With the Galaxy Z Flip 3, Samsung’s clamshell finally moved beyond proof of concept and became a mainstream product. Improved durability, attractive design, and a more palatable price tag helped the Galaxy Z Flip 3 become the most popular foldable phone on the market. The latest Galaxy Z Flip 4 hopes to repeat the same magic, bringing several important upgrades such as a more durable exterior and hinge, improved cameras, a more powerful chipset, and a larger battery with fast charging support. But does the new clamshell support the S Pen stylus input similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy S22 Ultra?
If you’re planning to get your hands on Samsung’s new clamshell, you might wonder if it works with an S Pen stylus. Unfortunately, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 doesn’t include an S Pen, nor does it support the S Pen (Fold Edition), nor the S Pen Pro. The lack of stylus support is both a cost-saving measure and a limitation of the phone’s unique form factor. The Galaxy Z Flip 4’s display isn’t big and wide as the Galaxy Z Fold 4 to really take advantage of the S Pen. Not to mention, enabling S Pen support requires adding a digitizer underneath the display, which would have made the Galaxy Z Flip 4 more expensive and required some engineering to maintain the device thickness and overall design. Even if Samsung added S Pen support to the Galaxy Z Flip 4, most users would not have liked the idea of carrying the stylus separately since the Flip can’t store the stylus inside the phone or case. The whole idea of the Flip is to fold into a smaller device, so adding some more items to carry along just doesn’t go with the flow on this phone.
For a limited time, Samsung is offering free memory upgrade and a free Standing Cover with S Pen on pre-booking of the Galaxy Z Fold 4. In addition, XDA readers can get up to $200 worth of extra benefits by clicking the link below!
If the S Pen or stylus is essential to your workflow, consider getting the Galaxy Z Fold 4 or the Galaxy S22 Ultra instead. Note that Samsung doesn’t bundle the S Pen with the Galaxy Z Fold 4; you’ll have to buy one separately.
If you have yet to place your pre-order, be sure to take advantage of the best Galaxy Z Flip 4 deals to save money and snag freebies.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is here, and it brings further polish and refinement to a foldable series that was already the best overall foldable. While the improvements this year aren’t immediately attention-grabbing, they do add up to more than the sum of their parts. These upgrades include a newly designed hinge that doesn’t protrude as much in folded form, resulting in a folded form factor that’s a bit more symmetrical. The Fold 4 is also a bit lighter than the Fold 3. The cameras also got an upgrade, to a new 50MP main camera sensor with a larger 1/1.55-inch image sensor, plus a quality 3X telephoto zoom lens. The ultra-wide camera remains as useful as ever.
One of the things that Samsung has focused on in recent years is it wants to make the Fold 4 as durable as possible. And starting with last year’s Z Fold 3, Samsung introduced a new “Armor Aluminum” coating for the frame, plus IPX8 official water resistance.
These same features return for this year for the Galaxy Z Fold 4. While Samsung claims its “Armor Aluminum” is stronger than before, the IPX8 water resistance rating is identical to last year’s Z Fold 3.
What does this mean? Well, an IP (Ingress Protection) rating represents the documented level of protection provided by a device against dust or liquid. These are presented by two numbers. For an IPX8, which only has one number, this means the device is not protected against dust, but is protected against water. The “8” rating means the device can withstand immersion in over one meter (3.2 feet) of water. This means if you were to accidentally drop the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in the swimming pool, or a sink full of water, you can expect the phone to survive unscathed if you pull it out within a reasonable amount of time. This means, yes, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is water resistant.
Note that no phone is waterproof, and the same remains the case here too. Despite having an official rating, it’s worth mentioning that phone warranties still do not cover water damage, so you should try to avoid purposely dipping the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in water. Look at the IP rating as a “just-in-case” protection against heavy rains or accidental dips in the water, not an open invitation to take the Fold 4 underwater on purpose. The lack of dust resistance is a bummer, so you may want to protect your investment with a case.
