Thursday, 30 November 2017

Google now bans Android apps that show lock screen ads

Samsung Galaxy S8 lock screen

Typically when you look at your lock screen, you expect to see your wallpaper and perhaps some notifications. Some Android apps have been giving users an unexpected surprise in the form of lock screen ads, though, and so now Google is taking a stand against those apps.

Google has updated its developer policy with regard to apps and lock screen monetization. Specifically, Google now says that unless your app is specifically a lock screen app, you can't show ads or monetizing features on a device's lock screen.

Here's the official wording from Google's Developer Policy Center:

"Unless the exclusive purpose of the app is that of a lockscreen, apps may not introduce ads or features that monetize the locked display of a device."

This is a welcome move from Google. You might expect some lock screen ads from a lock screen app, especially if it's a free one, but it can be surpassing and annoying to see lock screen ads being display by an app like a photo editor or file viewer. Now that should no longer be an issue thanks to this new policy update.



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Google Assistant can now help you find local home services

Google Assistant local home services

Google Assistant is always learning new tricks, and today Google confirmed that its digital helper now has another skill.

Google Assistant can now help you find local home services, including a plumber, electrician, and house cleaner. Simply say something like "Ok Google, find me a plumber" and Google Assistant will ask some follow-up questions and then show you a few local options.

These cards will show info like the name of the business, its rating, the city it's located in, and its hours. You can select one and Google Assistant will give you more details on that particular business, complete with a button to call it.

This feature will roll out to Google Assistant on Android and iPhone users in the U.S. over the coming week.



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Win a Sprint SMARTPHONE from Wirefly and PhoneDog

Win a Sprint smartphone from Wirefly and PhoneDog by entering below! Winners will receive ONE of the following phones: Moto Z2 Force, Blackberry KEYone, Essential PH-1. There will be 6 winners. Wirefly will decide which phone each winner will receive. Each winner will receive just ONE phone. Here are the details on Sprint's plans: http://ift.tt/2jnCoov

You can also compare Sprint plans at Wirefly.

Win a Sprint SMARTPHONE from Wirefly and PhoneDog



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Top 10 Android Apps of November 2017!

We've compiled a top 10 list of our favorite Android apps to hit the Play Store in November 2017. The apps highlighted in this video include Microsoft Launcher, 8Bit Photo Lab, Ahead!, Spyglass, DigiLux, Icon Pack Mixer, Typing Challenge, NavBar Animations, Notification History Log, INK: Endless Ascends. Which app is your favorite?



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Google Home Max may launch on December 11th

Google Home Max official

To date, the only launch info that Google has given us for the Google Home Max is that it'll be released sometime in December. Today we may have a bit more info on when the big smart speaker will make its retail debut.

The Google Home Max may be scheduled to launch on December 11th. Best Buy's product page for the Home Max currently lists the device with a release date of 12/11/2017, but that's not the only bit of evidence we have supporting a December 11th launch.

Google's Home Max product page also includes a hint at a December 11th release. In the Terms & Conditions for the free 12-month YouTube Red trial that comes with the Home Max, Google says that the offer is good for customers who purchase and activate a Home Max "between December 11, 2017 and February 15, 2018."

The Google Home Max is Google's new top-end smart speaker. Priced at $399, it includes Google Assistant just like the regular Google Home but also boasts improved audio quality thanks to its dual 4.5-inch woofers, custom tweeters, and other features.

Are you interested in the Google Home Max?



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Essential Phone camera update includes Portrait Mode, other improvements

Essential Phone hands-on review

Essential has worked hard to improve the performance of the Essential Phone's camera in the months since the device's release, and now there's another update going out.

Essential has pushed out an update to its Camera app that brings a few changes. Perhaps the most notable is the addition of Portrait Mode, a feature that we've seen in some other flagship smartphones that helps you add a blurry background to your photos.

This Camera app update also adds exposure compensation for all regular camera modes and reduced JPEG compression for improved image quality. Rounding out the update are some unspecified stability fixes.

It's good to see Essential continue to work to improve the Essential Phone's camera. A smartphone's camera is one of its most important features for a lot of people, especially because many people rely on it as their only camera. Here's to hoping with this latest update, the Essential Phone's camera performance continues to get better.



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I’m so glad voice assistants have text input now

Google Assistant text input

When Apple first came out with Siri in 2011, I was floored by how much more advanced she sounded compared to the competition at the time. Coincidentally, that was the same time Sprint (my employer at the time) began carrying the iPhone. After we finished putting the display up in our store, it quickly became a hot spot for spending downtime – specifically so we could test Siri’s limits.

Siri ended up being a big factor in why I decided to buy my first iPhone. Well, that and iOS was, at the time, a much more stable experience than any of the Android devices I had used. But Siri in itself was an incredibly innovative feature that I just knew I would definitely use all the time. Once I had my 4S, however, I found that Siri wasn’t all that useful aside from the novelty of asking her goofy questions. Oftentimes she didn’t understand me or conducted web searches for things that weren't intended to be a web search. It didn’t take long for me to stop using Siri entirely.

I never really did get into Siri again before switching back to Android in 2013, which was about the same time that Google Now was released. I found Google Now to be an incredibly useful tool in many regards, but I mostly stuck to the visual aspects of the feature rather than using voice commands. The interesting thing was that I didn’t have a hard time with Google Now’s voice commands when I initially tested it out – at least not as often as I did with Siri. I just didn’t like talking to my phone.

Eventually, I made my way back to iOS because that’s just the kind of thing I do from time to time. Back with Siri, I found that Apple made some notable improvements as I tried once again to appreciate and employ Siri’s usefulness, but found myself turning off Siri after a couple of weeks once again because I just preferred to do everything myself.

Ultimately, I realized that I appreciate the privacy that scheduling my own calendar events, conducting my own web searches, and typing out my own text messages gave me. I didn’t have any kids asking me “Why are you meeting at such-and-such on Wednesday?” or “Why are you searching what side dishes go well with porkchops? Are we having porkchops for dinner? I don’t like porkchops,” or “You’re texting so-and-so? Can I talk to them?” I can silently instruct my phone to do whatever I need it to do in public without people overhearing whatever it is I’m doing. I resolved that I would probably never use a voice assistant no matter how stable it became. And that’s okay, because I never felt like I was really missing out on anything because of it.

Fortunately, thanks to new text options that have surfaced over the past year, I’m able to enjoy the fruits of AI assistants with some semblance of privacy still in-tact. Google introduced a text-based option for Google Assistant earlier this year, and Apple introduced “Type to Siri” in iOS 11, which users can find in the accessibility settings. Since then, I’ve started using AI assistants more often. In the end it only saves me a few steps and a little bit of time, but it’s nice to be able to hold down my home button, type something in, and (usually) have that be the end of things.

I think voice commands are a great feature that a lot of people find useful, but personally I prefer the text input methods that have been implemented recently. I’m glad that both are now an option.

Readers, what are your thoughts on smartphone virtual assistants? Do you use them regularly, and if so, do you tend to use voice commands or text commands to operate them? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!



