Over the last couple of months, the Paranoid Android team has released a bunch of Android 12-based alpha builds of the popular custom ROM. With each new build, the team has added new features to the custom ROM and extended support to more devices. The team showed us the first glimpse of Paranoid Android “Sapphire” beta back in March, albeit the release was limited to the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro. If you’ve been waiting to try out the latest Paranoid Android release on your device, you’re in luck. The developers have now released beta builds for a few more devices, including the POCO F3 and the OnePlus 7T series.
As per a recent tweet by the PA team, the Paranoid Android Sapphire Beta 1 build is up for grabs for 5 smartphones. The update packages are now created using a dedicated build server, and there is a fully functional OTA backend to make the future incremental update process as seamless as possible. Furthermore, the brand-new Paranoid Android download portal is available for everyone, which serves as a one stop download portal. Last but not least, the Beta 1 release comes with a shiny new wallpaper made by longtime PA collaborator Hampus Olsson.
With the release of the new @paranoidaospa Sapphire Betas it’s time to show the wallpaper my friend @hampusolsson made for us.
This one is called “Meteor Abyss”, and it’s way beautiful.
Along with the features mentioned above, the Paranoid Android Sapphire Beta 1 release also includes a few device-specific changes that can be found in their respective XDA threads. Keep in mind that you need to do a clean flash while upgrading from an alpha build to this beta release due to different signing keys.
Download Paranoid Android Sapphire Beta 1
If you’re interested in trying out the first beta of Paranoid Android Sapphire on your device, you can head over to your device’s XDA forums thread from the links below. Follow the instructions given by the maintainer to install the build on your device.
Sr. No.
Device and Forum Link
Paranoid Android Device Codename and Download Link
Notably, all the aforementioned builds have Google apps included, so you don’t need to flash a separate ZIP file to get the Google Play Store after installing the ROM.
Support Paranoid Android
If you’re interested in helping the PA team with development, you can reach out to herna@paranoidandroid.co.
Running automated builds for such a wide roster of devices takes resources. You can contribute towards some of these costs by donating to Paranoid Android through their PayPal.
To stay up-to-date about the custom ROM and new releases, you should consider following the team on Twitter.
YouTube Music has been steadily gaining new features and improvements as of late. In March, the service picked up Snapchat integration, allowing users to share their favorite songs on Snapchat Stories. Then last month, the streaming service added a couple of new features such as an improved radio algorithm for better artist discovery, Family Shelf, and shuffle support for YouTube Music for Wear OS. Now Google is testing a brand new playlist UI on the mobile app.
As spotted by Reddit user u/MoistTart3258, the latest YouTube Music update brings a redesigned playlist UI. The new UI moves the album cover art to the center, with the playlist’s name and the row of buttons appearing just below. Meanwhile, a blurred background, created based on the album art, at the top gives the playlist page a pleasant look.
The play button appears prominently in the middle while the download, library, share, and a three-dot menu are placed on either side. The dedicated shuffle button, however, is gone. As you can see in the screenshots, the latest UI is much cleaner and more cohesive than the old UI.
The new playlist UI for YouTube Music has only been spotted on one device. It appears the revamp only applies to the playlists while albums are still subject to the same old UI. However, we expect both albums and playlists to follow the updated design once the change widely rolls out to users.
The revamped playlist UI isn’t widely available as of yet. It wasn’t available on any of my Android devices running the latest version of YouTube Music. We’ll keep an eye out and let you know once it goes live for everyone.
Have you received the new playlist UI in the YouTube Music app? Let us know in the comments below.
OnePlus is sweating it hard to improve its ColorOS-flavored OxygenOS 12 UI to be more user-friendly and less buggy. The stable version of the software is already available for users of the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 8 series. It’s also available as a closed beta for the OnePlus 9RT. However, if you’re among those who prefer a clean and minimal, stock Android interface, then you’ll be happy to know that the OnePlus 9RT has now got two great options.
You can now try out an unofficial build of the Pixel Experience ROM as well as an unofficial LineageOS 19 custom ROM on your OnePlus 9RT (code-name “martini”). Both of these ROMs are based on Android 12L and offer a near-stock experience, though Pixel Experience will give you a bunch of Google Pixel-like features out of the box.