If you’re interested in buying the Galaxy Z Fold 4, there are lots of deals right now so be sure to check them out.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is Samsung's latest flagship foldable, packing high-end specs and up to 512GB of internal storage. You can't expand it with a microSD card, though.
The original Lenovo Chromebook Duet was an interesting device. I bought one, and I loved it. The portable tablet-based form factor paired with an OS designed for laptop use was a big draw. As was being able to use the few Android apps I actually wanted to use on a tablet. The hardware was excellent, the display was really nice and the keyboard, while small, was good to type on. It had only one problem: It was really slow. ChromeOS performs well enough on basic hardware, but the MediaTek CPU inside the Duet just wasn’t really up to snuff.
But Lenovo didn’t give up, in fact, it doubled down. For the follow-up, there are actually two Duet Chromebook tablets to choose from. We’re already huge fans of the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook, but now it’s time to look at the smaller of the two and the direct successor to the original. The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook is, besides being a mouthful, an 11-inch tablet running ChromeOS that stays true to the idea of the original.
To look at, the changes might be hard to spot. And that’s a fair statement to make. The most important upgrade Lenovo has made comes inside, with a move to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c. The Duet is slow no more. This one is much easier to recommend without also adding a caveat and is one of the best Chromebooks you can buy right now.
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook: What’s in the box?
Included in the box when you buy a Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook is:
The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook.
Snap-on rear cover with a kickstand.
Detachable keyboard.
30W USB-C power adapter.
This review was conducted using a Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook sample provided by Lenovo. At no time has Lenovo had any input on the content of this article.
Pricing and availability
In the U.S. the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook is available to order now from Best Buy for $379. This is for the 128GB/4GB version (the same as our review sample). International availability, for example, the UK, still seems to be yet to begin.
Lenovo’s own store also isn’t shipping the device at the time of writing as it went out of stock, but it will be available again there in the future.
The Lenovo USI Pen 2 that works with the IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook costs $34 from Lenovo direct, though is still listed as coming soon at the time of this review.
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 specs
Specification
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3
Display
10.95-inch 2K LCD touchscreen
5:3 aspect ratio
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 Compute Platform
RAM
Up to 8GB LPDDR4 (4GB model tested)
Storage
Up to 128GB eMMC
Battery
Up to 12 hours
Supports 45W charging (30W charger included)
Rapid charge
Camera
5MP front-facing webcam
8MP rear camera
Ports
2 x USB-C 3.0 Gen 1 with power delivery
Pogo pins
Connectivity
802.11ac wireless
Bluetooth 5.1
Audio
2 x 1W stereo speakers
Dimensions and weight
258.04mm x 164.55mm x 7.90mm / 10.16 x 6.48 x 0.31 inches
From 516g
Other features
USI 2.0 pen support (not included)
Included kickstand and detachable keyboard
Design and features: If it ain’t broke don’t fix it
11-inch tablet with a detachable kickstand.
A detachable keyboard is included.
Supports USI 2.0 digital pen input.
The basic concept behind the IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook is the same as its predecessor. It’s about the same size, it still has a kickstand (if you want it) and a detachable keyboard. But the original design has certainly been refined. The bezels are narrower and as such the Duet 3 boasts 15.8% more screen than its predecessor. The kickstand is also improved, with a stronger connection to the back of the tablet. It also now boasts a cutout, which is where you’ll magnetically clamp your pen if you should choose to buy one.
The bezels are narrower now so there's more screen without making the tablet larger.
While the kickstand feels a little better this time around, the keyboard hasn’t really changed. The connection is incredibly strong using the pogo pins, but the fact it has a thin fabric hinge is still less than ideal. For one, you can’t raise the angle of the keyboard as you can with something like Microsoft’s Surface Type cover. It’s flat or flat, those are your choices. It doesn’t completely ruin the experience, but given the opportunity, I’d take an angle any time.