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Cricket Wireless kicking off deal with four lines of unlimited for $100

Cricket Wireless logo green

Cricket today announced that it's celebrating the holidays with a new rate plan deal.

Starting tomorrow, December 1st, Cricket will offer four lines on an Unlimited 2 plan for $100 per month. This deal will be available for a limited time.

Cricket's Unlimited 2 plan includes unlimited talk, text, and data, with data speeds topping out a 3Mbps. Also of note is that video streams at 480p resolution. If you use more than 22GB of data per line per month, that line's data usage will be deprioritized for the remainder of the billing cycle.

Also included with the Unlimited 2 plan is unlimited texting from the U.S. to 38 countries. Customers can get unlimited talk and text to and from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, too, as well as data access in Canada and Mexico.



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HTC U11 Life review

HTC isn’t a company afraid to try new things. In the last few years several of these haven’t panned out too well, like the HTC U Ultra’s second touchscreen, but the HTC U11 Life is a phone with a concept we can appreciate immediately.

It’s a mid-range phone with an accessible price that uses Google’s new Android One program. This means you get an almost untouched version of Android, with the aim of getting much faster updates than other mobiles. That is, unless you're in the US, in which case you get HTC's Sense skin on top.

There are notable shortfalls to match the cut-down price tag, like poor low light photo quality, relatively weak speakers and a body made of plastic. But it’s a solid choice for those on a mid-size budget.

HTC U11 Life price and availability

The HTC U11 Life costs $349/£349 (around AU$460), half the price of top-end alternatives and a lot less than the full-fat HTC U11.

It sees it rub shoulders with the likes of the Honor 9, Moto X4, Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact and Samsung Galaxy A5. These are some seriously strong mid-range contenders which ensure the U11 Life won't have an easy ride.

Key features

  • Pressure-sensitive sides help it stand out
  • Smart compromises other than the battery

There are two main ways to view the HTC U11 Life. It’s a much cheaper alternative to the original HTC U11 that gets you a roughly similar experience, with some parts cut down to lower costs.

It’s also an Android One phone in most regions, meaning it uses the standard Android interface, making it a little like a Google Pixel phone not made by Google.

Core elements it inherits from its bigger, more expensive brother include a shiny, curved rear and pressure-sensitive sides that enable gestures not seen in other phones.

This is HTC’s attempt to stand out. It may not change how you use a phone, but HTC has made it customizable enough to let you dig deep and make the feature your own.

Cost compromises are, for the most part, not too glaring. The screen is 1080p rather than ultra-high resolution, and the HTC U11 Life’s chipset is a mid-range Snapdragon 630 rather than a top-tier chipset. Major improvement in the graphics chip means it performs well in real life, though.

As is common among mid-range phones, the camera can’t quite compete with the best in all situations. Great photo processing makes day-lit photos often look fantastic, but it falters at night and fine detail isn’t as sharp or clear as that of a higher-quality, lower-resolution sensor.

The build isn’t quite on-par with the HTC U11 either. That phone has a glass back, the U11 Life an acrylic/plastic one. The biggest difference in feel is that while glass is cold to the touch when there’s the slightest chill in the air, plastic isn’t.

You’ll have to decide whether that matters to you or not.

After using the phone for a while the only compromise that we think might annoy some is battery life. While not flat-out poor, the Moto X4 and Honor 9 last longer between charges. The HTC U11 Life’s 2,600mAh battery is just not all that big.

Design

  • Smooth plastic/acrylic back
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Squeezable pressure-sensitive sides

From arm’s length the HTC U11 Life looks a lot like the normal U11, which is a more expensive phone. The back is curved and shiny, reacting to light as if the stuff gets it excited.

However, the HTC U11 Life’s back is made of “acrylic glass” rather than actual glass. And what’s acrylic glass? Plastic.

There’s none of the cool hardness that comes with metal or glass, and as a result the HTC U11 Life does not feel particularly expensive. The Moto G5S Plus, Moto X4 and Honor 9 all feel more impressive.

The HTC U11 Life’s build is pleasant enough, though. HTC has made sure there are no hard, flat surfaces. Everything is smooth and curvy, while the ultra-accessible 5.2-inch screen welcomes hands of all sizes.

This is not, however, one of the new breed of phones with an ultra-narrow screen surround. There are a couple of blank millimeters to each side, and about an inch above and below the screen.

It seems petty to make too much of an issue of this right now, though, when the trend is only developing, not quite the norm yet. Let your eyes decide whether you’re bothered or not.

Other parts of the HTC U11 Life hardware are sound too. The phone has IP67 water resistance, meaning it can take being submerged, and there’s a good fingerprint scanner on the front.

Some versions of the HTC U11 Life have an excellent 64GB storage too. Ours has “just” 32GB, but buy from HTC and you get 64GB. Ours is the European model, where the US and UK get the 4GB RAM/64GB edition.

The hardware feature that sets the HTC U11 Life apart, though, is Edge Sense. This uses pressure sensors on the sides of the phone to enable gestures when those sides are squeezed. As standard, a quick squeeze launches the camera and a long one fires-up the Google digital assistant.

However, Edge Sense can be customized too. It can zoom in Google Maps or Google Photos, snooze alarms, or answer calls. These are sensibly disabled as standard because HTC doesn’t want you to accidentally fire off these features and start thinking your phone is haunted.

You can even create your own macros by going into an app and “recording” commands. We doubt whether many HTC U11 Life buyers will put the effort in, but HTC is clearly trying hard to squeeze the most out of Edge Sense.

HTC introduced Edge Sense with the U11: it’s not an old feature.

One omission may kill the appeal of the HTC U11 Life for some of you, though. It doesn’t have a headphone jack, just a USB-C port. A reasonable pair of USB-C earphones is included, but there’s no 3.5mm adaptor.

Screen

  • 5.2-inch Full HD LCD screen
  • Good image quality

The HTC U11 Life has a smaller, lower-resolution screen than the U11. However, it’s a punchy display that, in most conditions, doesn’t look much worse than any phone out there.

It’s a 5.2-inch 1080 x 1920 Super LCD. There’s not too much brightness loss at an angle, and color is well-saturated without looking overdone. The image also appears very close to the top surface, a sign of an advanced super-thin screen architecture.

You have to take the HTC U11 Life into a more extreme environment to see its limits. We’re not talking Bear Grylls fodder, just that you’ll see very slightly raised blacks in a darkened room, and the brightness is bright but not quite the 1000 nits of the brightest. That said, we took the phone out on a fairly bright day and the screen was still clearly visible.

HTC’s website claims there’s a feature that lets you customize the display color profile, but it’s not in the software of our model.

Battery life

  • Mediocre stamina in this class
  • 2,600mAh cell
  • USB-C Charging

The HTC U11 Life has a 2,600mAh battery, smaller than those of the Moto G5S Plus, the Honor 9 or the Moto X4.

Thanks to the energy improvements of the Snapdragon 630 chipset, stamina is just about acceptable. However, on busier phone days when we’ve streamed a few hours of podcasts over 4G, the HTC U11 Life needed a top up hours before bed time.