The two custom ROMs are compatible with the Chinese and Indian variants of the OnePlus 9RT. Before starting, you must ensure that the bootloader on the phone is unlocked. Since there’s no TWRP build available for this device yet, you have to install the ROMs using the Fastboot interface. The developer of the ROMs, XDA Recognized Developer abhinavgupta371, has shared the work-in-progress kernel source as well, so that other developers can support this device.
For an initial release, the ROMs appear to be relatively stable. The developer says the only noticeable bug is that the touchscreen gestures are not working. If you’re interested in flashing either of these ROMs, then check out the forum links below.
Acer introduced a refreshed model of the Swift 3 for 2022 ahead of this year’s MWC, and it comes with a few improvements. It has new processors, a tweaked design, and a new display option. While we don’t expect the laptop to be available to buy before June, Acer was kind enough to send us an early unit of the Swift 3 (2022) for us to get a feel for it. Officially, the model we have is the SF314-512.
Now, when we say it’s an early unit, we mean it. This laptop is not ready for prime time and there are a lot of things I’m not allowed to test. Not that I would want to, because performance here wouldn’t be indicative of what you’ll get with the final product. This is more so meant to let us get a feel for the hardware and a general idea of what it will feel like.
Design: Small but welcome tweaks
In terms of the design, not a whole lot has changed from last year’s model, at least as far as dimensions go. The chassis is mostly made of metal and it feels quite solid without being overly heavy. It weighs about 2.76lbs or 1.25kg, which is fairly light for a mostly aluminum laptop. While there are three colors officially available, silver is definitely the one you’ll find more easily, and that always tends to be the case. I do wish I got to see the Safari Gold or Snow Blue models, just because every laptop has a silver option right now and it’s tiring. The one part that isn’t metal is the frame of the display, which is plastic – as you might have expected for a laptop at this price.
There are some interesting things about the design, though. Acer uses a hinge mechanism that raises the bottom of the laptop when you open it, so you get better airflow and the display is closer to your eye level. I also find it interesting that there’s a fan exhaust just below the display. It’s not something I’ve ever seen, especially in a thin-and-light laptop like this. The previous model was already like this, though, so it’s not like Acer had to do this to accommodate the new Intel processors.
One cool change from last year’s model is the fingerprint reader, which is now built into the power button. For the longest time, Acer has had a dedicated fingerprint reader next to the trackpad, and while it worked fine, this definitely helps the laptop feel a lot sleeker. The power button is also integrated into the keyboard, which also helps with that. It works pretty well, too, based on my time with it so far.
Acer Swift 3 keyboard and touchpad
On that note, the keyboard feels fine to type on and it’s as comfortable as I’d want it to be, though the white backlight doesn’t pair well with the silver keys. All it means is you might want to turn off the backlight during the day and only use it when it gets harder to see the keys.
As for the touchpad, it’s decently big and comfortable to use, though I did notice a slightly annoying sound whenever I raised my fingers from it. That could just be an issue with this early unit, though.
Display: Still 16:9, but there’s a much better webcam
The display hasn’t changed significantly compared to last year’s model, either. It’s still a 14-inch panel with a 16:9 aspect ratio, which works fine for what it is. That aspect ratio is still pretty standard for mainstream devices, and you’ll have to look to the Swift 5 if you want something taller. One thing that has changed is that you can get a Quad HD display with some models, but unfortunately, that’s not the case with the unit I got to test. Some models (labeled SF314-512T) will have touch support, but that’s not the case with this unit.
Perhaps most importantly, Acer has also upgraded the webcam above that display. It’s now a 1080p 60fps camera with temporal noise reduction, and that should be a big upgrade from the previous generation. Any remarks I can make here aren’t final because the hardware isn’t final, but the image quality from the webcam seems very good based on what I got to see.
As I mentioned at the top, I can’t really go into the performance details of the Acer Swift 3 (2022), but it’s powered by Intel’s 12th-generation P-series processors, from a Core i3 all the way through a Core i7. That should deliver a significant performance upgrade over the last generation, especially with the switch from 15W of base power to 28W. The model I got has a Core i5-1240P, and it seems to work more than well enough for all kinds of daily tasks. This unit also has 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM and a 1TB SSD, so it’s maxed out in that regard.
