Ask iPhone users about the creature comforts they like and there's a good chance they'll mention AirDrop -- it's an easy way to share a photo with a nearby Apple device owner. Android users should soon have an equivalent, though. The 9to5Google team has managed to enable an upcoming Fast Share feature on Android that, like AirDrop, would use a combination of Bluetooth and WiFi to send files and even text snippets to nearby people. Turn it on and you can see nearby Fast Share-enabled devices, with transfers taking just a couple of taps (including a confirmation from the recipient).
There are a few key differences. It doesn't appear that you can limit transfers to your contacts, but you can specify "Preferred Visibility" so that favorites see you even when you're not using Fast Share. The sample recipients in the Fast Share screen suggest this might be available on Chromebooks, iOS devices and even Wear OS smartwatches, although we wouldn't count on all of those being available whenever the feature goes public. An iOS version would require a special app.
It's not certain when Fast Share will launch, although it's a Google Play Services feature and likely wouldn't require Android Q. Google might not wait long, though. The company has warned that it's deprecating NFC-based Android Beam transfers in Q. As such, Fast Share could be the only way to quickly send files to local users without resorting to apps (like Files by Google) that your friends won't necessarily have.
If you're already missing Android Beam and the way it allowed you to share links or files from your device to another easily, there's some good news and bad news all rolled up into one item: Google is planning on rolling out a new "Fast Share" protocol through a Play services updates that will allow Android devices to share assets to other devices, primarily using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct connections.
9to5Google and XDA-Developers have unwrapped the new applet, screenshot by screenshot. Fast Share is essentially the sharing function found in the Files by Google app where users assign themselves a special device name for the purposes of using Fast Share, then scan for surrounding devices with Bluetooth before finally conducting the information transfer through Wi-Fi Direct.
The feature is denoted by the icon for the existing "Nearby" feature, which indicates local points of interest from Bluetooth beacons. Fast Share apparently has a dark theme, as depicted by the screenshots above, and looks to be running in a demo mode. Several preset "nearby devices" include a Chromebook, a Pixel 3, an iPhone, and a "smartwatch." Of course, by resorting to the same standard wireless relationships that Apple's own AirDrop does, moving files across devices of different platforms becomes a possibility — though with this being an unreleased service, it's wise not to assume what will go public.
On the other hand, you're going to face the same problems of anonymity that have led to perverts dropping pics to unsuspecting passengers on the train. There is a "Preferred Visibility" designation you can give to devices you frequently connect with. Then again, one of the big reasons why people miss Android Beam — and, for that matter, Samsung's S Beam, which utilized Wi-Fi Direct instead of Bluetooth for data transfer — is because of the certainty that a device tapping another device and initiating contact through NFC. No risk of device name spoofing, no random visual assaults, none of that.
There's no telling if and when Fast Share will come to fruition and, with it being a Play service feature, what versions of Android it will come to. That said, the awkward nature of having to physically clap together phones did inhibit a lot of people from using Beam, so... swings and roundabouts, right?
At WWDC 2019 earlier this month, Apple unveiled its new Sign In with Apple platform, which gives users a privacy-friendly alternative to sign in platforms from Facebook and Google. This week, however, the OpenID Foundation is questioning some of the decisions Apple made for Sign In with Apple.
Sylvania HomeKit Light Strip
The OpenID Foundation is a non-profit organization with members such as PayPal, Google, Microsoft, and more. The OpenID Foundation controls numerous universal sign-in platforms using its OpenID Connect platform:
OpenID Connect was developed by a large number of companies and industry experts within the OpenID Foundation (OIDF). OpenID Connect is a modern, widely-adopted identity protocol built on OAuth 2.0 that enables third-party login to applications in a standard way.
In a public letter to Craig Federighi, the OpenID Foundation writes that Apple has “largely adopted” OpenID Connect for Sign In with Apple, but that there are some notable differences. The foundation argues that the differences between Sign In with Apple and OpenID Connect limit the places customers can use Sign In with Apple and poses security and privacy risks.
The differences between OpenID Connect and Apple’s platform are being tracked here, where privacy and security risks are also detailed.