If you want a phone that lasts through a day (almost) no matter what you subject it to, the HTC U11 Life isn’t the best choice.

Results in our usual battery benchmark were poor too. A 90-minute video played at maximum brightness takes 35% off the battery level. The Moto X4 lost just 10%.

Camera

  • Excellent HDR processing
  • Fine detail often looks soft close-up
  • Poor low light image quality

The HTC U11 Life is one of the best arguments for computational photography you’ll find. In certain conditions the results it can pull out of what appears to be a somewhat unremarkable sensor are, well, remarkable.

Its dynamic range optimization is at times staggeringly good, with shadow detail when shooting right into the sun similar to what you might see in shots taken with an APS-C camera. For the non photography nerds out there, this is kind of sensor used by compact system and DSLR cameras that cost up to $1000/£1000.

This is down to a merging of several exposures with just about every shot you take. For sunset photos and nature shots where the sun is peeking out behind a tree, this is a fantastic benefit. Dynamic range is often comparable with that of the best phone cameras available right now. It’s Instagram-tastic.

Look a little closer and you can see some of the limitations of the hardware, though. The HTC U11 Life has a 16MP sensor, and while HTC hasn’t announced the exact sensor used, it’s almost certainly one with smaller sensor pixels.

Up close, fine details have much less integrity than those of the best 12MP sensors. At pixel level images look simultaneously soft and a little noisy, even in daylight.

So while the resolution is high, lower-res cameras can actually reproduce much better, cleaner detail. Like other cameras struggling against the limits of the hardware, the HTC U11 Life tends to struggle with very vivid red tones as well.

Night photo quality is also poor. There’s no optical image stabilization to allow slower exposures, and consequently fine detail disappears completely. This is a great camera for tricky daylight conditions (as long as you don’t zoom in), but a poor one at night.

The HTC U11 Life also lacks a background blur portrait mode, which is usually, but not always, restricted to phones with dual rear cameras. You do get a Pro mode, which saves DNG (RAW) files instead of JPGs, but such a mode shines with a camera with a more versatile sensor and stabilized lens.

On the front, the 8MP selfie camera is nothing special either. Again, fine detail looks soft.

Video capture goes up to 4K resolution for the rear camera, though, and there’s a 120fps slow motion mode.

Interface and reliability

  • Android 8.0 in a mostly pure form
  • Likely to receive prompt updates
  • HTC’s alterations are minimal and subtle

The HTC U11 Life runs Android 8.0 and is one of the first phones to be part of the Android One program. This means it uses the standard Android interface rather than HTC Sense, the custom look seen in the original HTC U11 and most other HTC phones.

Or at least, it does in most of the world. However, US buyers will get the usual HTC overlay.

Android One is no bad thing. Google’s interface is clean, attractive and intuitive. For example, you simply flick up anywhere on the home screen to bring up the vertical apps menu. It responds to the speed of the gesture too, giving it a more fluid feel than most rival interfaces.

There are still the familiar Android soft keys too. Little light-up Back and Recent Apps icons appear to each side of the fingerprint scanner whenever the HTC U11 Life is in use.

If you’ve not used Android 8.0 yet, you’ll also notice the little dots by some of the icons. This means there are notifications pending for that app, and you can see them by long-pressing the icon, as well as dragging down the notification bar.

Movies, music and gaming

  • Great gaming performance
  • No headphone jack
  • Rivals have better speakers

There are no extra apps to get on your nerves in the HTC U11 Life. Even extra features like Edge Sense are built into the Settings menu rather than cluttering up your apps menu.

This leaves you with Play Music for tunes and Play Movies for video. These are great apps that let you play your own files as well as streaming or purchasing titles from Google’s library. Naturally, Google would rather you do the latter and this plays out in their layouts.

It’s the hardware side that comes to define, and limit, the HTC U11 Life’s media cred. First, there’s no headphone jack. This means you (probably) can’t plug-in your favorite headphones without an adaptor and can’t charge the battery and use headphones at the same time. Again, unless you have a special adaptor.

The earphones that come in the box are on-par with a decent budget pair of in-ears, and will do the job if you’re not too picky about sound quality. They can also be custom-tuned to your hearing and have noise cancellation. Both of these use a mic inside the earphones.

This tuning makes the sound more lively but also a bit more aggressive, highlighting the lack of finesse of the drivers. The noise cancelling is nowhere near as effective as almost any pair of active noise cancellation earphones either.

Testing them out on the road, they do appear to reduce the rustle of cable noise a little, but do not significantly reduce traffic noise.

Don’t get too excited about the bundled earphones.

The HTC U11 Life’s speaker isn’t best-in-class either. Max volume is lower than that of the Moto G5S Plus or Honor 9, and there’s a little less power to the lower frequencies.

It’s still a useful little speaker, though, with sound quality good enough for podcasts and the odd emergency music duty. It sits on the bottom edge, so there’s no stereo effect when you play a game.

General gaming performance is very good, particularly given the HTC U11 Life uses a mid-range CPU. Frame rates in high-end games like Real Racing 3, Asphalt 8 and Dead Trigger 2 are all very smooth, closer to the performance we expect from a true top-end phone.

Performance and benchmarks

  • Mid-range CPU does a great job
  • Snapdragon 630 CPU
  • Newly-upgraded graphics chipset

The HTC U11 Life has a Snapdragon 630 chipset. In Geekbench 4, its scores are very similar to those of its predecessor, the Snapdragon 625, with 4,125 points in this case. However, there are some notable improvements.

First, and this explains the great gaming performance, Qualcomm has significantly improved the graphics chipset. The Adreno 508 is clocked at 850MHz, up from 650MHz in the Snapdragon 625.

It also has a faster 4G modem, and approaches its processor cores differently. Like the other 6-series Snapdragon CPUs, all the cores are Cortex-A53s (a classic “budget” core), but Qualcomm has moved to using four lower-clocked ones and four faster performance ones. Rather than eight at the same speed.

The aim is to improve battery life without compromising performance.

Verdict

The HTC U11 Life is a great phone in many respects. Screen, software, and day-to-day performance are all grumble-free, and while the squeezable sides may not be a revelation they are almost radically customizable. And therefore about as useful as is currently imaginable.

Battery life is just okay, and, like quite a lot of mid-range phones, the camera is not great at night. However, the HTC U11 Life is enjoyable to use and represents good, if not truly disruptive, value.

As the price of top-end phones spirals around, and above, $1000/£1000, our appreciation for phones at prices normal people can stomach only grows.

Who's this for?

The HTC U11 Life is for those who want a phone with a touch of design glamour without the cost of a top-end model.

It’s also a good choice for people tired of custom Android interfaces, because (outside the US) Android One provides Google’s software as its engineers intended, with HTC’s extras laid on top like a pretty belt, braces and bangles that can be removed if you like.

Should you buy it?

The HTC U11 Life’s biggest problem, if you don’t mind the missing headphone jack, is competition. There are a lot of great alternatives, many of which have metal or glass frames for a more expensive feel. The Moto X4, Moto G5S Plus, Honor 9 are the obvious alternatives.