The other, perhaps bigger issue, with the fabric hinge is that on this review sample at least, the tablet portion never felt like it was properly aligned with the keyboard. It’s been driving me insane. The display always seems like it’s at a slight angle along the horizontal. It’s so frustrating. It frustrated me on the original and it frustrates me still, now.
It’s fine to type on though, which is still more important. The ChromeOS search button is quite small, which I like, because it’s harder to accidentally hit, and the trackpad is surprisingly good for something of this type. Despite the confines of the small form factor, it carries a full ChromeOS keyboard layout with cursor keys.
You can only use Lenovo's USI 2.0 pen right now with the Duet 3.
The display is a hair under 11-inches, but not far enough that we can’t refer to it as that. The bezels trimming it are nice and slim for folks who are into that, and while 5:3 isn’t the most common aspect ratio, it doesn’t feel strange. It’s a shade under 16:9, but media fills it nicely and the 2K resolution means text is sharp and everything generally looks lovely. As with most touch displays though it’s really glossy and while it is bright enough to use outdoors on a sunny day, you’re still going to see more of your own face. The kickstand can be adjusted with precision though so you can at least get it at the best angle to mitigate ambient light interference.
The display also supports a digital pen but with a caveat. It only seems to support Lenovo’s own USI 2.0 digital pen, there hasn’t been any kind of backward compatibility with the panel. The team at Chrome Unboxed did a deep dive into this (our sample didn’t come with a pen) so if you’re interested in the Duet 3 for doodling on it’s worth checking out. You would probably want Lenovo’s pen anyway since it’ll attach neatly to the little cutout on the back of the kickstand.
Other things of note include connectivity. There’s an upgrade here from the original Duet with now a pair of USB-C ports, both with power delivery. There’s one on each side which makes charging nice and convenient. Fans of headphone jacks will be disappointed though as there isn’t one. There’s no dongle in the box either so if you want to use wired headphones you’ll have to supply your own.
The speakers are pretty good, though. Nothing groundbreaking and they are pretty small, but you get a pair and proper stereo sound. It makes impromptu Stranger Things viewings perfectly enjoyable.
Using the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook as a tablet
The obvious reason you would buy one of these is as a capable, portable Chromebook. But ChromeOS also supports Android apps from the Play Store, which means you can very easily use this as a part-time Android tablet.
The Duet 3 is a compelling alternative to an Android tablet.
But it’s the fact this is a compact tablet that makes it worth using like one. And because the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 (more on that below) is so much better than the MediaTek CPU Lenovo has used previously, you actually can. Performance is pretty good across the board. Some of the credit belongs to Google as well, because ChromeOS keeps getting more comfortable to use on a touchscreen like this.
On the previous generation Duet just swiping to home was a jittery mess, but on this one, it’s smooth, fluid, exactly the sort of experience you would want. The size of the device is perfect for mobile games and especially reading. And because it’s so compact you can take it and use it anywhere. Gaming is a bit of a mixed bag, but for reading, watching videos, browsing and the like it’s pretty fantastic.
Performance and battery life
The Latest Qualcomm CPU is a huge improvement on the original Duet.
Decent but not outstanding battery life.
4GB of RAM still trips up ChromeOS at times.
To say Lenovo upgraded the CPU in the Duet 3 versus the original is an understatement. The Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 is a huge improvement. It’s actually even a fairly big step up from the first-gen 7c, so to have it in a compact device like the Duet 3 is impressive. There are no fans, so it’s always quiet, and since the keyboard isn’t part of this Chromebook you never feel any warmth even under load. The metal back of the tablet can warm up, but nothing more than you’d experience from a Snapdragon-powered smartphone.
To the benchmarks, then. We’ve subjected the IdeaPad Duet 3 to a range of ChromeOS-friendly benchmarks. For some comparison, we’ve included a couple of comparable figures from the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 running the first-gen 7c, and the current best-performer, the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook.
