Author: batteryforpc

Corsair is once again refreshing its Void headset with the promise of better audio, courtesy of new custom tuned 50mm neodymium drivers with an expanded frequency range.

Incidentally, the original Void Wireless we reviewed in 2015 also used 50mm drivers. However, the custom tuned drivers in the new Void Elite series gives these headsets a rated frequency range of 20Hz to 30,000Hz, up from a 20,000Hz at the top end. Whether or not this expanded range will be enough to crack our list of the best gaming headsets remains to be seen (er, heard).

There are three Void Elite models, depending on the preferred connection. They include the Void RGB Elite Wireless with a 2.4GHz wireless dongle (good for up to 40 feet), Void RGB Elite USB with a USB cable, and Void Elite Surround with both a universal 3.5mm connector and USB adapter.

All three feature virtual 7.1 surround sound, and in addition to the apparent driver upgrade, they also feature a “completely redesigned” omnidirectional microphone that is Discord-certified.

Alongside the new Void Elite series, Corsair also announced the HS45 Surround, HS50 Pro Stereo, HS60 Pro Surround, and HS70 Pro Wireless. These also feature 50mm neodymium drivers, albeit with a lower frequency range (20Hz to 20,000Hz) along with an updated detachable microphone.

Pricing breaks down as follows:

Corsair Void RGB Elite—$99.99

Corsair Void RGB Elite Wireless—$79.99

Corsair Void Elite Surround—$79.99

Corsair HS70 Pro Wireless—$99.99

Corsair HS60 Pro—$69.99 (on sale for $49.99)

Corsair HS50 Pro Stereo—$49.99

Corsair HS45 Surround—$49.99

Features vary by model, and so does the design. The Void Elite has RGB lighting (the top two, anyway) and swivel earcups, whereas the HS series is more of a traditional headset design.

All of the new headsets are available now.

One of the longest-running complaints I’ve had with Android apps on Chromebooks is the lack of consistency across the board from a UI standpoint. From separate app stores to multiple ways to add accounts, Android has always had a bolted-on feel when being utilized on a Chromebook. Even the way apps scale to fit the screen was handled separately at one point along the way, forcing users to navigate to a special Android setting just to get scaling to work on both Android and Chrome apps alike.

Over the years since Android and Chrome OS started hanging out together on Chromebooks, many of these pain points have been neatly addressed and tucked away. Android apps scale up and down with the Chrome OS UI, account access has been unified, and the Play Store feels as much a part of the Chromebook experience as an app store should. The upcoming App Service even gives users a unified place to see all their installed apps regardless of whether they are Android, Linux, or Chrome-based.

So many kinks have been ironed out, but one huge divide still remains and is such a broken part of the overall user experience that it throws a wrench in the daily use of Android apps for many users. That issue lies with the Files app or, more specifically, the lack of Files app integration across the board for file selection. Previously, if you were to open an Android app and then use that app to open up a file to begin working with, you would be taken to the generic Android app picker. This file manager isn’t really an app but more of a core piece of the Android Framework installed on your Chromebook and looks something like this:

It basically worked, but made the entire experience of dealing with files inside Android apps a bit of a hit-or-miss proposition. Many times, the moment you open that file picker, you see a message about there being “no items” to choose from. For inexperienced users, this would be enough to cause some serious concern and confusion as you need to click around in the Android file picker quite a bit to find what you are looking for. Never mind the fact that it only served to remind users that this app wasn’t part of the “real” operating system: it is just an Android app. Experiences like these don’t help anyone and only further the feeling of divide between Chrome OS and Android.

In the latest Stable builds of Chrome OS, however, this headache is now gone. The feature flag for #arc-file-picker-experiment seems to now be switched on by default and, if it isn’t, you can head over to chrome://flags/#arc-picker-experiment and enable it yourself. Once this is in place, you will now notice that the Chrome OS Files app will be the only file manager you are tasked with using. Opening a file in Android? You’ll choose via the standard Files app. Opening a file in a Chrome or Web app? Same thing, same experience.