Does it matter? That’s up to you. The Moto X4 and Honor 9 also have more consistent, more versatile cameras, although neither has quite the HDR chops of the HTC U11 Life.

With better build and battery life, we’re leaning slightly towards the Moto and Honor options. However, as all three are good value phones most will enjoy, you’ll have to decide whether the intrigue of the HTC U11 Life’s squeezy sides is enough to tilt you the other way.

First reviewed: November 2017



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Lumo Run

Runners who want to run faster often focus first on metrics such as pace, distance and heart rate in training. 

They look at how well the engine is performing and try to improve that, developing more pace, power and performance through specific training runs or gym sessions.

However, there’s a whole lot more to being a better (and faster) runner than building your fitness, as form plays a pivotal role too. That’s where Lumo Run comes in.

This portable, personal running coach clips onto your shorts and analyzes your running form. It then uses this information to give you real time feedback and help iron out the kinks in your technique that keep you from scoring that personal best.

This small lozenge has a range of on-board sensors delivering lab-grade biomechanic measurements and real time tips, via your headphones, to help you improve on a range of vital running form metrics, including cadence, braking, bounce, pelvic rotation and pelvic drop. It sounds advanced, but it's accessible to a great many runners.

Each time you run, Lumo suggests an area you need to work on, along with advice on how to improve on your past performance. Post-run it also delivers video drills to help correct the aspects of your form that were most in need, all based on the run you just completed, and all for $99.99/£89.99 (around AU$130).

Design

  • Light and unobtrusive on the run
  • Simple USB charging, no bespoke dock

There’s not a huge amount to say about the Lumo Run’s design, as it’s really quite a simple device.

The 50 x 28.5mm lozenge sensor – which looks a lot like the shoe pods Garmin and Polar used to sell – slots into a soft silicone holder and clips to the belt of your shorts or leggings at the back.

Alternatively, you can invest in shorts and running leggings designed to house Lumo, but in our test we used the clip-on alone.

Weighing just 25g it’s barely noticeable while you’re on the move, even to the point we’d argue it could be quite easy to lose or chuck through the wash. 

The clip does fix tightly to your clothing, but because it’s so unobtrusive you find yourself checking it’s still there every so often.

There’s one LED light that tells you if there’s enough charge in the Lumo for the run you’re about to do. We’re big fans of the fact that it charges via micro USB plugged directly into the sensor, so there’s no bespoke dock to worry about here.

You simply remove a small cover at one end of the sensor and plug in any USB cable. If we had to find fault it’s that the USB cover itself feels like it could easily break off, though it didn’t in our test.

The sensor is also sweat and water resistant, so if you get a particularly sweaty back or you have to run in the rain, you’re covered. Though you won’t want to be accidentally going for a swim or popping this on a 40-degree wash.

Set up, sync and sharing

  • Slick and simple set up
  • Ready to go instantly for every run
  • Only syncs with Strava

Set up is extremely simple and can be done using your smartphone, there's no need for a laptop. We’d love to have seen the Lumo Run come charged out of the box, ready to use, but unfortunately you’ll need to charge it before you run.

Beyond that it’s a question of a quick app download and - provided your Bluetooth is switched on - the sensor and app should sync automatically, without the need to meddle in the Bluetooth settings, which is always a bonus.

Once you’ve paired the Lumo Run once it automatically connects next time you want to run, again making it brilliantly fuss-free.

During set up Lumo will ask for your basic height, weight, age and gender information so that it can tailor its insights more effectively to you. You can also manually adjust the audio settings, to tell Lumo which in-run updates you’d like, choosing from Pace, Distance, Time, Run Goal and Posture Reminders.

You can also connect Strava to Lumo so that your route, pace and distance data is synced seamlessly to your Lumo app. The bonus for Strava-using GPS watch owners is that you can actually run phone-free.

With the likes of the Polar M430, Garmin Forerunner 235 and many others now syncing automatically to Strava, you can use your GPS watch to track your run and the data will flow into Lumo via Strava, though you still won’t get the Lumo’s real time coaching without carrying your phone and firing up the app.

Also, sadly Strava is the only third-party platform the Lumo app plays nicely with and it’s one-way sync. Data you gather from Lumo runs where you have your phone won’t feed back into Strava. 

We’d like to see Lumo play nice with more watches so we could see our current stats on the wrist, but that’s not currently the case.

Tracking and coaching skills

  • Great range of running dynamics tracked
  • Excellent coaching videos
  • Training plans would be an improvement

While Lumo Run provides distance, pace, duration, splits and a route map, the truth is this running wearable is different from many of the run trackers out there that help you with a race specific running goal.

Instead of focusing on schedules, distance, pace or heart rate, the Lumo coaching approach is all about improving technique, ironing out the kinks in your form that are costing you in running efficiency and even potentially causing you to get injured.

The range of metrics, or running dynamics, it tracks is as broad as any tracker on the market. It includes cadence (foot strikes per minute), bounce (vertical oscillation), braking (change in forward velocity), pelvic rotation and pelvic drop (side to side drop of the pelvis).

Lumo uses an algorithm to crunch the numbers from your previous run and recommends a metric for you to work on during your next outing, though you can override this and choose your own if you’re curious or you know there’s an area that needs specific work.

The great thing about the goals Lumo suggests is that you can incorporate these targeted goals into your usual training runs. For example, you can work on your cadence during your long Sunday run or your pelvic drop during an interval session.

Before you head out, you also get pre-run tips based on your data from previous runs. Because these appear on the New Run screen it’s great for focusing your mind on key improvements for your upcoming session.

They also go beyond most virtual coaches, with a good description of why you’re being given this goal and a short video of the technique you’re aiming to mimic, making it simple to follow.

During your run, Lumo’s coach issues guidance in the form of voice reminders and vibrations. We much preferred the former, though you can easily change the audio settings from the pause screen. Even during a run this wasn’t a chore, which is great if at any point you decide you want more or less information over the ear.

What really makes Lumo stand out though is the quality of the coaching advice. It goes beyond telling you your cadence is too low and offers form fixes to help you get back on target. This includes things like “get your chin up and face forward” or “roll your shoulders back," and it's great that this is real-time feedback.

App and compatibility

  • Very in depth
  • Nicely presented and easy to use
  • Only works with iPhone

The Lumo Run app is clean, crisp and easy to use, with useful and easy to understand explanations throughout that mean you don’t need a degree in sports science to be able to delve into your data.

The coaching area in the app is one of Lumo’s killer unique selling points. A repository for a range of video drills all designed to help you improve your running form and efficiency, along with tips to help you improve and explanations of all of the key metrics Lumo tracks, this is a brilliantly executed guide to how to become a better runner.

From here you can select drills to work on (though these will also be recommended at the end of your run sessions) and the app will also tell you when you last worked on your high knees, legs taps or front skips.

You can also track trends over time for all of the key running dynamics as well as the more common stats such as distance and pace.

