound and customizable RGB lighting, which is all the rage at the moment.

It’s a wireless headset that gives you the freedom of movement you’d expect that comes from ditching the cords – but does this freedom come at the expense of sound quality? We gave it a whirl to find out.

The Corsair Void Pro RGB costs £109.99 / $99.99 / AU$159), which is undeniably pricey for a headset, although compared to the likes of the Asus ROG Centurion 7.1 (£219.99 / $270 / AU$360) and the Razer ManO'War ($169, about £155, AU$330), which sit atop our best PC gaming headset list, it doesn’t seem quite as eye-watering.

Design

Corsair positions the Void Pro RGB as a premium headset (with a price tag to match), and its design certainly helps to create a premium impression, with a design that, will nicely understated, should still please gamers thanks to its RGB lighting.

The feel of the headset isn’t quite as premium, though, with a plastic design that lacks the robust feel of expensive headsets like the V-MODA Crossfade Wireless. However, it does mean the Corsair Void Pro RGB weighs less than some of its competitors, making it more comfortable to wear for long gaming sessions.

While the outside is plastic, it features metal pillars that make the Corsair Void Pro RGB feel like a durable headset that won't break easily, and padding on the ear-cups, and on the band that goes over the top of your head, help make this a very comfortable headset to wear.

The Corsair Void Pro RGB comes in both wired and wireless versions, and you can choose from a range of colors. The cups sit comfortably over your ears, and each has a backlit Corsair logo which can be configured via software to glow in a variety of colors and to match your gaming setup (as pretty much every gaming laptop, PC, component or peripheral these days has RGB lighting).

While it’s the Corsair logo that gets the glowing treatment on these cans, it’s a nice enough logo, and Corsair is a respected brand in PC gaming, so that shouldn’t put too many people off.

On the left-hand can sits a mic arm that can be lowered and raised to turn the mic on and off. It’s a nice touch, as putting the arm into the up position mutes the microphone. The headset also alerts you via a sound when the mic is raised and lowered, so you’re aware of when the mic is on or off. The mic can also be adjusted slightly by bending the arm, so you can fine-tune its position for optimum recording quality.

Also on the left side is a button for muting the mic, a power button for switching the headset on, and a micro USB port for charging the headset. Overall, the Corsair Void Pro RGB is a very nicely designed headset that manages to balance a stylish design with gaming aesthetics like RGB lighting.

Setup

Setting up the Corsair Void Pro RGB is pretty straightforward, as it doesn't require an external amp. We tested the wireless version, and all we needed to do was plug the transmitter (which looks like a USB memory stick) into a USB port and turn on the headset, which then paired instantly.

Windows 10 recognized the Corsair Void Pro RGB when we plugged in the wireless adaptor, and we also installed the Corsair Utility Engine software. 

This software lets you adjust the settings of the Corsair Void Pro, as well as customize its lighting settings. There aren't a huge amount of customization options, but you can choose the color from a wide range, as well as the effect (such as quick blinks, slow breathing, and more). If you have other Corsair products, such as the ST100 RBG stand or K95 RGB keyboard, you can also configure them via this app.

Sound quality

Sound quality is the most important factor when it comes to headsets, and in this respect the Corsair Void Pro RGB doesn’t disappoint, especially considering its price and the fact that it’s a wireless headset aimed primarily at gamers. Gaming headsets will often concentrate on delivering skull-rattling low tones to make explosions and other action scenes feel more ‘impactful’, but the Corsair Void Pro RGB is pretty well balanced, with non-gaming media, such as music, coming through well.

Of course, as the EQ settings in the Corsair Utility Engine software show, this is primarily a gaming headset, so the EQ presets are all aimed at gaming, except for one that's for movies. If you want a headset primarily for listening to music, then this probably isn’t the best choice.

Gaming-wise, the Corsair Void Pro RGB performed brilliantly, with punchy and vivid audio and a good use of virtual surround sound; a hectic gun battle in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was made far more immersive by the sounds of bullets flying past as we played. Volume can be controlled via a dial on the left headphone can, and the mic did a very good job of delivering speech both during gameplay and on video calls, while also keeping background noise to a minimum.