Along with the other unification tweaks that have come along in the past few months, this new feature will go a long, long way in helping both existing and new users operate in Chrome OS across multiple app ecosystems with a bit more consistency. As an OS that is attempting to bring together the Web, Android and Linux apps, moves like these are giant steps toward a collectively-better user experience.

For the last several years, smartphone manufacturers innovated primarily in the way of camera technology, while the form factor has increasingly stagnated into a bunch of boring, glass-backed slabs. Many have been asking for more innovation, and with the Samsung Galaxy Fold we see a radical departure from the ordinary. But phones that fold are, in a way, a return to the past.

Nearly a decade ago, we had foldable phones like the Nokia E7 and T-Mobile Touch Pro 2. They were known as “slider” phones, and featured displays that folded away to reveal physical QWERTY keyboards, with email and texting first in mind use cases. Software-based keyboards have advanced considerably in that time, so it’s doubtful these type of folding devices will be making a comeback (Blackberry Key2 aside).

Samsung’s take on folding utilizes cutting-edge tech to offer a truly foldable screen, and while the center of the display is clearly visible and apparent in most use cases, it’s still gloriously cool to use. In order to fully appreciate the Galaxy Fold, you have to see it in person—anyone who judges it harshly without trying one is likely to change their minds after some time with the phone.

I traveled eight hours round trip to purchase an AT&T Galaxy Fold at Best Buy in Eastern Washington, and the cost of the phone and trip were absolutely worth it. I’ve been using the Fold as my daily driver for 10 days, and it just keeps getting better.

When the first batch of Galaxy Folds suffered failures due to serious design flaws, I canceled my own pre-order. I told myself wouldn’t even consider it until the second generation, when the kinks were all worked out.

Samsung made some significant design improvements by sealing the edges of the display and closing up the openings on the top and bottom in way of the hinges. When you unbox the Galaxy Fold, you’re greeted with guidelines on how to care for your phone and use it responsibly. And at $2,000, it’s probably prudent to take heed of these warnings.

Samsung also showed a video where its test machine folded the Galaxy Fold more than 200,000 times without failure. At 100 folds a day, which is more than I have managed even with enthusiastic testing, it would take 5.5 years to reach 200,000. That’s far longer than almost anyone keeps a smartphone. While CNET recently conducted its own hinge durability test in which a Fold failed after only 120,000 folds, their methodology was suspect. No one is going to violently slam a Fold open and shut at the rate of the machine used.

The major innovation here is obviously the 7.3″ folding OLED display. Samsung is known for stunning screens, and the one on the Fold is no different. Its soft upper layer has been shown to be sensitive to scratches and indents, but I don’t think it is as fragile as we’ve been led to believe. Since very few are likely to ever see a Fold, let alone purchase one, I’ve been letting people use the phone whenever I can (I’ve let more than 50 people try it out so far).

While the screen is stunning, you can clearly see, and feel, the center portion of the display that folds over the hinge. Some people will never be able to accept that. But when watching movies or working with apps that have bright backgrounds it’s hardly noticeable.

There’s also a narrow 4.6-inch display on the exterior of the Fold that functions as a full Android smartphone normally would. The only real compromise is with text entry, but Gboard swiping works well, and I quickly got used to a smaller keyboard (after all, smartphones used to be pretty tiny). Due to the size, I thought I would rarely use the outer display, but I find myself spending more than a quarter of my time on it because it’s a great one-handed smartphone. For calls, quick messages, and other short tasks it’s also just more convenient.

The Galaxy Fold is quite heavy, at 276 grams (over half a pound)—far heavier than even the huge Note 10 Plus, which is a “mere” 196 grams. It’s also more than twice as thick as one when folded, and the phone has a decidedly dense feel to it in the closed position, but it doesn’t feel nearly so unwieldy when expanded in all 7.8″ of its glory.