The current set of differences between OpenID Connect and Sign In with Apple reduces the places where users can use Sign In with Apple and exposes them to greater security and privacy risks. It also places an unnecessary burden on developers of both OpenID Connect and Sign In with Apple. By closing the current gaps, Apple would be interoperable with widely-available OpenID Connect Relying Party software.
To resolve these issues, the OpenID Foundation is calling on Apple to close the gaps between Sign In with Apple and OpenID Connect, publicly state that Sign In with Apple is interoperable with OpenID Connect, and join the OpenID Foundation.
Synthesizers are mysterious and intimidating boxes to me, but electronic music company Ableton is setting out to explain and demystify the instrument. The company has created an interactive browser game called Learning Synths that teaches users the basics of synthesizers. The friendly tool is thoughtfully designed with fun illustrations and widgets that make it perfect for beginners to tinker around with.
Learning Synths starts out with a lesson on amplitude and pitch, but if you want to skip ahead to synth concepts, you can click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner to learn about envelopes, LFOs, and oscillators. The lessons culminate in the Playground, seen above, where users can play with presets and sequences. The site works in mobile Safari, but you can also connect a MIDI keyboard to your laptop if you’re using Google Chrome.
Drag-and-drop sliders let you adjust to find the sound you want, and there are little surprises as you move through the lessons. It’s a great way to learn about how synths generate certain tones and visually match waveform shapes to their sound.
When you’re finished, you can keep the lessons going by jumping over to the basics of music making through one of Ableton’s earlier browser tools, or take what you’ve learned and move onto Ableton Live.
Apparently, Google has plans to turn the Android Messages app into a veritable Instagram and Snapchat rival. XDA Developers has discovered that the tech giant is testing augmented reality effects with pretty impressive elements within its messaging app -- the publication even managed to activate the feature to test it out. The experimental Effects button lives inside Android Messages' camera, right beside the Photo and Video buttons.
It looks like Google is testing five effects at the moment, including one that shows your face through the window of a cartoon airplane before it flies away. The balloon effect puts flying balloons in front of and behind you, while another puts a fireworks display right in your living room. There's also a confetti effect and an angel filter that gives you a halo and a pair of wings. The halo can follow your head around, just like Snapchat's face filters.
XDA says it was only able to access the effects through the messaging app's camera and that they weren't available through the standalone camera app. While the animated messages could reportedly be sent as SMS or MMS, the feature will go well with Google's RCS rollout, which will give you the ability to send and receive high-quality media and get read receipts in the Messages app, among other things. As with any experimental feature, it may take some time before it becomes available to the public. When it does, we hope you're ready for a barrage of Snapchat-like animations flooding your Messages.
The Galaxy Note10 is fast approaching, and we've got a roundup and breakdown of various rumors about important, core aspects of the phone's upcoming launch and features. Check out our Q&A style guide below to learn all the latest about Samsung's new Note in an easy-to-read, digestible format.
Launch date
Q: When will the Note10 launch?
A: August 7th
Samsung launched the Galaxy Note9 on August 9th in 2018, and it is rumored by CNET that the next Note will launch on August 7th this year. Given CNET is a large, reliable publication with a good track record on rumors, you can probably make August 7th the date you mark in your calendar. While phone launches can always be postponed, they're generally planned very well in advance and require significant venue, service, and travel arrangements to be coordinated, meaning once a date is picked, it's not trivial to change it. As it's just two days before the same time the Note9 launched last year, history is also on the side of this rumor. This seems pretty certain.
Design and appearance
Q: What will the Note10 look like?
A: These renders and photos basically tell us.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung's new phones have been posted relentlessly in 3D-rendered form by talented rendering artists with access to leaked CAD data. The best look at the Note10+ (previously rumored to be called the Note10 Pro) is this video below, but check out this post for pictures.
You can find similar renders of the smaller, standard Note10 presented in a similar fashion right here. No official press shots of the phones have yet leaked, and will likely give us the clearest, closest look at Samsung's design language.