However, we did find that sometimes when we lowered the mic arm the microphone wouldn’t turn on, which led to a bit of fiddling around in Windows’ sound settings and turning the headset on and off again.

Battery life was good. There's an auto-shutdown feature that turns the Corsair Void Pro RGB off when not in use, and we rarely found ourselves unable to use the headset due to a dead battery – you just have to remember to plug it into the USB. The Corsair ST100 headset stand can be used in conjunction with the Corsair Void Pro RGB, with the RGB lighting matching up between the two devices.

If you want to go all-in on the Corsair ecosystem the stand is a nice accompaniment to the Corsair Void Pro RGB, although it doesn’t do very much apart from holding your headset while looking pretty, and also acting as a USB hub. It does have a 7.1 virtual surround processor for adding that effect to other headphones (which can be plugged in via an audio jack), although if you have the Corsair Void Pro RGB you won’t need that feature.

We found that the Void Pro RGB's wireless range was very good, covering pretty much all of the large room we were using it in, although it lost connection when we went into another room. Overall, the sound quality was very good, with a believable 7.1 virtual surround sound implementation.

We liked

The Corsair Void Pro RGB is a good-looking wireless gaming headset, and if you have quite a few Corsair products already, it will fit in well. Sound quality is also very good, and the virtual surround sound is a decent effect that can help make games more immersive.

We didn’t like

There wasn’t much we didn’t like about this headset, the only complaints being that sometimes the mic didn’t turn on automatically when the arm was lowered, and that the RGB lighting is limited to the two Corsair logos. But these are relatively minor complaints.

Final verdict

Overall, we were very impressed with the Corsair Void Pro RGB. It offered very good sound quality for games and movies, and the virtual surround sound was well implemented. Recording quality via the mic was also good, making this a great headset for communicating with team mates, and even for doing a spot of livestream broadcasting.

The sound quality, and various EQ profiles, are decidedly game-orientated, which won’t be a problem if you just want to use this headset for playing games. However, if you want a headset primarily to listen to music on, while just enjoying the odd burst of gaming, then you may be better off taking a look at something from our best headphones of 2018 list.

If you’re a committed gamer with a number of Corsair products already sitting on your desk you’ll be very pleased with the Corsair Void Pro RGB, especially considering its relatively low price compared to other gaming headsets.



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Spotify launches free Stations app that's all about playlists

Spotify Stations Android app screenshots

Spotify is known for its on-demand streaming music service, but today the company launched a new music app.

Stations is a new experimental app from Spotify. The app is all about playlists and is sort of like Pandora, learning what you like and creating personalized stations for you based on that info. There are stations based on genres, top songs, moods, and more.

This new app is meant to be a simple way to listen to music. "When you have access to all the music in the world, finding the right thing to play can feel like a challenge," Spotify says. Stations is meant to get you listening to music immediately and then learning about you and playing stuff that you'll like.

Another notable aspect of the Stations app is that it's free, meaning you can listen without needing a Spotify Premium subscription.

Stations is currently only available on Android, and there's no word on when or if an iOS version might launch. The app is also currently only available in Australia, but if you're comfortable with sideloading apps, you can get the APK right here.

The Stations app looks pretty need, offering a colorful background and big text that's easy to read and scroll through. The prospect of just launching an app and having Spotify play music for you is appealing, too, meaning you don't have to be faced with the decision of what exactly you should play. This is just an experiment, so it's unclear how much attention Spotify will pay to Stations going forward, but it's a pretty nice experiment right now.



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OnePlus 5T gets Android 8.0 Oreo update with OxygenOS 5.0.2

OnePlus 5T hands-on video

Following some beta releases, the OnePlus 5T is ready for its official Android Oreo update.

OnePlus today released OxygenOS 5.0.2 for the OnePlus 5T. This is the first official Android 8.0 Oreo update for the 5T, which launched in mid-November with Android Nougat in tow.