All in all, the Acer Swift 3 (2022) definitely looks like a promising laptop, though it remains to be seen if it’s one of the best laptops this year. There aren’t any major changes in terms of design compared to last year’s model, but the ones we get are definitely good. I appreciate the cleaner look of having the fingerprint reader built into the power button and the upgraded webcam, and the new processors promise a lot more performance. Of course, we’ll have to reserve our judgement on that until we have the final product, but we’re optimistic.
The new Acer Swift 3 (2022) is expected to launch in June, and we should have a review around that time, too.
If there are two things that always get my attention in the PC space, it’s OLED laptops and ultralight laptops. The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is both of that. And indeed, that’s a big part of the reason that the Galaxy Book Pro 360 was one of my favorite laptops of 2021. For 2022’s model, it’s getting faster processors and an FHD webcam.
Here’s the bad. There simply aren’t enough configuration options. For the display, you’re going to get 1080p AMOLED, and that’s it, no matter which size or form factor you want your Galaxy Book 2 Pro in. That’s usually fine for the 13-inch variant, and it won’t take up as much battery as a 4K OLED display would, but on the 15-inch one, you can start to see some pixels. That display is 16:9 too, so if you’ve used a lot of modern laptops, it can feel a little dated.
But overall, this thing is absolutely delightful. With a 12th-gen 28W Intel processor and Iris Xe graphics, it’s got the power you need for any task you’d consider taking on with a three-pound 15-inch convertible. It’s super-thin, it’s super-light, and the AMOLED display is beautiful. The Galaxy Book 2 Pro series takes after its predecessor in being one of the best on the market.
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 pricing and availability
The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 starts at $1,249.99 for the 13-inch model and $1,349.99 for the 15-inch model
The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro series was first announced ahead of Mobile World Congress, and was released in March. In other words, the whole series of laptops is available for purchase, and that actually includes the newer Galaxy Book 2 Business.
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro can be broken up into four devices, which include 13- and 15-inch variants, and clamshell and convertible variants of both. They’re all similar in the sense that they’re made out of the same materials, they hold the same principles of being thin and light, they have Full HD OLED displays, and so on.
As far as pricing goes, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360, which is what this review is focused on, starts at $1,249.99 and $1,349.99 for the 13- and 15-inch models, respectively. If you’re looking for something a little lighter and don’t care about the convertible hinge, the clamshell Galaxy Book 2 Pro starts at $1,049.99 and $1,149.99.
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360: Specs
CPU
Intel Core i7-1260P Processor(2.1 GHz up to 4.6 GHz 18 MB L3 Cache)
Graphics
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Display
15.6″ FHD AMOLED Display (1920 x 1080) with Touch Screen Panel
Chassis
354.85 x 227.97 x 11.9 mm (13.97″ x 8.98″ x 0.47″), 1.41 kg (3.11 lbs)
Memory
16 GB LPDDR5 Memory (On BD 16 GB)
Storage
1 TB NVMe SSD
Number of SSD Slots : 2
Multimedia
AKG Stereo Speakers ( Max 5 W x 2 )
Smart Amp
Dolby Atmos
Internal Dual Array Digital Mic
1080p FHD Camera
Pro keyboard with Numeric key (Backlit keyboard)
Touch screen
S Pen
Clickpad
Security
TPM, FingerPrint Reader
Power
68 Wh (Typical)
65 W USB Type-C Adapter
OS
Windows 11 Home
Color
Graphite
Additional software
Live Message
Live Wallpaper
McAfee Live Safe (Trial)
Screen Recorder
Samsung Gallery
Quick Search
Samsung Flow
Samsung Notes
Samsung Recovery
Samsung Settings
Studio Plus
Samsung Update
Samsung Security
Quick Share
Galaxy Book Smart Switch
※ Software can be changed without notice.
Price
$1,549.99
About this review: Samsung shared the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 15, Galaxy Tab S8, and Galaxy S22 Ultra with us for review. It did not have any input in this review.