Benchmark
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3
Acer Chromebook Spin 513
HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook
Kraken Javascript (lower is better)
1,865
2,342
524
Jetstream 2 (higher is better)
Didn’t complete
Didn’t complete
201
Octane 2.0 (higher is better)
20,970
18,101
79,782
WebGL Aquarium (10,000 fish)
29 FPS
N/A
60 FPS
WebGL Aquarium (15,000 fish)
20 FPS
N/A
60 FPS
WebGL Aquarium (20,000 fish)
16 FPS
N/A
34 FPS
In terms of outright sheer speed, the IdeaPad Duet 3 cannot compete with the big hitters, but it’s also not supposed to. What it does do is make a significant improvement on its predecessor and the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 actually feels like an ARM CPU that belongs in a Chromebook.
Performance is surprisingly good even when using Linux, but 4GB of RAM is still not enough.
Away from synthetic tests, the Duet 3 has been a joy to use, even handling that most daunting of tests, opening a heap of Chrome tabs. Where it falls down a little is having 4GB of RAM as this review sample does. On one hand, it helps keep the price down, and in plenty of scenarios, it’s ample. But more is always better and ChromeOS is getting to that point that 8GB should be the minimum. This isn’t necessarily Lenovo’s fault, but as the company putting the hardware together, it’s Lenovo who will bear the disgruntlement. If you can get the version with 8GB of RAM, definitely do. That applies to all Chromebooks. Especially if you plan to use Android apps and Linux.
Linux performance on the Duet 3 is also decent for a device of this nature. You do have to ensure you’re using ARM versions of software, for example, Microsoft VS Code, but this little Chromebook tablet does alright. It doesn’t feel like it struggles compared to my own Chromebook, and I’ve been editing photos in GIMP the whole time I’ve been compiling this review.
Gaming is a bit less impressive, though. When using Android games from the Play Store there still seem to be compatibility issues. And performance isn’t quite what I was hoping for. Even simple games like Alto’s Adventure just aren’t particularly smooth. You can visibly see the game jerking about in front of you. For an ARM Chromebook, this is disappointing, though it might point toward some issues with the 7c platform that remains unresolved. I had a similarly mixed time in the past with a first-gen 7c-powered Chromebook. Cloud gaming, however, is perfect, and the Duet 3 has been a particularly good Google Stadia companion throughout my time with it.
Battery life is where you’d perhaps be expecting more than you actually get. The original Duet had a fairly frugal CPU inside. This one doesn’t. However, it’s easily capable of making it through a full day away from the charger. Standby time is excellent, and I’ve never once left the house with the Duet 3 and needed the charger. In real-world terms, you can probably get up to 10 hours of mixed-use, though for me it’s been more like 8 or 9. But you can also top it up with the same charger as your phone if you need to.
Who should buy the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3?
The IdeaPad Duet 3 is a great alternative to an Android tablet.
The compact size and affordable price make it perfect for students.
Not currently the best choice for fans of digital pens until Lenovo’s is easier to get hold of.
There have been a number of attempts at ChromeOS tablets but it finally feels like we’re actually there. It’s actually a product you can recommend at last, and Lenovo has both the Duet 3 and the Duet 5 if you’re looking for a larger display. There are still areas that can be improved upon, and some of those need to come from Google. But on the whole the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 is a Chromebook worth recommending.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 is the best Chromebook tablet you can buy.
For one it’s an ideal alternative to an Android tablet. Small enough to be portable and to use comfortably with your favorite Android apps, but ChromeOS is more tailored to actual computer use. The versatility of having both a laptop and a tablet in one device is never to be ignored. That’s what also makes it a great choice for students. If a pen is one of your key requirements, then it’s perhaps not the best choice right now, but when Lenovo’s is easier to get hold of it’s tailored for this device and quite affordable.