Along with a bump to Android Oreo, which brings new features like picture-in-picture, the update to OxygenOS 5.0.2 includes general bug fixes and improvements as well as a CPU security patch. OnePlus has updated some of its custom apps in this update, too.

Here's OnePlus's full changelog for OxygenOS 5.0.2:

System

  • Upgraded Android version to Oreo(8.0)
  • New design for Quick Settings
  • General bug fixes and improvements
  • Applied CPU security patch: CVE-2017-13218

Applications

  • Updated Launcher to v2.2
  • Updated Gallery to v2.0
  • Updated Weather to v1.9
  • Updated File Manager to v1.7.6

This update is rolling out in stages, so it may take a few days to hit your device. If you've got a OnePlus 5T, keep an eye out for it.



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Acer Aspire 5

With high-end laptops getting ever slimmer, lighter and more expensive, while budget laptops continue to show that they can still be perfectly capable options despite their rock-bottom prices, it can be easy to overlook mid-range machines such as the Acer Aspire 5.

Rather than packing cutting-edge technology and extravagant designs, many of these mid-rangers quietly and competently get on with the tasks you set them, while striking a balance between packing up-to-date and powerful components, and keeping prices as low as possible.

Midrange laptops are the laptops many of us are most likely to buy, and they’re ideal if you want something that’s future-proof, as they have more powerful and recent components than budget machines, but don't want to pay over the odds.

Acer has recently updated the Acer Aspire 5 range to include 8th-generation Intel Core processors, so now’s the perfect time to take a look at what this affordable laptop can do.

Price and availability

The Acer Aspire 5 comes in a range of configurations and price points, starting at $399 (around £300, AU$500) for the Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-3509, which comes with an Intel Core i3 7100U processor, 15.9-inch 1080p display, integrated graphics and 8GB of DDR4 RAM.

In the UK, the lowest-specced Aspire 5 comes with an older Intel i3-6006U processor, 15.6-inch Full HD display and 8GB of RAM, for £469.99. In Australia, the Aspire 5 A515-51G is the cheapest model, and comes with a new Intel Core i5 8250U processor, 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display, 8GB RAM and a dedicated GeForce 940MX graphics card.

Beyond these budget options there's a huge range of Acer Aspire 5 configurations to choose from, which again vary depending on where you live, with top-of-the-line models like the Acer Aspire 5 A517-51G-8433 boasting an Intel Core i7 8550U processor, 17.3-inch 1080p screen, 12GB RAM, a HDD and SSD and dedicated graphics courtesy of an Nvidia GeForce MX150 GPU, for $999.99 (around £700, AU$1,200).

The version reviewed here is the Acer Aspire 5 A515-51-50Y5, which comes with an Intel Core i5 8250U, integrated graphics, 8GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB SSD.

Design

The design of the Acer Aspire 5 is what you’d probably expect from a mid-range laptop: nothing too flashy, and not as svelte as ultrabooks such as the Dell XPS 13 or the Asus ZenBook 3. However, that doesn’t mean this is a chunky, ugly laptop. With dimensions of 2.16 x 38.16 x 26.3cm and a weight of 2.20kg (4.85 pounds), the Acer Aspire 5 is quite a large laptop, but it’s not too heavy or unwieldly to carry around. You may find it a bit of a struggle to whip out and work on a busy train, however.

It’s actually quite a nice-looking, understated machine with a few design flourishes. The chassis is mainly made out of plastic, with a textured surface on the lid, along with a reflective Acer logo. 

Opening the laptop reveals a decent-sized screen surrounded by fairly thick bezels, which some may feel is wasted space. It does, at least, allow for a large keyboard on the bottom half of the laptop, which we’ll get to in a moment.

The large bezels also mean the webcam can be positioned in the center of the top bezel, which in our opinion is the best place for a webcam to reside.

The bottom bezel holds another Acer logo, and below that is the nicely-designed laptop hinge that has ‘Aspire’ engraved on it – a nice touch, we think. The hinge allows for a decent degree of adjustment of the screen at a range of angles, although this isn’t a laptop on which you can flip the screen 360 degrees backwards, into a tablet-like position – for that you’ll want a convertible laptop, such as Acer’s own Spin 7 series.