Design: It’s one of the lightest in its class
The Galaxy Book 2 360 15 is impossibly light at just over three pounds
When you start looking at the world of 15- through 17-inch laptops, there starts to be a fork in the road. Given the larger screen and footprint, that allows for better thermals and more powerful internals, so you can move toward something heavier and geared toward creators. That would include a 45W processor, dedicated graphics, and so on. The other path is for when you still want an ultrabook, but with a larger screen.
The latter is where the Galaxy Book 2 Pro series comes in. This thing comes in at just over three pounds, which is wildly light for a 15-inch convertible. Indeed, it’s about as light as it gets. In fact, the last Galaxy Book I reviewed was the Galaxy Book 360 5G, and given the 13-inch form factor, it’s even lighter.
It comes in three colors: Graphite, Silver, and Burgundy. It’s tough to pick a favorite; it feels more like there’s a little something here for everyone. If you like something more colorful, there’s Burgundy, although that’s limited to the convertible. Silver and Graphite are more traditional, of course.
You can kind of magnetically attach the pen to the lid, and I don’t even think that’s by design. The S Pen will still fall off in your bag. In fact, when I reviewed the Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G, I actually lost the S Pen. I hope that Samsung has a better method of pen storage in a future model.
As for ports, this is where my first major gripe comes in. In total, there are three USB Type-C ports, two on the left side and one on the right. Out of the three, only one of them is Thunderbolt 4. It’s the one that’s closer to the front on the left side.
That’s right; the one Thunderbolt port is on the side with two USB Type-C ports, and you have to look really closely to find the label. I suppose that if you’re actually making use of Thunderbolt benefits, like plugging in an external GPU or dual 4K monitors, then you probably know what to look for. Still, other companies are including at least two Thunderbolt ports in premium laptops.
I love the design of the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro series. It’s so thin, light, and portable. Of course, it’s personal preference whether you’re into the 13- or 15-inch model, depending on not just the size of the screen, but also the footprint.
Display: It comes in any config you want, as long as it’s FHD OLED
All Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro configurations come with a 1080p, 16:9, AMOLED display
The webcam has been upgraded to 1080p
There’s some good and some bad when it comes to the display on the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. The good is that OLED is standard, and I rather like FHD, especially on the 13-inch model. It doesn’t burn through the battery in the same way that a 4K OLED display is. Remember, most premium laptops only have 4K OLED as a top-tier option, rather than making OLED standard.
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro screen has a wider color gamut than the competition.
The problem is more that there are no options, especially on a 15.6-inch display where 1080p can seem a little bit pixellated. Samsung makes its own displays too, so it’s not an issue of being able to get the parts, which is why you can’t find, say, a 17-inch 4K OLED laptop. No, this could be made with any kind of custom resolution or aspect ratio.
There are certain things that feel a little bit dated, like the 16:9 aspect ratio. Most premium laptops at this point have moved on to 16:10, especially in convertibles when the wider aspect ratio looks better in portrait orientation.
Test results on this display are superb. It supports 100% sRGB, 95% NTSC, 98% Adobe RGB, and 100% P3. That is insanely good.
Brightness maxed out at 393.8 nits. There wasn’t a brightness spec on the sheet, but I assume the target was 400 nits. The black level actually went up a little bit when brightness was bumped to 50%, interestingly enough, not that you’d notice. It’s just kind of interesting to point out, since OLED displays are true black. What I mean by that is that in a dark room, you won’t be able to see where a black screen ends and where the bezel begins.
The new webcam is optimized for working from home.
Placed in the top bezel, the webcam is a big improvement. It’s not 1080p instead of 720p, so you’re going to look a lot sharper on video calls. The improved webcam is a key part of Intel’s latest Evo spec. Given that so many are working from home, for the first time, webcams actually matter.
Indeed, throughout 2020 and 2021 when the work-from-home boom first started, laptops released weren’t really built for that. It can take a solid 18 months to make those kinds of changes to a roadmap. So now, we’re finally seeing better webcams and other collaboration features on the laptop market.
Keyboard: The touchpad is nice and big
Samsung gave us a big old Microsoft Precision touchpad, along with a shallow yet comfortable keyboard
There haven’t been any chances to the keyboard. It’s still shallow, like we’ve seen in other Galaxy Books. This isn’t going to change, but I also don’t hate it. I find it to be a comfortable keyboard to type on.