As a follow-up to a much-loved Chromebook though this is certainly a worthy sequel. All the charm of the original Duet remains with the biggest drawbacks significantly improved upon. If you’re in the market for a Chromebook that is also a small tablet, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 is the one to get. It’s arguably also the better choice between itself and the Duet 5, with very similar hardware on offer. Unless OLED or the larger display really appeals, this is now the best Chromebook tablet you can get.
Reviewing an HP Spectre x360 is easy, because no matter what, it’s always one of the best around. The new Spectre x360 13.5 is no different. It comes with a redesigned chassis that I’m not in love with, but it still stands for quality. This thing has a beautiful 3:2 OLED display, one of the best keyboards, and frankly, the best webcam in a laptop.
There are things that I don’t love, such as the more subtle design. Also, while HP finally has a way of attaching the pen via a magnet, the magnet simply isn’t strong enough. The pen will fall off in your bag.
But still, we can talk about things being best-in-class. HP is going above and beyond what competitors are doing with webcams, so if you care about webcam quality in a laptop, look no further. This thing also has some of the best battery life I’ve seen. When we combine webcam quality, keyboard quality, screen quality, and battery life, there’s little else that we can ask for.
The HP Spectre x360 13.5 is available to buy now, and while it starts at $1,249.99, it’s currently on sale for $1,099.99. This base model includes a Core i5-1235U, 8GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1,920×1,280 display. The unit that HP sent for review is normally $1,749.99, and it includes a Core i7-1255U, 16GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 3,000×2,000 OLED display.
It comes in three colors: Natural Silver, Nightfall Black, and Nocturne Blue. They all have silver accents around the touchpad and hinges.
13.5″ diagonal, 3K2K (3000 x 2000), OLED, multitouch-enabled, UWVA, Low Blue Light, SDR 400 nits
Body
11.73×8.68×0.67in, 3.01lbs
Storage
1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD (4×4 SSD)
RAM
16GB LPDDR4X
Webcam
HP True Vision 5MP IR camera with camera shutter, temporal noise reduction and integrated dual array digital microphones
Keyboard
Full-size island-style backlit nightfall black keyboard
Precision Touchpad Support
Battery
4-cell, 66 Wh Li-ion polymer
Ports
(2) Thunderbolt 4 ports
(1) USB Type-A
(1) 3.5mm audio
Connectivity
Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2×2) and Bluetooth 5.2 combo
Material
Aluminum
Color
Nightfall Black
OS
Windows 11 Pro
Price
$1,749.99
Design: It’s not as sexy as it used to be
The HP Spectre x360 13.5 ditches the gem-cut edges and replaces them with softer curves
It has one USB Type-A port, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports
For years, I’ve been saying that the HP Spectre x360 is the sexiest laptop on the market. There’s always been something about that two-tone design with gem-cut edges that made it stand out from the crowd. We’ve seen so many wedge-shaped silver MacBook Air clones, and then came the Spectre x360, with colors like Nightfall Black and Copper Luxe accents. While there are a lot of premium laptops, this one made you feel like you were using something from a tier above the rest.
That has changed. It still looks and feels premium, but it’s just not as sexy anymore. In fact, it feels pedestrian in comparison to its predecessors. That would be fine, given that it’s still a beautiful laptop, but given the increased subtlety, I’d expect this under the Envy brand. Spectre is the flagship, the one where HP pulls out all of the stops.
The sharp, gem-cut edges have been replaced by soft, rounded sides. The strong accents that surrounded the border are replaced by a thin metallic line, and instead of copper, it’s silver. It still has accents around the touchpad and the hinges, which are a nice touch.
We first saw this new design on the HP Spectre x360 16, so it’s no surprise that it made its way to the 13.5-inch model. The laptop definitely looks pretty, coming in Nightfall Black, Nocturne Blue, and Natural Silver, but I wouldn’t call it the sexiest laptop on the market anymore. It’s just more subtle, so if you want a design that doesn’t stand out as much as previous Spectres, this year’s is for you.