The Acer Aspire 5 comes with two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0, a USB-C, Ethernet and SD memory card port, giving you plenty of options for connecting peripherals. 

We’d have liked maybe one of the USB 2.0 ports to be another USB 3.0, but the USB-C port is definitely a welcome addition that gives you some future-proofing.

Keyboard and touchpad

The bottom half of the laptop, where the large keyboard and touchpad sit, again has a plastic surface, but it has a brushed finish that, while not as premium as aluminum, is still quite pleasant. It didn’t take it too long to pick up fingerprints, however.

The keyboard itself is a nice size, which makes typing on it for long periods comfortable, although the flat keys and short travel distance mean it’s not the most responsive, or satisfying-feeling, keyboard we’ve tried.

The large form factor of the Acer Aspire 5 means it can hold a rather large touchpad, which is offset slightly to the left of the center of the chassis.

The large size ensures that using multi-finger gestures, such as pinching two fingers together to zoom out, is easy, although some people may find the larger size means they're more likely to accidentally rest their palm on it when typing, sending the curser flying around the screen. The touchpad also has a rather plastic and cheap feel to it when pushed, which is a shame, as the rest of the Aspire 5 manages to avoid that.

Acer bills the Aspire 5 as a laptop for day-to-day tasks, and for the most part it succeeds at these. The solid state drive (SSD) keeps Windows 10 feeling pretty fast, while the 8GB of RAM and quad-core Intel Core i7 8550U processor help with multi-tasking. For general Windows desktop applications, the Aspire 5 does a fine job – it doesn’t feel quite as nippy as more expensive laptops, but for regular use it’s absolutely fine.

As we just mentioned, the SSD in the model we tested helps to keep things running quickly, so if your budget allows we'd recommend going for a model with an SSD installed – and preferably with an additional standard hard drive as well. This is because the 256GB SSD our Aspire 5 came with was already pretty full without us installing much on it – you may find that you need to invest in an external hard drive to make room for your apps and media.

The IPS screen is decent, if a little washed-out, with contrast not being quite as strong as we’ve seen on other laptops. However, the Full HD (1920 x 1080) screen is welcome, making movies and photos look a lot better than on laptops with lower resolutions, and Acer has included its Color Intelligence technology, which it claims dynamically adjusts gamma and saturation in real time to make the screen look the best it can.

To be honest, we didn’t see much of a difference, and again for standard day-to-day tasks the screen will be fine, especially with that Full HD resolution; however, if you want to edit photos or videos, you may want to look at an alternative machine.

And if you’re a gamer then you should definitely look elsewhere, as while the integrated Intel 620 UHD graphics will handle photos and videos, and maybe a undemanding indie game or two, for the most part modern games won’t run well on this laptop – although, of course, that’s not what it’s been built for.

Battery life

Battery life was pretty impressive, with the Acer Aspire 5 lasting six hours and 48 minutes using the PCMark 8 battery test, which replicates medium to heavy use. If you dim the display a bit (we had it set to full brightness), and keep to light web-browsing and less strenuous tasks, you could eke out even longer life.

It at least means that you should get through most of a work day on a full charge, which compared to some laptops is really good, and a sign that the more power-efficient processor is paying off. In our own day-to-day use we found that the battery did a good job of letting us work on the Aspire 5 for most of the day.

The battery does take a while to charge, however – specifically three hours to get back to full capacity.

We liked

The Acer Aspire 5 has a nice design and good build quality – apart from the slightly loose-feeling touchpad. The large range of ports is welcome, and makes this a versatile laptop for using with a number of peripherals, and battery life is very good. It also remained cool and quiet during our tests.

For the price, you’ll feel like you’ve got your money’s worth with the Aspire 5, including some up-to-date components.

We didn’t like

The touchpad doesn’t feel as satisfying to use as those found on other laptops, and it’s an unfortunate reminder that this is not a premium device. 