App continuity is one major software feature that we see only on the Galaxy Fold right now, owing to its two separate screens. Samsung hasn’t made applications transfer from the inner display to the outer display by default, but instead lets you select which apps will behave this way. There are some apps I’ve tried that don’t support app continuity at all, such as Garmin Connect, Amazon Alexa, Evernote, Fitbit , Starbucks, Strava, and Uber. That list will, hopefully, shrink over time.

The other major software enhancement only found on the Galaxy Fold is the ability to open and use three (or more!) apps at once. You can even drag and drop a fourth app onto the very center of the screen and have that application appear over the top of the three other apps in use.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold isn’t perfect yet, but for new technology, it is a lot better than I expected.

Time will tell how durable it is, but I’m treating it just as I would any phone (though there’s no way I’m going running with this bad boy), and I’m showing it off to people more than I ever have any other phone before.

The Fold serves well as a one-handed communicator and then opens up to a world of big screen apps and media, truly functioning as a phone and small tablet in one. You can even connect it to a PC monitor and create a desktop UI with Samsung’s DeX software. It’s that promise of doing it all—of being the one computer in your life—that I think offers a glimpse of our mobile future.

Famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted some of the best potential news surrounding MacBooks in years: by mid 2020, all MacBook models will use traditional scissor switches within their keyboards.

Of course, it’s widely expected that the rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro will lead this charge by dropping the… challenged Butterfly keyboard design in favor of a more traditional scissor switch method.

Thanks to Kuo, and first reported by MacRumors, we can now expect the same improvement to come to the rest of Apple’s laptop lineup before the middle mark of 2020.

Older design, better reliability

It’s widely assumed that Apple’s Butterfly keyboard switch design was conceived to allow for thinner and lighter laptops than were possible before. That much was true, as evidenced by the 12-inch MacBook first released in 2015.

However, it quickly came to light that these new switches are more prone to failure due to dust and other particulate exposure, leading to keys that got stuck or simply didn’t register presses. As a result, this story has dragged Apple’s laptops over the proverbial hot coals for years now.

Apple currently runs a rather generous product replacement program for MacBooks with faulty Butterfly keyboards, but the writing has been on the wall for this design for some time.

So, we look forward not only to the apparently imminent 16-inch MacBook Pro launch, but all future MacBook releases, with bated breath.

The second developer beta of iOS 13.2 is now available. In addition to features like Deep Fusion and Announce Messages with Siri, the second developer beta has more in store. Here’s our full roundup of what’s new.

The first beta of iOS 13.2 was released last week with Apple’s new Deep Fusion image processing technology. In addition to Deep Fusion, iOS 13.2 also includes things such as the addition of Announce Messages with Siri, new iPadOS settings, HomeKit tweaks, and more.

Today’s release of iOS 13.2 developer beta 2 includes even more changes. Read on as we roundup them up below.

Spot any other major changes in the second developer beta of iOS 13.2? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter, @9to5Mac.

What’s new in iOS 13.2 beta 2?

Includes 60+ the new emoji previewed by Apple back in July

New emoji picker for selecting multiple skin tones within a single emoji

New setting for Siri that allows you to delete your Siri and Dictation history, as Apple promised. You can also opt out or in during setup

More details on TechCrunch

New option to delete apps from the Haptic Touch menu on the Home screen

“Rearrange apps” changed to “Edit Home Screen”

You can now adjust video recording settings directly in the Camera app on the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro

We’ve previously heard that Google would follow up its Pixelbook – the company’s flagship Chromebook – with a lighter and more affordable product than its premium predecessor, and now we’ve just gotten our best look at the Pixelbook Go yet.

Thanks to a trusted source close to 9to5Google, the Pixelbook Go has been revealed in full, with extensive shots of the device itself in a salmon color scheme (visit the original article for a full gallery of images).

Ribbed for your pleasure

As pointed out by 9to5Google, the Pixelbook Go prominently sports a textured bottom panel, which features a colorful, ribbed panel coated in an apparently “grippy” material that “feels somewhat similar to a washboard or the roof of a dog’s mouth”.

The top half of the laptop, however, features a more traditionally smooth finish, although it’s also subtly tinged with a pink-ish hue.