Some photos of the Note10+ also leaked, though the quality of the images leaves something to be desired. They don't tell us much, but they're shown above. We can confirm the circular, centered front-facing camera cutout (meaning the Note10 has just one front-facing camera), and it appears the larger Note10 won't be called the "Pro" after all, but the Note10+.
Pricing
Q: How much will the Note10 cost?
A: We don't know, but we can guess ($1000-1200 seems likely)
No reliable information about the price of either the Galaxy Note10 or the larger Note10+ model (previously thought to be called the Note 10 "Pro") has yet leaked. While one Russian site claims a starting price between $1100-1200, it is possible (likely) they are converting from Russian currency so that they can publish a newsworthy figure for western readers. In reality, the best insight we can offer is to look at the phones Samsung has on sale right now.
The Galaxy S10+ went on sale at full MSRP for $1000 when it was initially announced. Samsung has since discounted it frequently, and a current sale on Samsung's official US website has it available for $900 unlocked. Given we expect two Galaxy Note10 models, I would be sincerely doubtful the "smaller" 6.28" Note10 that is rumored would be more expensive than the initial $1000 MSRP 6.4" Galaxy S10+. More likely, I expect Samsung will price the smaller Note10 at $1000 and keep the price of the Galaxy S10+ at or below $900 going forward. As for the larger 6.75" Note10+, which is rumored to add an SD card slot and an additional depth-sensing camera, I would not be surprised to see an asking price of $1150, possibly slightly more - though I'd think even $1200 would be a step too far.
I deem these prices likely for one, simple reason: Apple. The 64GB iPhone XS and XS Max are priced at $1000 and $1100, respectively, and I find it extremely unlikely Samsung would price considerably higher than Apple, but for the fact that the Note10+ is expected to start at 256GB of storage, while regular version will allegedly start at 128GB. When Apple's new iPhones launch in September, they're expected to start at 128GB of storage. So, if the Note10+ does start at 256GB of capacity, that gives Samsung some breathing room to justify a price delta over $100 between the smaller and larger models, not mentioning the larger display, battery, microSD slot, and fourth rear camera. Expect 512GB and 1TB models, too, though prices on those are harder to pin down. Samsung charges a $150 premium for the 512GB S10+ over the 256GB model, and $350 on top of that for the 1TB version. So, it's entirely possible a 4G Note10+ could max out well north of $1700 in the top configuration.
As to 5G versions of the Note10+, it's a little harder. Samsung offers the Galaxy S10+ 5G in the US for $1300 on Verizon and Sprint, and it's a bit smaller (6.70") than the alleged-6.75" Note10+. While the Note will likely pack better cameras and a stylus (of course), I'm unsure if that will be enough to elevate it beyond the $1300 mark, or if the price of the S10+ 5G will simply be lowered to make room for it in carrier lineups. The carriers will have end say in how the 5G Note is priced, of course (Samsung is unlikely to sell an unlocked model in the US), so we'll have to wait and see on this one.
Models / variants
Q: How many Note10 models will there be?
A: Three (in the US)
In the US, we have every reason to expect there will be 3 basic models of the Galaxy Note10. The smaller 6.25" Note10, the larger 6.75" Note10+, and the Note10 5G (expected to be similar size to the 4G "+"). At this time, it's unclear how many physical differences - if any - there are between the Note10+ and the 5G model, though I expect we may see the 5G variant come in a bit thicker to accommodate a larger battery. Android Police's own sources indicate that Verizon intends to launch all three versions of the phone (Note 10, Note10+, Note10 5G). At this point, the plans of other carriers are largely unknown, though I imagine some snooping for model numbers will reveal who will and will not get the 5G version of the Note.
Note10 5G
Q: Which carriers will offer the 5G version of the Note10?
A: Verizon, others TBD
We can confidently state Verizon will be getting the 5G version of the Note10+, likely at or very shortly after the launch of the 4G versions. Other carriers remain up in the air. Sprint seems like a good bet as it's already selling the S10 5G, so while we don't have confirmation, you can probably count them in. AT&T sells the S10 5G too... but only to business customers. AT&T seems pretty gun-shy about launching its 5G network to the public yet, so it's impossible to say whether it'll be ready enough in time for the Note10. T-Mobile allegedly will carry the S10 5G later this summer, but big-mouthed John Legere has been uncharacteristically mum about his company's 5G device launch plans thus far. So, while T-Mobile may get a Note10 with 5G, it's hard to say when it might actually go on sale - with the same being true of AT&T.