The Spectre x360 13.5 has a total of three USB ports, the same as it’s been for years now. Two of them are Thunderbolt 4, and one is USB Type-A, using a drop-jaw hinge. Both Thunderbolt ports are on the right side, but one is diagonally facing the back. The angled back corners are the only things left from the old design, and it allows you to plug in your laptop without the power cable getting in your way.
On the back-left corner, there’s a 3.5mm audio jack, which seems like an impractical place for it. Back when HP first started doing this, it actually had the power button on that side. And of course, the USB Type-A port is on the left side.
I really want to say that I do like the design. It’s just that I loved the old HP Spectre x360 design. I thought that in a market of laptops that mostly looked the same, it stood out from the pack. The new design is still nice; it’s just not quite on that level.
Display: It has a beautiful OLED screen
The 13.5-inch screen has a 3:2 aspect ratio, with an OLED webcams
The webcam is best-in-class
With the previous generation of HP Spectre x360 laptops, the company actually had two 13-inch models. There was the Spectre x360 13, which had the same 13.3-inch 16:9 option as previous generations, and then there was the Spectre x360 14, which had an all-new 13.5-inch 3:2 screen. It was branded the ’14’ because frankly, ’13’ was already taken.
The new aspect ratio means that the display is taller and larger. It was made popular by Microsoft’s Surface devices, and has been showing up more across the PC industry, along with 16:10 screens. The display isn’t as wide as a 13.3-inch 16:9 display, but like I said, it’s made up for in height.
The OLED display is beautiful.
There are three options for the display. You can get 1,920×1,280, 1,920×1,280 with Sure View, and 3,000×2,000 OLED. HP sent me the OLED one, and while battery life has definitely been solid, you’d do even better with the 1,920×1,280 ones. Of course, you get the prettier display with high-resolution OLED.
And then there’s the Sure View privacy display. The idea here is that you can toggle it on in a public setting, and people won’t be able to look over your shoulder and see what you’re working on. It’s pretty neat.
From my testing, it supports 100% sRGB, 96% NTSC, 98% Adobe RGB, and 100% P3. As you can probably tell, it doesn’t get much better than that. Of course, that’s for the OLED model, and you shouldn’t expect the same results from one of the other configurations.
Brightness maxed out at 405.7 nits, slightly exceeding the promised 400 nits, and contrast ratio maxed out at 13,570:1. Note that despite brightness increasing, the black level doesn’t change, because OLED displays offer true black. Overall, the OLED display is as good as it gets.
No, I’m not including selfies of myself just for fun. HP includes a 5MP webcam in the Spectre x360 13.5, and it’s including this same webcam (or a similar one) in a lot of its newest products. It’s a big deal, and here’s why. As we all know, there’s been a boom in working from home over the last couple of years. Before that, no one cared about webcams, but now they suddenly matter. Across the board, we’re finally starting to see laptops come with FHD webcams, rather than 720p cameras, which weren’t even good for their resolution.
HP's new webcams are the best you can get in a laptop.
But here’s what makes HP’s laptops special. While Lenovo and Dell have moved to FHD webcams (Dell hasn’t even done that in XPS laptops), and Intel even baked it into the newest Evo spec, HP went above and beyond. An FHD webcam is under 2.1 million pixels. HP is using a sensor with five million pixels. While you’ll still be on videos in FHD quality, this gives the camera room for a bit of digital cropping, and that’s where features like Auto Frame come in. The camera can zoom in on you and follow you around, and you don’t lose quality because of it.
It’s also just a good camera. If you look at the image above, you can see that it handles the lights in the background well, it’s not noisy, and it’s clear. HP’s laptops have the best webcams right now.