The screen is also a little washed-out for our tastes, with contrast not as high as we'd have liked.

Final verdict

If you’re looking for a mid-range laptop that won’t cost the earth, but which isn’t compromised with cheap build quality and out-of-date components, then the Acer Aspire 5 is a great choice.

The range of configurations available means there’s a good chance you’ll find an Aspire 5 model that suits your needs and budget – while the model we tested wasn’t too capable when it came to graphical oomph, there are options to get an Aspire 5 with a dedicated graphics card.

Battery life was particularly good, so if you want an inexpensive laptop that can dependably handle day-to-day tasks without needing to be constantly plugged into a power socket, the Aspire 5 is definitely worth considering.

However, if you like your laptops to, well, aspire to something more, such as being able to run modern games or cope with heavy-duty image and video editing, then you’ll need to look elsewhere.



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Garmin Vivofit 4 review

Looking for a fitness band that will track your basic activity? Garmin thinks the Vivofit 4 will be the perfect product for your wrist, but there's tough competition in this space from the likes of the Moov Now, Fitbit Alta HR and countless other brands that want to guide you to improved fitness.

Despite having a color screen on the Vivofit 4, Garmin has managed to include battery life on this product that the company insists will last you a year from a single battery.

That means you don't have to remove your tracker at night and worry about running out of charge before you hit the gym, but there are also lots of other things to like about the Vivofit 4.

Garmin Vivofit 4 release date and price

You can buy the Vivofit 4 now from Amazon in the UK, but you can’t purchase it on Garmin’s official website yet. Originally the Garmin website suggested it’d be on sale there before March, so you may have to wait a while if you don’t want to buy through Amazon.

As for the price, you'll be spending $79.99 / £69.99 / AU$159 and it’s same price no matter if you buy the small or large version of the fitness tracker.

That price is around what we’d expect for a fitness tracker of this type, considering similar products such as the Fitbit Charge 2 currently cost around £90 / $130 and the Moov Now (which doesn’t come with a screen) has an RRP of around £50 / $60 / AU$79.

Design and display

The Vivofit 4 is noticeably thinner than previous Garmin products, meaning it takes up less room on your wrist and is a touch lighter too. For that reason it's a comfortable wear. We found the plastic strap material - the only option you have with the Vivofit 4 - was easy to clean off after a sweaty run.

Garmin has provided a particularly secure strap on the Vivofit 4 that means it shouldn't go flying about your wrist either. There's both a large and a small/medium size, and while we tried the smaller option (which is perhaps a bit too small for our reviewer's wrist) it was still a comfortable fit.

The silicone material may not look that premium and won’t be your choice of look to match with some particularly nice formal wear, but it does feel comfortable when you’re working out and when worn for long periods of time.

The Vivofit 4 is also attractive for a fitness tracker and its smaller size means it’s better looking than some larger, bulky wristwear.

Color-wise you've got the choice of plain black or white straps, while there's also blue, black and purple versions with a speckled effect on them. We really like the speckled effect as it looks different to other fitness trackers that usually just have a solid color design.

These don’t cost any more either, so if you don’t like the plain black or white versions we’d recommend looking out for those snazzier options. Garmin also doesn’t provide other materials, so it’s worth noting you won’t be able to buy an official leather strap for more formal occasions like you can with some smartwatches.

There isn’t much on the tracker itself – and that’s one of the Vivofit 4’s strengths. You can pull the Vivofit 4 out of its strap from behind so you can switch straps, but apart from the color display and button on the front there isn’t any other way to interact with it.

That makes this a largely easy device to use. The button below the screen will cycle through all the options you have on there including things like your step count for the day, the time, the weather, calories burned and distance traveled, but for anything more than that you’ll need to head into the app on your phone.

Don’t expect any sort of control of your phone direct from your wrist either. There’s no touchscreen here and instead you will hold down a button to start up an exercise routine.