Finally, there’s a Personal Records section that logs all of your fastest runs over a mile, 1k, 5k,10k, half marathon and full marathon. You can also see your best performance for each of the running dynamics and your longest overall run distance.

Post-run stats are nicely comprehensive and well presented with route map, pace and distance splits, and the ability to add some subjective information such as mood and effort. You also get your performance against the running goal for that session and recommended exercises ahead of the next session.

For every run there are also detailed results for all of the form metrics and you can delve into these deeper with metric splits too. 

This is great for things like seeing how your form changes during the latter part of runs where you might be more tired, or perhaps during the early part of a run where you may not be warmed up.

There's one big downside to the Lumo Run app though, namely that it's only available on iOS and requires an iPhone 5S or newer, which means the Lumo Run isn't much use if you have an Android phone.

Battery life

  • Lasts around a week
  • Charges quickly

According to Lumo’s official claims you get 20 hours of in-run time and 7 days on standby from the sensor. 

In our tests we easily got a week of usage, including a 2-3 hour long run and four daily hour-long sessions, before we needed to recharge.

We also love the fact we could get enough charge for a run in around half an hour, so even if we did find it was out of juice we could load it up in the time it took to stop procrastinating about whether to actually go and run.

Verdict

The Lumo Run is an excellent training tool and you don’t have to be marathon mad to benefit from the insights it delivers.

Whether you’re just starting out running or you’ve gone ultra, this wallet-friendly wearable takes some quite complicated coaching advice and makes it easy to understand and simple to apply. It would be a welcome addition to any runner’s kit.

Who's this for?

If you’re a casual runner logging miles for general fitness, the Lumo is probably more tracker than you need.

If, on the other hand, you’re a serious miler chasing personal bests or training more seriously for a half, full marathon or ultra then there are real benefits the Lumo Run can offer that most watches and apps don’t, and for a low price.

Should you buy it?

If you're serious about improving your running form then absolutely. The Lumo Run is packed full of genuinely useful features, sensors and advice.

For those just starting out it's probably surplus to requirements, and the lack of a smartwatch app, Android support and GPS is a shame, but otherwise this is a good buy.

There are other trackers that are worth considering, such as the following options:

Oakley Radar Pace Prizm

A voice-activated coaching system in the shape of a pair of classic Oakley sunglasses with detachable in-ear headphones, Radar Pace provides real time feedback on your running metrics including distance, pace, climb, average pace, calories and cadence.

But if you want to unlock extra metrics such as heart rate, you have to bring your own third-party Bluetooth or ANT+ sensors. Lack of optical heart rate feels like a missed opportunity, but the voice controls are about as responsive as we’ve tested.

Stryd

A little more than just a form-fixing tracker, Stryd’s shoe-worn pod tracks a whole range of metrics to help improve your running. 

The impressive array of stats include power, form, leg spring, stiffness, ground time, vertical oscillation, cadence, pace, distance and a run stress score.

It converts all of this data into one single number to quantify your performance and progress and unlike Lumo it’ll sync with a range of watches including Suunto, Garmin, Apple Watch and lots of training platforms, such as TrainingPeaks and Zwift, but sadly no Strava yet.

Garmin Running Dynamics Pod

Smaller and lighter than the Lumo Run, the Garmin Running Dynamics Pod follows the waistband clip design that Lumo launched with first. It tracks largely the same running dynamics though, including: cadence, stride length, ground contact time and balance, vertical oscillation and vertical ratio.

There’s no real time coaching or videos, but it does play nice with the Garmin Forerunner 935, Garmin Forerunner 735XT and Garmin Fenix 5, as well as the Garmin Quatix 5 and Descent watches, putting your stats where you can see them on your wrist.

First reviewed: November 2017



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Polar M200

One for the more budget-conscious runner, the Polar M200 is aimed at the budget end of the market and can be picked up for $149.95/£129.50/AU$199.

Primarily a running watch, the M200 offers integrated GPS, along with optical heart rate monitoring, smartphone connectivity and 24/7 activity tracking, as well as the ability to follow structured training programs.

The key question is whether it's the right watch for you at the price point, especially when it's competing with other budget wearables such as the Fitbit Charge 2 and Garmin Vivosmart HR+.

Design

  • Light, secure and comfortable
  • Plain, cheap-looking design
  • Basic, dated screen

Aesthetically, the Polar M200 is quite simple, with a silicone strap encircling the watch’s face.

The strap feels durable and sits comfortably on your wrist when worn for prolonged periods. In fact, with the M200 weighing in at just 40g, it’s sometimes easy to forget you’re wearing it.

However, the combination of the basic strap design and the watch’s weight raises a few questions in terms of quality. The M200 doesn’t scream quality, especially compared to pricier options like the Garmin Forerunner 235, but sitting at the budget end of the market, does it need to?

It's arguably no worse looking than something like the Garmin Vivosmart HR, for example.

Following the theme of simplicity, two buttons on either side of the display offer all the functionality needed to operate the M200’s array of features. 

The left button is used to go back through the menu options, pause/stop a workout, sync with the smartphone app or operate the backlight.

A quick press of the right button is used to cycle through the menu screens, while a longer press allows you to select the option you want. Having multiple functions with only two buttons is a little fiddly at first, but after a week or so of regular use you soon get to grips with it.

The Polar M200’s charging port sits on the base of the watch. The port is well hidden but can be easily accessed by simply pushing the watch unit from the strap. The watch is then charged via a USB cable that comes included in the box.

It's perhaps a bit annoying having to remove the unit from the strap, especially as newer models like the Polar M430 are 'all-in-one' and easily charged.

The strap itself is fastened using a metal clasp which feels secure, and there are plenty of holes to fit varying wrist sizes.

Polar offer five different color straps – black, red, yellow, blue or white – and the ease of changing the strap makes it simple to mix and match depending on your mood, assuming you fancy paying for extra straps.

The screen on the Polar M200 is quite small, with a large proportion of the circular interface taken up by a bezel. The edges of the screen are designed to allow the user to easily track and monitor their activity level at a glance throughout the day – more on this later.

The display itself is basic, with no touchscreen, color or detailed graphics. Instead, the M200 sports an LED dot matrix display, which gives the watch a slightly outdated feel.

If you want a fancier screen you may want to consider something like the Polar M600, but you'll have to be prepared to pay more.

Polar have kept things simple but functional with the design of the M200. While the overall feeling of the watch isn’t of great quality, at a budget price point you don’t expect much more. 

However, what the M200 lacks in style, it more than makes up for with its array of features at the price point.

Specs, performance and fitness

  • GPS is accurate but slow to lock on
  • Heart rate monitor works well
  • Works better for running than other sports

We found the integrated GPS in the Polar M200, for the most part, very accurate at tracking any outdoor activities. The M200 will also detect any stops, automatically pausing the activity for you and restarting once you set off again.

There were, however, two or three occasions throughout testing when the GPS signal dropped out in the middle of a run. It wasn’t just for a few seconds either, on one run the GPS dropped out for two minutes. This meant that part of the run was not tracked and the post-activity run data was somewhat skewed.