As for ports, the left side of the Pixelbook Go is seen sporting a USB-C port, charging indicator LED, and a 3.5mm headphone jack, while the other side is home to a second USB-C connection.

With the unit opened, you’ll see more of that pink tinge on the Pixelbook Go’s notably MacBook-esque lower half, including the keyboard and trackpad, while the top half is home to a 13.3-inch display and rather prominent black bezel.

As far as specs are concerned, 9to5Google hasn’t found anything new to add since the last time it delved into the upcoming Chromebook’s internals.

This means that we can still likely expect a range of configurations that variably boast Intel Core m3, i5, or i7 processors, 8GB or 16GB of RAM, Full HD or 4K touch displays, and 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB of storage.

These options will all share two front-firing speakers, a 2MP front-facing camera (capable 1080p at 60fps), the Titan C chipset, the aforementioned two USB-C ports and headphone jack, and arrive in both “Just Black” and “Not Pink” configurations.

It’s worth noting that the unit that 9to5Google managed to get its hands on is a prototype – identifiable by the placeholder logo in the spot where we’d expect the Google ‘G’ – so any of the aforementioned details are technically subject to change, although we don’t expect they’ll do so considerably.

There’s no word currently on when the Pixelbook Go will be available and in which regions it will launch, but we’ll very likely hear more about it at the upcoming Google event on October 15, where the company is expected to launch its Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL handsets.

2019 has been the first year OnePlus has truly made phones that compete with the best flagships around, first with the OnePlus 7 Pro, and now with the OnePlus 7T Pro.

It’s not a huge upgrade on the 7 Pro but it’s an upgrade nonetheless, making it the highest-end phone OnePlus has to offer, and its clearest competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus.

Samsung’s phone is somewhat older, launching towards the start of 2019, but it remains one of the most accomplished Android flagships around and tops our best phones list, so does the OnePlus 7T Pro have what it takes to compete? Read on to get a clearer idea.

OnePlus 7T Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus display

The OnePlus 7T Pro has a curved 6.67-inch 1440 x 3120 screen with 516 pixels per inch and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. It uses Fluid AMOLED, supports HDR10+, and has a 90Hz refresh rate.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus on the other hand has a curved 6.4-inch 1440 x 3040 screen with 522 pixels per inch and an aspect ratio of 19:9. This phone uses Dynamic AMOLED and also supports HDR10+, but has just a 60Hz refresh rate.

That refresh rate is one of the main differences between the two phones. It means that animations and interactions with the OnePlus 7T Pro should feel slightly smoother at the cost of a tiny amount of battery life (though the refresh rate can be switched to 60Hz if you’d prefer).

In most other ways these two phones have similar screens, though the OnePlus 7T Pro has a slightly larger one.

Samsung’s meanwhile might look slightly better – we won’t be able to say for sure until we’ve put the OnePlus 7T Pro through a full review, but Samsung’s flagship screens are usually among the very best for visual quality and the Galaxy S10 Plus is no exception.

OnePlus 7T Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus design

Both the OnePlus 7T Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus have curved screens, metal frames and glass backs, so there’s a lot of similarity in their designs.

There are some big differences too though. For one thing, the OnePlus 7T Pro has an all-screen front, achieved by opting for a pop-up selfie camera (more on which below). The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus on the other hand has a punch-hole for the camera in the top right corner of the display.

Samsung’s phone also has a different arrangement of cameras on the back, with the lenses laid out horizontally, while on the OnePlus 7T Pro they’re arranged vertically.

Most of the other differences are smaller. For example, the OnePlus 7T Pro comes in at 162.6 x 75.9 x 8.8mm and 206g, while the Galaxy S10 Plus is a smaller and lighter 157.6 x 74.1 x 7.8mm and 175g.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus also comes in a wide range of colors, while the OnePlus 7T Pro just comes in Haze Blue.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus has an official water resistance rating, which the OnePlus 7T Pro doesn’t.