It’s an 11mm x 11mm display, so this is even smaller than the display you get on the Fitbit Charge 2. It’s designed to show you the time and whether you’re working out, but it’s not like a proper running watch where you can see detailed live stats.

The resolution is 88 x 88 pixels, but the quality is clear and the fact it’s in color means it adds a slight amount of vibrancy to the menus you can see. If you’re using the watch element at night, you’ll need to hold down the button for a second for the backlight to kick in.

That’s useful for saving battery, but we found it a little irritating when you just want to quickly look at your wrist to have a look at the time.

It’s the first time a Vivofit device has included an always-on display, and as long as you’re in clear lighting it’s much more useful if you want to use this in a similar way to a watch.

You can change the watch face here too, and while the options you’ve got are limited it adds a slight element of personalization you don’t often see on fitness trackers at this price point.

It means you can choose your own watch face color and tailor it to your style a little more, even though it’s probably only you who’ll look at the watch face on your wrist.

Fitness

Despite the Garmin name, this isn’t the ultimate tracker that runners and lots of fitness fanatics will need strapped around their wrist. Instead the Vivofit 4 is designed for those who want something a little simpler, that can track fitness but doesn’t bombard you with stats and data you don’t necessarily need.

The Vivofit 4 will track your everyday steps automatically, but it’s also suitable for jogging and a few other exercises. We found the Vivofit 4 would automatically start recording intense movement sessions from walking to jogging and this would for the most part be accurate.

The distance you’ve traveled can be a little bit off, but that’s likely because the Vivofit 4 doesn’t come packed with GPS or a heart rate monitor.

You can connect a heart rate monitor or use the GPS on your phone, but that means you’ll have to have those other devices with you when you go out exercising.

We found the tracking of running and walking was otherwise accurate with more broken-down details than you might expect at this price. It’ll give you stats such as average page, average speed, the time of your workout and a rough estimate of your calories burnt too.

Move IQ is the name for the feature that will kick start activity on the Vivofit 4 without you having to press a button. If you start running, it’ll soon kick in and start recording your exercise automatically.

This is particularly useful for when you’re out running as it means it’s not a problem if you forget to set your tracker going before you start jogging.

When the Vivofit 4 was in the pool, we found it automatically started tracking the swim but then stopped soon after we had started. We kept swimming with it on, but nothing was recorded in the app.

Even if you can get this working, you shouldn’t expect many insightful metrics. It’ll likely just show you the time you’ve been exercising, you’ll need a more extensive fitness tracker to be able to properly track swims.

We plan to test swimming further in the future, but it’s a strange occurrence that it just didn’t record any further details from our exercise. We’ve yet to test the Vivofit 4 while cycling, but Garmin is certain it’ll automatically record your bike rides too.

Then there’s sleep tracking, which we found to work as well as it does on other Garmin fitness tracker bands. The app shows you the amount of time you’ve been asleep, your sleep movement and different levels of sleep too.

This works much like how it does on other fitness trackers and it’s mostly just an estimate of how restless your night’s sleep turned out to be, but the upside is smaller size of the Vivofit 4 makes it a comfortable device to wear at night.

Specs and performance

The Vivofit 4 is fast considering it’s a basic device and doesn’t need to be particularly intensive in use.

If you’re cycling through the menus it works speedily and we found it would be reliable at all times. We don’t know the exact computing power behind the Vivofit 4, but it gets the job done just fine.

Fitness data you’ve recorded will be put onto the device so you don’t always need to have it connected to your phone, but be warned you’ll only be able to track around four weeks of data, so you’ll need to sync it with your phone every once in a while.

There’s no storage here to upload music though and no Bluetooth music support, so this isn’t particularly built as a device you can take out and about on its own.

App and compatibility

The Garmin app isn’t as easy to use as some of the competition like the app you’ll have alongside Fitbit devices, but it provides you with all of the necessary details within a reasonably easy to read format.

Once you’ve connected your Vivofit 4, the details of your daily step count and workouts will appear within the app. There’s a News Feed function that shows you all of your stats for exercises you’ve done. If you’ve worked out on a specific day, you’ll find that in the My Day section where it shows you your workouts.