Headphone jack
Q: Does the Note10 have a headphone jack?
A: No
According to very reliable sources, we have learned that the Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ will not feature headphone jacks, a first for the Galaxy Note series. They will, however, still have proper volume and power keys. Samsung will ship a pair of AKG-branded USB-C headphones in the box with every Note10 and Note10+ in order to ease the transition to type C audio, as well as a USB-C to 3.5mm headphone dongle for those who wish to continue using their traditional headphones.
While this is a major departure for Samsung, the continued need for battery and component space inside smartphones makes the headphone jack an ever-more desirable target for removal. The big question is whether this change will carry over to the Galaxy S11 series next year, and we're not sure of that just yet.
SD card slot
Q: Does the Note10 have a microSD card slot?
A: Only the Note10+
According to a reliable source, we can confirm that only the Note10+ will have a microSD card slot. This had been previously rumored. The smaller Note10 will not have a microSD slot. As to the 5G version, we aren't certain, but I would lean in the direction it having one given we believe the Note10+ 5G will be based on the 4G Note10+. Why would Samsung remove the SD card slot from the smaller phone? It's anybody's guess - it could be a way to upsell the larger device, or a space limitation, we just don't know. It'll be the first Note without an SD card slot since the Note5.
Battery size
Q: How big will the Note10's battery be?
A: Too many conflicting rumors to know, but probably between 4000-4500mAh depending on model
Rumors to date have suggested the Note10 and 10+ could have batteries ranging between 4000 and 4500mAh. One site - a not-very-reliable one, I might add - even claims both the smaller and larger Notes will share 4170mAh batteries, which seems incredibly unlikely. Samsung insider IceUniverse suggests the 4G Note10+ could have a 4500mAh battery and faster 25W charging, while Galaxy Club (not what I'd call a reputable source) even suggests the utterly improbably scenario that the smaller phone will have a 3400mAh battery.
Here's what we can tell you: it's very, very, very likely that Samsung is deliberately obfuscating the size of the battery in devices used for testing by carriers and technical assurance partners so that leakers are conflicting with one another. This is standard prototype data obfuscation, and you see it very commonly in unreleased phones during testing. Until we see specifications leaked from marketing or technical materials, these numbers are basically placeholders as far as I'm concerned, apart maybe from IceUniverse, who I am more inclined to trust.
S-Pen
Q: What's changing with the S Pen? Will it have that crazy built-in camera?
A: We don't know about new features, but no, it probably doesn't have a camera inside.
PatentlyMobile published a story earlier this year that set blogs on fire across the web claiming that Samsung could put a camera inside the Galaxy Note's S Pen. Speaking to our sources to date, everything indicates that the Galaxy Note10's S Pen will be largely indistinguishable from the S Pen of the Note9, which was the first major overhaul of the pen's design in some years. A hidden camera, therefore, seems incredibly unlikely. Such a feature sounds extremely finicky, expensive, and probably very unreliable. The S Pen doesn't even have a proper battery - just a supercapacitor with extremely limited life outside the phone. A camera utilizing such a tiny power source seems nigh impossible.
What else?
If there are any other topics you'd like to see covered in this post, be sure to let us know in the comments below.
T-Mobile is the last of the four major U.S. carriers to launch its 5G network. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon have each already gotten their respective 5G networks off the ground. All four carriers now offer 5G service, albeit in limited footprints and with uneven experiences.
One of T-Mobile’s 5G launch cities is New York, and the company invited us to take the network for a spin using the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. This is the same phone we used earlier this year to test Verizon’s 5G. It’s a gorgeous phone with a massive screen and an advanced set of cameras. But we’re not interested in the phone, we’re interested in the network.