OnePlus 7T Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus camera

Both of these phones have triple-lens rear cameras, with the OnePlus 7T Pro packing a 48MP f/1.6 main lens, an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto lens (with 3x optical zoom), and a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens with a 117-degree field of view. The main and telephoto lenses also have optical image stabilization (OIS).

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus on the other hand has a 12MP main lens, which can switch between apertures of f/1.5 and f/2.4, along with a 12MP f/2.4 telephoto lens (with 2x optical zoom), and a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens with a 123-degree field of view. The main and telephoto lenses here also have OIS.

So megapixels aside the two phones have similar setups, albeit with the OnePlus 7T Pro offering greater optical zoom while the S10 Plus can use a wider field of view. Video skills are also similar on paper – both can shoot in up to 4K quality at up to 60fps, and in slow-motion 720p video at up to 960fps, or 1080p video at 240fps.

Bigger differences can be found on the front-facing cameras, as while the OnePlus 7T Pro has just a single-lens 16MP f/2.0 one, the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus has both a 10MP f/1.9 main lens and an 8MP f/2.2 depth sensor. On paper Samsung’s setup sounds more impressive, but in our review we weren’t convinced by the need for two lenses.

OnePlus 7T Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus specs and features

The OnePlus 7T Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus are both flagship phones, so the specs impress. The OnePlus 7T Pro has a top-end Snapdragon 855 Plus chipset along with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (but no microSD card slot).

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus meanwhile has either a Snapdragon 855 chipset (in the US) or an Exynos 9820 chipset (in most other places). These are both high-end, but not quite as new or cutting-edge as the 7T Pro’s.

The Galaxy S10 Plus additionally has either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and a choice of 128GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage, along with a microSD card slot. So the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus wins on RAM and storage but loses in terms of processing power.

As for features, both phones have an in-screen fingerprint scanner and stereo speakers. But the OnePlus 7T Pro runs Android 10 while the Galaxy S10 Plus is still on Android 9 – it will be getting updated though.

OnePlus 7T Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus battery

The OnePlus 7T Pro has a 4,085mAh battery, while the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus has a 4,100mAh one. So they’re similarly sized.

The OnePlus 7T Pro should charge faster though – it uses ‘Warp Charge 30T’ technology, allowing it to charge even faster than the 30W OnePlus 7 Pro, and certainly faster than the 15W Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus.

However, the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus supports fast wireless charging and has a Wireless PowerShare feature, which lets you use the phone as a charging pad to juice up other devices. The OnePlus 7T Pro on the other hand has no wireless charging features.

So on paper there are pros and cons to both here. In practice we found that the Galaxy S10 Plus had more than all-day life, but not by much. We’ll let you know how the OnePlus 7T Pro performs once we’ve put it through a full review, but the OnePlus 7 Pro – which is likely to be similar here – had similar longevity to the S10 Plus in our tests.

OnePlus 7T Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is of course out now. It costs $999 / £899 / AU$1,499 for a version with 128GB of storage, $1,249 / £1,099 / AU$1,849 for 512GB, or $1,599 / £1,399 / AU$2,399 for 1TB (along with 12GB rather than 8GB of RAM). However, you can often find it heavily reduced thanks to Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus deals – for example at the time of writing some UK stores have the base model for £699.

The OnePlus 7T Pro is hitting UK stores on October 17 and will cost £699 (around $865 / AU$1,300, but currently there’s no availability in those regions). So that’s lower than a full price Galaxy S10 Plus, but not necessarily much less than the S10 Plus can sometimes be found for in sales.

Takeaway

While these are both high-end phones there are some clear differences. With the OnePlus 7T Pro you get an all-screen design, a newer chipset, a higher refresh rate and faster charging, while the Galaxy S10 Plus gives you potentially more storage and RAM, an extra front-facing camera, wireless charging and a water resistance rating.

The S10 Plus is also more expensive – but not always by a huge amount, so your decision as to which phone to buy is likely to come down to which assortment of specs and features most appeals. We would always recommend reading our in-depth reviews first though – one of which will be coming soon for the OnePlus 7T Pro.