This is all okay, but we particularly like it when you dive into the exercises themselves. It breaks down your data really well with a huge selection of stats for each different kind of exercise.

For example, with a run you’ll get a map of where you’ve been (if you’ve used GPS on your phone), the time it took, distance, an estimation of calories burned, pace, elevation as well as cadence and much more.

We’re not sure how accurate the cadence can be when it doesn’t monitor your leg movement as well, but otherwise we found this to work out well and you can then share all of your stats from within the app to your social media or Garmin’s own social networking elements.

You can connect up your Google or Facebook account to the Garmin platform so you can share your activity with friends and family or set them challenges so you can compete against each other. 

If you’ve got a relatively recent Android or iOS phone, it’s likely you’ll be able to connect up your Vivofit 4. You’ll need to have an iPhone that’s running the latest in iOS software - at the time of writing that’s iOS 11 or a phone that’s got Android 4.3 or above software.

Battery life

We’ve gently see battery life improve on fitness trackers, but you can still buy a lot of devices that can only last for one or two days. The Garmin Vivofit 4 is not that device.

Garmin claims this tracker will last up to a year, so you won’t need to charge this every week. Instead it takes an SR43 watch battery (which you can manually replace yourself at home) allowing for you to wear it at night as well as during the day.

We haven’t been able to test this to its full, so we have to put our faith in Garmin that the tracker is able to last a long amount of time. It’s not clear how you find out the battery life available on the Garmin Vivofit 4 either.

Verdict

The Vivofit 4 is in a difficult market to compete in with stiff competition from the likes of Huawei, Moov and many more firms.

But it’s a generally good device and while it is missing some features we’d like to see on your wrist, if you’re looking for a basic tracker it’s likely this will make you happy.

Who’s this for?

If you’re looking for a basic fitness tracker, you’d be hard pressed to go wrong with the Garmin Vivofit 4.

It’s attractive - even more so than a lot of other devices at this price point - plus it comes with a color display and while that may not add much to the day to day experience with it we like the fact you can customize the screen that little bit.

The battery life is a big selling point too. If you’re looking for a device that can track your steps everyday and your sleep each evening without any need to recharge it, the Vivofit 4 would be the perfect tracker for you.

Should you buy it?

If you want to go running a lot and need lots of stats including your heart rate, GPS location or music without taking your phone out with you, the Vivofit 4 isn’t a good purchase for you.

But if you’re just looking to up your step count and take it out for the odd exercise, this is the perfect fitness tracker for you and while it may miss some features it’s a basic introduction into what health tracking tech can do.

The Vivofit 4 offers everything you’ll need for an average tracker with an attractive design, great battery life and much more.

The competition

Don't think the Garmin Vivofit 4 is made for you? Check out list of the best fitness trackers or take a look below for some other devices that may suit you better.

Huawei Band 2 Pro

Another cheap activity tracker you should take a look at is the Huawei Band 2 Pro, which is actually a touch more affordable than this option from Garmin.

This one comes with GPS tracking as well as 21 days of battery life from a single charge. To get that you’ll have to put up with a slightly less slick UI, and while there’s a heart rate monitor we didn’t find it - or the other metrics - to be totally accurate.

Read our Huawei Band 2 Pro review

Fitbit Charge 2

One of Fitbit’s most popular trackers is a very similar device to the Vivofit 4. It comes with a larger screen than the choice from Garmin, but it displays similar stats and there’s connected GPS for those who want more fitness features.

The Charge 2 will give you a heart rate tracker, but for that reason the device is a touch thicker than the Garmin so doesn’t look as attractive on your wrist.

Read our Fitbit Charge 2 review

Moov Now

Even cheaper than the Vivofit 4, you may want to take a look at the Moov Now as your potential new fitness tracker. It doesn’t come with a screen, but it records lots of stats when you’re running, swimming and much more.

It’s particularly good for high intensity interval training, which is something the device from Garmin above hasn’t really focused on.

Read our Moov Now review

First reviewed January 2018



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