The 15-inch model has a number pad, which is something that’s really not for me. I’d much prefer that real estate be used by speakers flanking the keyboard. It’s a fairly narrow number pad though, so even if you don’t like it, it’s not too hard to ignore.
One thing I love is the nice, big touchpad. Samsung made use of all of the available real estate here, so it’s about as big as it gets. That’s always a plus, as I see so many OEMs neglect the touchpad size.
Second Screen: A tablet can be your second monitor
Second Screen allows you to use a Samsung tablet as a secondary monitor
So far, we’ve talked about the laptop as a standalone PC. But there’s an ecosystem play here. While Galaxy Book Pro laptops are phenomenal devices for anyone, they’re really optimized for Samsung users. It’s sort of like buying a MacBook Pro when you don’t own an iPhone. There’s no real reason not to, but you get a better experience when you live in the ecosystem.
Alongside the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360, Samsung sent me a Tab S8 Plus. I also used a Galaxy S22 Ultra alongside it, so I got to live in the Samsung ecosystem for a little while.
I also had a baby, and I basically lived in a hospital for about five days. The cool thing with the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 was that I was able to use the Tab S8 Plus to work with a dual monitor setup, right from the hospital cafeteria. It was pretty cool.
Second Screen is so seamless, it feels there's a wired connection.
The experience is great, much better than the old days of screen casting. Honestly, when using it, you probably wouldn’t even notice that this was a wireless experience. There’s no stuttering or noticeable lag. It’s easy to set up too. You just turn it on from Quick Settings on the tablet, and select the tablet from the Second Screen app on the PC.
The only thing I found annoying is that input from the tablet doesn’t work. That means that if you try to touch the screen to scroll, that’s not happening. Other than that, it works just like a second monitor.
It’s a pretty neat idea, as I still subscribe to the old “third device” concept that Steve Jobs laid out when he introduced the iPad. I carry around a tablet everywhere I go. Mobile monitors exist, but I don’t naturally have one with me at any given time. It’s so convenient to be able to just use a tablet.
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is the ultimate laptop for Samsung users
Samsung laptops are designed to work with Samsung phones, and that includes a partnership with Microsoft
Samsung has a lot of pre-installed applications on this laptop. Here’s a list:
Air Command
Galaxy Book Experience
Galaxy Book Smart Switch
Live Messages
Live Wallpaper
PENUP
Private Share
Samsung Account
Samsung Bluetooth Sync
Samsung Care+
Samsung Device Care
Samsung File Tracker
Samsung Flow
Samsung Gallery
Samsung Notes
Samsung Recovery
Samsung Security
Samsung Settings
Samsung Studio Plus
Samsung TV Plus
Samsung Update
Screen Recorder
Second Screen
SmartThings
OK, so that’s probably too much, but a lot of it is really good. The laptop comes with an S Pen, so you can draw on images with Live Messages, take notes in Samsung Notes, or use Air Command. And yes, I know Windows already has a note-taking application, but if you’re used to using Samsung Notes on your phone, now those apps can sync with one another. This is less about giving you an alternative to an inbox app as it is about letting you use the Samsung services that you’re already used to using.
SmartThings is another one that’s all about the ecosystem. It’s basically your hub for all of your Samsung smart devices. Also, can we just take a minute to appreciate that a PC OEM took the time to build a proper screen recorder into a system? Microsoft’s built-in screen recorder isn’t great, so if you like to record your screen, you’ve probably found yourself getting third-party alternatives.
While this isn’t exclusive to Samsung laptops, it’s worth noting that Samsung phones have integrations with Windows of their own. They have a Link to Windows feature that makes it easy to hook up to Phone Link. This allows you to send and receive texts from your phone, mirror your screen, and even launch Android apps as if they were running natively on your PC.
Performance: It’s one of the first with Intel P-series
The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 comes with a Core i7-1260P, a 28W processor with a hybrid architecture
Battery life is pretty solid
The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro series is among the first to ship with Intel’s new 12th-generation processors, and the company opted for the P-series, a boosted up 28W processor, as compared to the more traditional 15W processor. In fact, if you got the 5G version of last year’s Galaxy Book Pro 360, that actually used a 9W processor.