The other frustration we found when testing the M200 was the length of time it took to lock onto GPS before starting an activity. The watch prompts you to ‘stand still to find GPS’, which can take several minutes even when in clear view of the sky.

This meant we were often playing catch up with any training partners as they got bored standing in the cold waiting for the GPS to lock on. You can start the activity before locking onto GPS, but your distance won’t be tracked.

Still, at this end of the market having GPS at all isn't guaranteed. The popular Fitbit Charge 2 for example lacks it, although it is becoming more prevalent.

And we found no such problems with the Polar M200’s optical heart rate monitor. The heart rate is easily picked up when the watch is tightly fastened to your wrist and is constant throughout any activity.

In comparison to a chest-strap heart rate monitor the optical sensor in the M200 performs well. It is only really when performing shorter intervals that the optical sensor struggles slightly to keep up with rapid fluctuations in heart rate.

The M200 is easy to use and provides good, clear live data during an activity. It is possible to rotate through different screens when exercising to give information on distance, current pace, duration, heart rate and many more useful metrics.

You can also personalize these screen options on the Polar Flow website, allowing you to select which metrics you want to track during an activity. There's also an auto-lap function, again customizable, but defaulted to lapping every kilometer during a run.

The only slight issue we found when using the M200 was the screen size. Although generally the screen is clear to read, it was sometimes difficult to read information when moving at a quicker pace. 

For example, when glancing at the auto-lap reading it can be hard to decipher between a 4:01 split and a 4:06. Not a big issue, but certainly noticeable.

One of the best features on the Polar M200 is the ability to follow structured training programs and workouts. You are able to set a goal on the Polar Flow website, be it 5k or a marathon, put in the date of the event and Polar will schedule a series of workouts onto a calendar.

You can then download this schedule onto the watch and app and then it’s over to you to follow this on a day to day basis. This is a great feature for those looking to start training for a specific event or goal, but who are unsure how to best structure their training.

We found the majority of the features available on the Polar M200 aligned to running as opposed to any other sport. Although there are multiple sport options available, the M200 doesn’t perform as a true multi-sport watch as it is not possible to change between two or three disciplines within the same activity.

For example, if taking part in a triathlon you would have to stop each activity before starting the next. The range of data fields available to track some sports on the watch isn’t as well developed as the running mode either. For example, although the watch is waterproof and can be taken swimming, it won’t track distance in the pool.

The Polar M200 also acts as a fitness tracker, counting your steps towards a specific goal that you can determine during initial set up of the watch. This is where the big bezel of the watch comes into play.

As you progress towards your daily step goal, small dots appear around the outside of the screen, indicating the percentage of your activity goal for that day you have achieved.

You can also wear the watch when you go to bed in order to track your sleep. When synced with the app in the morning, you can see data such as how long you’ve slept for and the quality of your sleep, and Polar provides some nice details too - it's among our favorite sleep tracking apps.

It’s also possible to use the Polar M200 as an alarm. Simply set your desired wake up time, sync the watch with the app before you sleep and it will vibrate on your wrist when it’s time to get up.

The Polar M200 syncs with the Polar Flow app on your smartphone via a Bluetooth connection. It is easy to sync the two by simply holding the left button on the watch for a few seconds. Once synced, the app offers a wealth of information.

The main screen on the app shows a clock face that summarizes your movement for the day, giving times of rest, standing, walking and exercise.

There is also the option to tap on any recorded activity to see more information such as kilometer splits, heart rate charts and zones, a map of where your activity took you, and much more.

Battery life

  • Battery lasts up to a week
  • Quick and easy to charge

The battery life on the Polar M200 is excellent. Polar claim the M200 will last six days on a single charge when used for fitness tracking and with one hour’s GPS activity tracking per day. 

In reality, we managed to use the watch for a full week of running, as well as general day-to-day use, before needing to recharge.

And when the battery is running low you get a helpful notification on the smartphone app to let you know you need to recharge.

As previously noted, the recharging of the Polar M200 is pain-free, with the watch featuring a simple charging port. A USB cable provided in the box is all that’s needed. 

In terms of juicing speed, we found the watch was fully recharged from empty within a couple of hours, which was acceptable if you remembered in good time...

Verdict

The Polar M200 is a decent entry-level running watch and, although a little basic in appearance, it packs in a lot of features for the price.

With GPS, heart rate monitoring, water resistance and a whole lot more there's something here for almost everyone.

But it doesn't excel in all areas, and is more suited to some kinds of exercise than others.

Who's this for?

The smartphone connectivity and ability to follow structured training programs makes the M200 a great companion for the athlete looking to start taking their training more seriously.

But despite offering multi-sport tracking it's clearly focused mostly on runners, so if you primarily want, say, a swimming watch, there are better options.

Should you buy it?

The only major drawback to the M200 is the slightly erratic GPS, which we can’t help but feel slightly frustrated with. If you are looking for a watch to start your training journey, there aren’t many that can rival the M200 at this sort of price.

It’s not perfect, but at the budget end of the market the Polar M200 sits head and shoulders above most of the rest in terms of its features. But for other options, check out our guide to the best budget running watches.



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Microsoft Edge for mobile ditches beta status, now available on Android and iOS

Microsoft Edge for iPhone, Android

After launching in beta on Android and iOS last month, Microsoft Edge is ditching its "preview" status today.

Microsoft Edge is now exiting beta and is available to the public. You can download it on Android and iOS right now.

Microsoft says that it's added a couple of new features to Edge as a result of the beta test. With Roaming Passwords, passwords that you save on your phone will follow you to your PC, making it easy to keep your login info in order even if you make it on your phone. Also added is a dark theme.

The mobile version of Microsoft Edge also offers features like Favorites, Reading List, Reading View, and the New Tab Page found in the desktop version of the app.

It's always good to have options when it comes to your mobile browser, which is why it's nice to see Microsoft bringing Edge to Android and iOS. Now PC users that choose Edge on their desktop can get a familiar experience while browsing on their phone.



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Fossil Q Venture

The Fossil Q Venture offers up a more style focused, and smaller smartwatch experience to its larger, more rugged sibling, the Q Explorist.

[Update: We're working on our full Fossil Q Venture review, but in the meantime we've updated this review with more information and the latest availability.]

The duo are Fossil’s third generation of Android Wear devices, as the company continues to be one of the few persevering with Google's wearable platform.

With a thinner 18mm strap and smaller display the Q Venture is suited to smaller wrists, although it won’t look out of place on larger forearms either.

Fossil Q Venture price and availability

The Fossil Q Venture price starts at $255 (£259), and rises to $275 (£279) if you opt for the gold or rose gold model, making it the same price as the Explorist.

It’s currently available from Fossil’s website as well as a number of retailers. The price means it finds itself in the mix with the Samsung Gear S3 and Apple Watch Series 1.

Design and display

The Fossil Q Venture has a 42mm diameter metal case which is 11.5mm thick, giving it a slender, stylish look that won’t swamp smaller wrists.