T-Mobile touts mmWave
This is not necessarily the 5G network anyone expected to see from T-Mobile, at least at the start. The company has spent the last year and a half talking up its low-band 600MHz spectrum, which is where its nationwide 5G network will eventually reside. Instead, T-Mobile’s 5G launch cities all rely on mmWave technology in the 28GHz band. This is similar to AT&T and Verizon, which are also using mmWave in high-band slices of spectrum. Sprint, conversely, launched 5G in its 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum.
Why does this matter?
mmWave is a near line-of-sight technology. It is relegated to outdoor use, as it cannot penetrate buildings. While walking around NYC testing the network, I repeatedly witnessed the Galaxy S10 5G lose its connection to T-Mobile 5G every time I went indoors.
When I tested Verizon’s 5G network in Chicago, service was limited to the immediate area surrounding the nodes. We’re talking 30 to 100 yards or so, and I had to be in eyesight of the node. Verizon’s service in Chicago is limited to just a few streets in the city’s business district for now.
Sprint’s 5G service is better at penetrating buildings due to the nature of the airwaves it uses. It, too, is limited to just a few small neighborhoods in Dallas, Kansas City, and other markets.
T-Mobile’s deployment is different from both Verizon and Sprint. The company didn’t point out where its nodes are (though I spotted some on buildings). Its coverage map suggests that huge portions of Manhattan and a small area of Brooklyn can enjoy 5G service. I’d call the maps a bit, shall we say, overzealous.
I walked about five miles around Alphabet City, the East Village, the Lower East Side, Two Bridges, Chinatown, Little Italy, and Greenwich Village. I trudged up and down dozens of streets that were shaded bright pink on the map to indicate the availability of 5G service. According to the S10 5G, the network actually showed up approximately 60 percent of the time.
Bottom line, you have to be outdoors to find it, and it isn’t quite everywhere T-Mobile claims.
Despite the inaccuracies I encountered in T-Mobile’s coverage map, the Un-carrier’s 5G service is much more widely available than either of the other carriers’ is.
About 20 speed tests, taken all over the map, turned up some interesting results. The fastest 5G download speed I achieved on T-Mobile’s network was 510Mbps. That’s slower than the 690Mbps peak I saw on Sprint and the 1.25Gbps peak I saw on Verizon. The average download speed across all tests, including some stinkers, was 313Mbps. Ping times hovered around 20ms.
Like its competitors, T-Mobile is still relying on LTE 4G for uploads. That’s why my speed test results show an average upload speed of about 50Mbps. That’s in line with that I saw from Sprint and Verizon.
Want to download some movies? I downloaded a two-hour movie from Netflix in about 30 seconds. A single episode of Stranger Things took about four seconds to download over T-Mobile 5G, and four episodes took less than 30 seconds (including the time it took me to reach up and tap the button four times.)
We're literally at the very beginning of the 5G era.
The speeds I saw were not as eye-popping as those I saw from Verizon, but an average speed of 313Mbps is more than suitable for interacting with the internet and the content we have available to us today. The average download speed I achieved on Sprint’s network was closer to 200Mbps and the average download speed I achieved on Verizon’s network was closer to 600 Mbps.
Heat played a role. Temperatures in NYC exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit while I tested the S10 5G. Running speed tests constantly really got the phone cooking. A safety feature built into the phone will prevent it from overheating. This tool automatically turns 5G service off for a while so the phone can cool down. This happened to me twice while I tested the phone. I had to step into some air conditioned coffee shops to get the S10 5G (and myself) back into action. Samsung and T-Mobile said this is normal.
In all, T-Mobile’s network may not have been as fast as Sprint or Verizon’s, but it was more widely available according to our experience on the streets of Manhattan. We can’t speak to the coverage in T-Mobile’s other launch cities, which include Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
This is just the beginning
If you’re not bowled over with these results, it’s important to keep in mind that we’re literally at the very beginning of the 5G era. These are the first 5G networks and the first 5G phones. No one should expect carriers and their handset partners to deliver a paradigm-shifting experience from Day One.
What we’re seeing is a strong (if late) start. Only a small handful of carriers around the world have deployed 5G. A year from now entire cities will be blanketed with 5G and consumers will have multiple phones from which to choose. Those are the days I’m looking forward to the most.