Battery life on the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is excellent.
The higher TDP isn’t all that’s different with 12th-gen. These processors have a whole new hybrid architecture, with big P-cores and little E-cores, using a scheduler that Intel calls Thread Director to decide which tasks need which cores. In eighth- through 11th-gen U-series processors, we’ve seen four cores and eight threads, but with this one, we’ve got 12 cores and 16 threads, including four P-cores.
There’s a boost in CPU performance here, but that’s mostly it. The integrated graphics haven’t really changed. The Iris Xe found in the Core i7-1260P is the same as in the Core i7-1195G7, with a 1.4GHz clock speed and 96 execution units. On a side note, the Core i7-1195G7 was a mid-stream announcement between the regular 11th-gen launch and when 12th-gen came along, and the chip is somewhat rare. Compared to the more mainstream Core i7-1165G7 or even Core i7-1185G7, the Core i7-1160P does have a slightly higher clock speed on graphics.
As far as real-world performance goes, it’s exactly what you’d expect from the latest Intel Core i7 that’s aimed at productivity-focused laptops. Honestly, sometimes I feel like a broken record talking about how great a processor is at handling dozens of Chrome tabs, Photoshop, and Slack. If Intel ever has a real miss, I’ll definitely be clear about it. In the meantime, rest assured that the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is great at productivity, drawing tasks, photo editing, and more. And it handles extra monitors like a champ as well, including wirelessly via Second Screen.
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360
Core i7-1260P
Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1
Ryzen 7 5700U
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9
Core i7-1185G7
PCMark 10
5,362
5,320
5,168
Geekbench 5
1,696 / 9,177
1,151 / 6,091
1,489 / 5,280
Cinebench R23
1,649 / 7,949
1,233 / 7,768
1,303 / 4,224
3DMark: Time Spy
1,821
1,256
Intel has always been the leader in single-core performance, and it still is. What 12th-gen is really doing is giving it an edge in multi-core performance, where it finally beats AMD. The Core i7-1260P has the best multi-core scores of any x86 chips I’ve recorded that’s designed for ultrabooks. The only ones I’ve seen top it are the Core i9-12900HK – a processor designed for gaming laptops – at 12,630 in Geekbench multi-core, and Apple’s M1 Pro at 9,954.
For battery life, it’s actually quite good. As usual, my testing involves real-world work, and the power setting was set to balanced with the display at 50% brightness. In my first run, I used Second Screen the whole time and came out with five hours and three minutes. Using the laptop on its own though, I got between seven and 10 (!) hours. One thing I’ll say is that you shouldn’t expect 10 hours of battery life on the regular. It just doesn’t work like that, but I can say I had an instance of over 10 hours of battery life. On average, it’s a bit under eight hours, which is still awesome.
So, you might be wondering why the battery life is so good. There are a few factors here. One is undoubtedly the better power management in Intel’s new processors, and I’ll be testing more machines before I make a final verdict on that. Another is that this has an FHD display. Like I said earlier, it seems like every OLED laptop only has OLED in a special 4K SKU. No one else is doing FHD OLED, and that sucks down a lot less power. The third factor is that this machine has a big old 68WHr battery.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360?
Obviously, this laptop isn’t for everyone. No laptop is.
Who should buy the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 15:
People that want an ultrabook with a bigger screen
Users that value OLED but also battery life
Customers that need a color-accurate display
Samsung phone and/or tablet users
Who should not buy the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 15:
People that want or need 4K resolution
Users that want or need dedicated graphics for gaming, video editing, and so on
The Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is one of the best laptops on the market. It’s thin and light, it’s got an OLED display, and it’s all-around great. Personally, I’d choose the 13-inch model, since you don’t see pixels as much and it’s lighter. Of course, the 15-inch model gets that sweet battery life, so it’s up to you. Either way, I don’t think you can go wrong.
Back in January, we exclusively reported what we believed to be the upcoming specifications of the Motorola Razr 3, internally codenamed “maven”. While we’ve known what to expect on the specifications side as a result, we weren’t so sure when it came to the design. Now, we’re getting our first look at both the device’s exterior display and inner foldable display, thanks to an exclusive report from 91Mobiles.