It’s a simple design, with a single crown button, which unfortunately doesn’t rotate – so you’ll have to use your finger on-screen to scroll lists.

It’s a shame, especially given the smaller screen on the Q Venture, as because the crown doesn’t rotate we found our fingers blocked a decent proportion of the display when moving through lists.

There's no heart rate monitor on the back (or GPS inside), which reduces its effectiveness as a fitness watch - but it can still track your steps.

You can also wear the Q Venture in the bath or shower, as with its IP67 rating it'll withstand being submerged for up to 30 minutes to a depth of 1 meter in fresh water.

The Q Venture boasts Fossil's first fully round display on a smartwatch, giving it a marked improvement over its predecessor, the Q Wander, as it's ditched the flat-tire screen that previous Fossil watches have had.

The OLED display is bright and clear, and while its smaller size (compared to the Explorist) means icons and text isn't as large here – it's still pretty easy to see what's going on.

Fossil also offers over 30 exclusive watch faces for its smartwatches, giving you a range of choice not available to Android Wear watches from other manufacturers.

The 18mm watch band can easily be swapped out for another option, allowing you to mix up the look by adding a material, rubber, leather or metal strap to the Q Venture. It's worth noting that the color of the watch's body won't change, so make sure you select a band that compliments its color.

Performance and interface

In terms of power the Fossil Q Venture has the common Snapdragon 2100 chipset which we've seen in a number of rival smartwatches, along with 512MB of RAM.

It's more than enough to run Android Wear 2.0 smoothly on screen, with apps opening in good time and the interface easy to navigate - and a big improvement over the version 1.0.

There's 4GB of storage inside too, allowing you to save songs on the watch, pair it with a Bluetooth headset and leave the house without your phone while still enjoying your tunes.

The storage also comes in handy for downloading apps and games, which thanks to Android Wear 2.0 can all be downloaded directly from the watch thanks to its built in Wi-Fi connection.

Fossil claims the Q Venture offers 24 hours of battery life from a single charge, but that will depend on your usage and whether you opt to employ the always-on display.

In short though, a nightly charge will more than likely be needed, but with a wireless magnet connection it should at least be easy to top up.

We'd have liked to of seen NFC included inside the Q Venture so we could use it for contactless payments, but unfortunately this feature didn't make the cut.

It will with any phone running Android 4.3 or higher, but also with iPhones that are on iOS 9 or above (as long as you've got an iPhone 5 or newer).

Early verdict

For those looking for a smartwatch which won't take over their wrist the Fossil Q Venture is a stylish proposition which gets the basics right.

It does miss some of the more advanced features, such as GPS, NFC and a heart rate monitor, but for a basic smartwatch experience it's a strong contender.



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Sony Alpha A7R III review

Google Home Max

The Google Home Max turns the Google Assistant into your very own personal DJ. Well, the same can be said about the Google Home and the Google Home Mini, but the Max is the only one suited to rock the house thanks to its impressive hardware.

But of course, this is Google we're dealing with, so you'll also find a hearty dose of artificial intelligence smarts built into the Max. This, in a way, plays just as crucial a role in delivering your music in a crisp, room-filling manner.

It's tough to convey the worthiness of an audio product, especially one that claims to take things to the "Max" as this one does. But as someone who has reviewed many headphones and Bluetooth speakers, I can confidently say that there's something special here.

We didn't have a chance to test the Max outside of Google's controlled environment, but the demo that showed off what a single Max could do, as well two paired up, left us wanting more.

(Update: The Max may release on December 11, if Best Buy's product page is to be believed. Pointed out by 9To5Google, the US retailer appears to have jumped the gun ahead of Google's own announcement of its speaker's release. If true, eager listeners won't have to wait long, that is, unless they reside outside of the US, as Google hasn't specified if or when the Google Home Max will arrive.)

Google Home Max price and release date

The Max debuts in December for $399 (around £300 / AU$510) and unfortunately for our friends outside of the US, it's not making its way outside of North America just yet.

It was a similar story when the original Google Home was first announced. Like the Max, the speaker was originally exclusive to North America, before making its way to other territories after around six months. 

Although a day-in-date release worldwide would be preferable, we hope that people in other territories won't have to wait long to see the Max released. 

Design

The Google Home Max piggy-backs on the look of the other Home models in that it keeps it super simple on the design front. Unlike the others, you'll know this is a speaker right away, but Google has worked in a bit of elegance here to make its hefty 11-pound build work in its favor.

Across the front is a mesh fabric that hides the drivers. On the Max's top, you'll see a small line that indicates the location of the speakers touch-friendly sensor that's used for adjusting volume controls and skipping throughout your favorite album, that is, unless you'd rather do it with your voice.

The speaker's rear plays host to a few features. There's an on/off switch right in the middle, but near the corner is where the included power supply plugs in. Next to it, there's a 3.5mm jack to output to your preferred device, as well as a USB-C port, which I'm told is used for piping in an ethernet connection. Google didn't state if it was including one in the box.

One of Max's more interesting features is that it doesn't feature permanent rubber feet. It can stand either horizontally or vertically without scuffing the table (or the Max itself) thanks to its magnetic rubber platform that can easily be taken off and relocated to shift its orientation.

Performance

Equipped with two custom 0.7-inch tweeters and two 4.5-inch dual-excursion woofers, the Max impresses right out of the gate. As we mentioned, the Max was demonstrated in a controlled environment, so we're really looking forward to testing this out in a bunch of different environments.

Needless to say, an 11 pound speaker is capable of so much more than the other Google Homes, but we were really impressed with just how loud the speaker got, all without showing any signs of reaching a threshold. 

To that end, each and every slice of the music profile sounded crisp, clear and without compromise in the sound delivery – and this was just with an MP3. We'd love to try this out with a vinyl record.

Google's Smart Sound technology utilizes artificial intelligence to dynamically shift the delivery of your tunes. This can be based on room size, obstacles in the room, time of day, and where the Max is located in the room. Much like the Apple HomePod, Google is really touting the smarts in this speaker as being just as central to the experience as the hardware is.

Early verdict

With the Max, there's now a Google Home suited for all sorts of living quarters – from the bedroom, the kitchen and the garage. This one just so happens to be about rocking louder and being smarter than the others.

Coming in at $399, this isn't as easy to plunk down on as the other Home models – especially when stacked up against the $49 Google Home Mini – but doing so means treating yourself to deeper, louder and smarter experience. 



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Unlocked HTC U11 Life getting Android 8.0 Oreo update today

HTC U11 Life official

Just a few days after the unlocked HTC U11 began getting its Android 8.0 update, HTC has revealed that another device is being updated to Oreo.

The unlocked HTC U11 Life will begin receiving its Android 8.0 Oreo update today. That's according to Mo Versi, HTC's VP of Product Management.

The update to Android 8.0 Oreo brings with it some notable new features. Those include an autofill feature that can remember your logins and speed up your app sign-in process, picture-in-picture for videos, and notification dots so that you can easily see which apps on your home screen have an alert for you.