Prices tend to drop around each major US holiday, and with July 4th around the corner, we’re seeing that start to happen. And then there’s Amazon Prime Day 2019, a shopping holiday that will begin on July 15th, though we expect to see a few early bird sales before then.
We’ll be keeping you in the know about any good deals coming up, but these are the best deals that we’ve seen this week.
Phones
Sony’s Xperia 1 is now available for preorder. The price is $949.99, which is admittedly not cheap for a phone, but if you order before July 12th, you’ll receive a free set of Sony’s 1000X M3 wireless noise-canceling headphones with your purchase. Those usually cost around $300 or more, which is a great incentive if you were tossing around the idea of preordering the Xperia 1. You can find this deal at Best Buy (add both the phone and headphones to your cart) and B&H Photo.
If you don’t want the phone, there’s a deal for just the 1000X M3 headphones below.
If that’s a bit too much for your budget, Samsung’s entire line of Galaxy S10 phones are considerably cheaper than usual at B&H Photo. The S10E, which usually starts at $749 for the 128GB model, is $549.99 after you clip the $100 coupon on the product page. The S10 and S10 Plus also offer a total of $200 off when you clip the coupon, bringing down the price for their respective 128GB configurations to $699 and $799.
These phones are unlocked and work with any US carrier, and they each come with a one-year warranty through Samsung.
Headphones and smart speakers
Beats Solo 3 on-ear wireless headphones are $129.99 at Daily Steals if you add the offer code VERGEBEATS at checkout. These are open-box models in new condition. Apple provides a 90-day warranty on the Beats, and if you encounter an issue after that (so long as you’re within a year of purchase), Daily Steals will help you out.
Sony’s 1000X M3 are the cheapest they’ve ever been at Rakuten. Use the offer code PRO15P to get them in either silver or black for $237.96. These headphones usually retail for $349, and they cost $279 without the code. Note that you’ll have to make an account to get the sale price.
The Amazon Echo Dot (third generation) is back down to $24.99, its cheapest price. We’ve seen it sell for this price plenty of times, and it’s likely to sink even lower for Prime Day, but it’s not a bad deal if you need one right now.
Tablets
It might seem peculiar to highlight a deal on Apple’s older iPad Pro instead of the new iPad Air (two nearly identical tablets, inside and out), but there are a few reasons why it might be a better deal for some. The 64GB model, which is currently $474.99 at Walmart, has double the RAM count of the new iPad Air (4GB to 2GB). It also features a ProMotion variable refresh rate display (up to 120Hz) that will make game animations appear smoother, and scrolling around feel more responsive than a 60Hz display. The iPad Air does not have that advantage.
The Logi Crayon doesn’t have pressure sensitivity like the Apple Pencil, but it’s a good stylus at $49.99 at Amazon (usually $69.99). It’s rechargeable via Lightning and it has tilt support.
If you really want to kit out your iPad Pro, the Smart Keyboard is $79.50 at Amazon. It originally sold for $159.99, but has been this lower price for quite some time.
Subscriptions
If you like listening to audiobooks, a year-long subscription to Audible is currently $119, $30 off its usual cost for Prime members (paying month to month costs $180 after 12 months). The subscription will get you a credit for one new audiobook of your choosing per month, and each month of service will let you download two free Audible Original audiobooks. To go along with those savings, Amazon is offering an Echo Dot smart speaker for $1.
Our Amazon Prime Day 2019 coverage has already started, and will be ramping up in the next few weeks. If you want to partake in Amazon’s two-day sale, you’ll need a Prime membership. You can get a one-month trial for free right now, and it will last you through Prime Day. Should you want to keep it running, it will cost $12.99 per month, or $119 per year (around $10 per month).
Gaming
Steam’s summer sale is happening now through July 9th. A few deals of note include Rage 2 for $40.19 and Soulcalibur VI for $19.79. There are so many games on sale, so you should check your wishlist out to see which are discounted.
If you buy Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One games at Target, you’ll save 30 percent on selected titles if you opt to pick up your online order in store. For example, this deal brings Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a $59.99 game, down to $38.10. Games like The Division 2, Team Sonic Racing, Kingdom Hearts III, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and more are also included in the sale.
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