According to images shared by the site, “maven” will shed its predecessor’s more nostalgic look, losing its chin, and featuring a more squared-off design instead. Its FHD+ display with a hole-punch camera remains the same, and it seems the phone will retain its proportionally-large external display. There look to be some quality of life improvements as well, as the fingerprint reader will be relocated from the back to the power button.
As for its camera setup, the Motorola Razr 3 will have a primary camera featuring a 50MP f/1.8 sensor that will be coupled with a 13MP sensor for macro photography. The front-facing camera also comes in at 13MP in the form of a hole punch in the display. When it comes to internals, it will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. The report states that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus (SM8475) SoC could also be offered as a higher-tier option, though delays in the production of that particular chipset may result in those plans not coming to fruition. Finally, there will be an 8GB RAM or 12GB RAM option, with internal storage coming in at 256GB or 512GB configurations.
As per the specifications we reported earlier this year, we also expect that the inner display will be a 120Hz AMOLED panel, and the phone will support both UWB and NFC. DSCC CEO Ross Young also reached out to us to tell us that the display size was 6.7-inches.
According to the report from 91Mobiles, the Motorola Razr 3 will come in two colors: Quartz Black and Tranquil Blue. The smartphone is set to arrive in Asia sometime towards the tail-end of July or early August, with a global release to follow shortly after. While the price of the device is unknown, judging from its specifications, we’re expecting it to have a flagship price to match. It will be interesting how well the next generation is received, considering that the foldable smartphones segment has become quite crowded since the firm’s first launch of the Motorola Razr in 2020.
The Amazon Echo family is bigger today than ever. There really is something for everyone, from the tiny speaker to the massive display and everything in-between. It’s the former we’re looking at here, the smallest, most affordable member of the Amazon Echo family. Well strictly, that’s not quite true, the Echo Flex exists, but the Echo Dot is the smallest, most affordable smart speaker you would actually want to use from Amazon.
To look at it’s just a shrunken down version of its sibling, and in some regards that’s accurate. With the loss in size, there are naturally compromises to make, but it’s really not as bad as you might first think. The Echo Dot even has one feature on its side that the bigger one doesn’t have. The Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) has been out for a while. But with no sign of a replacement on the horizon, what is this little sphere like to live with in 2022?
Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen): Pricing and Availability
The Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) is available to buy from Amazon and selected resellers such as Best Buy. It comes in three versions, with the base version having a regular retail price of $50.
For $10 more you can get either the Echo Dot with Clock, which adds an LED clock display, or the Kids Edition, which comes with content from Amazon Kids and a bulletproof two-year warranty.
The real magic about shopping for an Amazon Echo Dot is grabbing one at one of the regular discount events. The biggest ones are Prime Day and Black Friday every year, but there will also be sporadic sales throughout the year and Amazon isn’t shy about providing big price cuts on them.
Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen): Specifications
Specification
Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation
Audio
Single 1.6-inch driver
Connectivity
802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
Bluetooth
Amazon Sidewalk
Ports
3.5mm audio jack (output only)
Controls
Voice-activated
Play/pause
Volume
Microphone mute
Dimensions
100 x 100 x 89mm
Weight
338g
Colors
Charcoal
White
Blue
Price
From $50
About this review: This review was written after testing an Amazon Echo Dot with Clock, purchased by XDA, over a period of two weeks. Amazon did not have any input in this article.
Design and features: Close to the big Amazon Echo
The older Echo Dot looked like someone had cut a slice from the regular model. It was a little hockey puck next to a big(ish) old cylinder. With the 4th Gen, Amazon brought some family unity with its design. The regular model is a big sphere, the Echo Dot is a little sphere. The physical controls are in the same place on the top, and the power is joined on the rear by the 3.5mm jack. Though on the Echo Dot, it’s only an audio output, not an input. The LED ring lighting is around the base here, too.
The Echo Dot is basically a smaller Echo but without a Zigbee smart home hub.
The Echo Dot is even available in the same exact three colors as the bigger one; Charcoal, Blue, and White. And if you want a recommendation on which to get, grab the white one, it looks the best in most locations in the house I think. The blue is a little disappointing as it’s not as nice in reality as the renders would have you believe.