In addition to the HTC U11 and HTC U11 Life, HTC has said that it plans to update the HTC U Ultra and HTC 10 to Android 8.0 Oreo.



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VPN One Click

VPN One Click is a popular provider which delivers a basic VPN service for a budget price.

Experts may not be impressed by the technical specs. There's no support for the configurable and secure OpenVPN protocol, for instance – instead you're left with L2TP/IPSec, IKEv2 and the horribly insecure PPTP.

There's better news in VPN One Click's network, which now covers 52 countries. The company supports a wide range of platforms, too, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Amazon Kindle, assorted consoles and more.

The website is a little disappointing with few low-level details on the service. Instead it seems more of a marketing exercise aimed at novice users, and it's not particularly successful even at that level.

The low prices may seem appealing, at least initially. Windows Mobile and tablet devices get access for $1.99 (£1.60) a month or $1.67 (£1.35) a month over a year. Android and iOS devices are charged $2.99 (£2.40) a month or $1.25 (£1) over a year. Windows and Mac devices must pay $4.99 (£4) a month or $2.08 (£1.65) over a year.

This sounds great, until you realize that you're charged separately for each device. $1.25 a month for an Android device alone (on a yearly subscription) could be a real bargain, but add a single PC and that jumps to $3.33. For comparison, Private Internet Access charges only $3.25 to support up to five devices, and it doesn't care what they are or how you mix them up.

The VPN One Click website claims to offer a free version which restricts you to servers in Europe only, and is free for a "limited time" (the site neglects to mention how long that might be).

We tried the Windows and Android clients and weren't offered a limited free version on either, but there is a free trial. You must hand over your payment details first (app store or PayPal, there’s no direct card option), but you won't be charged if you cancel within the first seven days.

Privacy

We're always interested to see what a VPN provider says about its logging policy, but this proved unusually difficult with VPN One Click, as the company hardly says anything at all.

The front page of the website claims the company "keeps no connection logs", and the same statement is repeated elsewhere, but with no further explanation or details, that doesn't really tell us anything useful.

The privacy policy is no better. It's ridiculously short, has barely any definitions, doesn't explicitly cover the core VPN service, and includes enough loopholes to make it meaningless anyway ("no user information is ever collected except when redeemed [sic] necessary").

The only tiny extra detail we could find is in VPN One Click's ‘How to choose the best VPN’ article, where the company says it doesn't "keep any user info." That would be "except where redeemed necessary", right?

What's frustrating here is that VPN One Click does have some interesting privacy-related points to make. You don't have to register with the company to sign up, for instance, or directly hand over your email address – you can simply pay from the client. Interesting, and just the type of detail that should be explained in the privacy policy, if VPN One Click is looking to win over more skeptical users.

Performance

Getting started with VPN One Click is as easy as downloading the client for your desktop or mobile device. There are no less than six clients on offer – Windows desktop, Windows Mobile, Mac, iOS, Android, Kindle Fire HD – and a quick check of the various app stores showed decent ratings of around 3.6 to 4 stars.

We grabbed the appropriate client for our Windows 10 system, and the installer set it up in a few seconds with no issues or complications at all.

The client has a good-looking interface, with a world map, lists of servers organized by continents and a clear status pane displaying details on current location, IP address and subscription status.

For all the client's visual style, it doesn't have much substance.

The map doesn't show the server locations, for example. It's not clickable, and can't be zoomed or scrolled.

The nested server list keeps every location at least two clicks away, so for instance you must click Americas > United States to see the American servers.

Each location is displayed as an IP address rather than as a city. European users might prefer to connect to New York rather than going cross-country to California, for instance, but all they'll see are options like 165.227.9.19 and 107.170.216.7. Some of the clients are a little better – the Android offering labels servers as United States West or United States East – but that's still less detail than you'll get with most providers.

The client doesn't give you any ping times or server load data on individual locations, and there's no favorites system to help you save locations for speedy access later.

We tapped the Buy button and a browser window opened at an anonymous-looking apis.bizx.com site, before quickly redirecting to PayPal and asking us to pay our subscription to Bravotelco Limited.

We suspect customers would much prefer to be taken to a shopping cart on the official VPN One Click site, just as reassurance that their money is going to the right place. Many would like the opportunity to pay by card. And despite the website claiming that you can pay via Bitcoin, that's not an option provided by the client.

After handing over our payment a website message explained that the new account would be activated within five minutes, but in reality it only took a few seconds. We returned to the client, clicked 'Refresh Account Info' on the menu and our subscription instantly updated from 'Expired' to 'VIP'.

Subscription paid, we were now able to connect to any location by clicking it in the list. Unfortunately, the client didn't give us any audio or desktop notification to warn when it connected or disconnected. That's a problem, as it could lead to a situation where you think the VPN is active and protecting you, when in reality the connection has dropped. (The service uses IKEv2 which should automatically reconnect you anyway, but we would still expect the client to keep users informed.)

It got worse when we closed the client window and found it didn't minimize to the system tray, but instead shut down the application while leaving any active connection open. This means you can still be connected to the VPN with having any visual indication of that, and it also suggests the client is making zero effort to monitor or manage the connection (most clients will close active connections if you shut them down).

We relaunched the client and found it didn't even recognize we were still connected. This is a big, big problem, as it shows you can't trust the client to accurately tell you when you're protected by the VPN, and when you're not.

With the app unable to deliver even the most basic features, you won't be surprised to hear that there's nothing more advanced. No protocol or port options, no kill switch, no DNS controls, no 'launch with Windows' option or ability to reconnect to the last-used server. The client doesn't even have a Settings box.

Our regular privacy tests revealed further issues, with both doileak.com and dnsleaktest.com reporting that our connections had DNS leaks.

Doileak.com was also able to spot that we were using a VPN-like connection involving multiple hops. That's not a direct privacy leak, but could mean that geo-blocked websites will continue not to trust you. Perhaps as a result, we found that BBC iPlayer blocked us when we tried to access it from a UK server.

For all our problems with the Windows client, we've no complaints about performance. Our tests* showed we could achieve up to 70Mbps download speeds on a 75Mbps fibre connection via our nearest UK server. Near European countries reached 60-70Mbps, UK-US connections ranged from 28-40Mbps, and Asian servers were variable but with some highlights (5Mbps to Hong Kong, 10Mbps to Japan, over 30Mbps to India).

These figures aren't directly comparable with our regular tests and most other VPNs as they're using a different protocol (IPSec and IKEv2 as opposed to OpenVPN), but overall they're still very good results. VPN One Click is disappointing in many areas, but speed isn't one of them.

Final verdict

VPN One Click is fast, and could be a cheap way for undemanding novice users to protect a single mobile device. But if you're looking for features, or privacy, or power, or you need to protect desktops or multiple devices, you'll be much better off somewhere else.

*Our testing included evaluating general performance (browsing, streaming video). We also used speedtest.net to measure latency, upload and download speeds, and then tested immediately again with the VPN turned off, to check for any difference (over several rounds of testing). We then compared these results to other VPN services we've reviewed. Of course, do note that VPN performance is difficult to measure as there are so many variables.



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