In terms of actual features, the Echo Dot is only lacking one major thing over the larger model. There’s no built-in Zigbee hub here, so all your connected smart home devices will need to run through Alexa. Is that a big deal, especially considering the size and price of the Echo Dot? Not really. Zigbee is one of those features that you’re more likely to be purposely looking for rather than using just because it’s there.
The Echo Dot does add in an overall more useful feature, though. If you spend an additional $10 you can get the Echo Dot with Clock, which is the one we have here. It’s exactly the same speaker but you get a neat LED display baked into the front that tells you the time. I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve said “Alexa, what time is it?” With this, I don’t have to. This makes it a perfect addition to the nightstand, and if you have an alarm set you’ll see a period after the time. It’s a shame you can only tap the top of the Echo Dot to snooze an alarm rather than cancel it entirely, but an “Alexa, stop!” is enough to turn it off.
The third option is the Kids Edition, and this follows Amazon’s tradition of offering its first-party hardware in a child-friendly form. You can access the same content from Amazon Kids and other third-party skills on any Echo, but those don’t look like a tiger or a panda. More importantly for the parents, these versions come with a bulletproof warranty. If anything at all happens to the Echo Dot Kids Edition, Amazon will replace it.
It’s worth pointing out the ease of setup as well. Amazon has done some really great work here over the years and it’s almost Apple-esque in its simplicity. When you plug it in and open up the Alexa app on your smartphone and it will automatically see the new speaker and begin the setup process. It helps that you can have it pre-linked to your Amazon account if you buy from Amazon directly, and the whole process takes only a few moments and is an absolute breeze.
Audio: Better than you think
Despite its size, the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) packs a punch in the sound department. It’s only a single driver in the Echo Dot, unlike the larger speaker, but it’s pretty powerful. The volume is incredible for something so small, there’s no distortion as you turn it up and it’s perfectly capable of filling smaller rooms with sound. Despite the speaker being the same size inside as the last generation Echo Dot, the added volume of the product overall has a positive effect on the sound delivery.
It is only front-firing sound on the Echo Dot, though, so you do need to be mindful of where you position it in the room.
The Echo Dot sounds fantastic for such a small speaker.
Perspective is key, but the Echo Dot really does sound excellent all things considered. There’s a surprising amount of bass without being overpowering and a warm tone to the sound. It’s not necessarily the choice to pair with the Echo Sub, but you could. Likewise, you can get two and create a stereo pair which would create an affordable, but surprisingly powerful system. Especially when you can pair Echo speakers to a Fire TV to create a true multiroom audio setup.
The audio quality also makes the Echo Dot a superb alarm clock. All you have to do is tell Alexa to wake you up with music at your chosen time and you’ll be delivered a wake-up call you won’t be able to ignore.
Like all Echo devices, microphones are of utmost importance. The Echo Dot has four of them to locate the direction your voice is coming from and to help isolate it against background noise. And they work very well. Alexa can hear me above two under-8 aged children making the sort of noises children make, and the range is excellent. With the Echo Dot on my nightstand, I can still activate it from the bathroom about 20 feet and a thick wall away without needing to shout.
Should you buy the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen)?
There are a number of reasons to say yes to buying an Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen). The first is simply that it’s more affordable by a good amount than the regular model. If you like the idea of the Amazon Echo but you wish it were smaller or less expensive, here’s your solution. Apart from the Zigbee hub which you may have never even used, functionally the two are essentially identical.
But the Echo Dot is also arguably the best way to get into a hands-free smart home. Alexa is the real star of the show and, really, always has been. Amazon has done great work in making the smart speaker around it better and better over the years, but ultimately it’s the voice assistant that makes this as good as it is.
Alexa is compatible with a simply mind-boggling array of third-party services. Using the Echo Dot with your other devices either through your voice or through creating routines is simple, and extremely powerful. This little tiny speaker can wake you up in the morning then tap into Alexa to open your blinds, turn on your heating, play your favorite radio station and turn on your coffee maker. The only limit is your imagination.
If you’ve never had an Amazon Echo before, you’re not sure if it’s really for you or you want to start small with a smart home, then this is the device to get.