Keyboard: Still one of the best around
HP offers one of the best keyboards on a consumer laptop
The keyboard includes keys for a camera shutter, power, and a fingerprint sensor
Over the last few years, HP has put a lot of work into its keyboards, and they’ve gotten quite good. It started with its EliteBooks, but it made its way across the board. Now, Spectre x360 devices have some of the best keyboards on consumer laptops. They’re comfortable to type on, and they’re accurate.
As you can see from the image, it’s also got a big Precision touchpad. HP Spectre was one of the last to move to Precision a couple of years ago, but now, you can rest assured that the touchpad will be fast and responsive, and it will support all of the gestures that you’re used to.
In HP’s newest PCs, it tries to include as much as it can in the keyboard. That includes a fingerprint sensor, the power button, and a privacy guard button for the camera. Whereas some previous-generation Spectre x360 models only disconnected the camera internally, this one has a visual indicator that the camera is actually being covered.
Overall, I just want to reiterate that this is one of the best keyboards that you’ll find on a consumer laptop. If you type a lot, or if you’re a writer like me, the HP Spectre x360 13.5 is a great option.
Performance: Intel’s 12th-gen U-series processors are a nice step up
HP chose 12th-gen U-series processors for the Spectre x360
Battery life is better for it
With Intel’s 12th-gen processors, it has a range of CPUs that can go in ultrabooks like this one. While Lenovo chose the 28W P-series for its Yoga 9i and Dell chose a 9W U-series chip for its XPS 13, HP settled between the two with a 15W U-series processor. In this model, that’s the Core i7-1255U. Note that some companies are even using 45W H-series processors in ultrabooks, so there’s a lot to choose from.
I’ve reviewed a bunch of each of them, and by now, I’m pretty comfortable saying that HP made the right choice with 15W processors. Sure, 28W and 45W chips, by nature, are more powerful, but there are drawbacks. For one thing, they get hotter, and performance throttles as a result. Indeed, in benchmarks, I’ve seen many U-series laptops outperform P-series laptops. The other drawback is that higher wattage processors use more battery power.
The other thing to note is that this is a productivity-focused notebook; all ultrabooks are. If you’re video editing or doing something else along those lines, you probably want dedicated graphics. With that in mind, a 15W CPU should be enough for anyone, especially since it has been for years now. With U- and P-series, Iris Xe graphics have barely changed gen-over-gen, and to be fair, Iris Xe is pretty good. But if you’re looking for great integrated graphics, you might want to wait for 13th-gen.
For benchmarks, I used PCMark 10, 3DMark, Geekbench, Cinebench, and CrossMark.
You can see that where the P-series laptop beats out this one, it’s not by much. And the Spectre still got a better PCMark 10 score than the P-series Dell XPS 13 Plus.
As far as battery life goes, I can make this simple. If you care about battery life, you buy an HP. I test battery just by using it and seeing when the battery goes dead. I kept the power slider on balanced and screen brightness at a comfortable 60%. The worst battery life I got was five hours and 38 minutes, and if that was the best, that would still be pretty good when compared with the rest of the PC market. The best was six hours and 20 minutes.
If you want the best battery life, you buy an HP.
I also want to be clear that the median score was closer to the best amount of battery life, rather than the worst. While that one was 380 minutes, the second- and third-best intervals were 379 and 377 minutes, respectively.
I should also add that considering that this is the 3,000×2,000 OLED model, the battery life would be even better on the 1,920×1,280 model.
Should you buy the HP Spectre x360 13.5?
The HP Spectre x360 13.5 is one of the best laptops on the market. It’s not for everyone though, or else HP wouldn’t make anything else.
You should buy the HP Spectre x360 13.5 if:
You’re on a lot of video calls and want the best webcam
You want a beautiful 3:2 OLED display
You type a lot and want the best keyboard
You should not buy the HP Spectre x360 13.5 if:
You need a laptop for video editing that would require dedicated graphics
You want to use the pen a lot
One thing to note is that while the pen does magnetically attach to the laptop, it falls off pretty easily. If you’re going to be doing a lot of drawing or taking handwritten notes, I’d look toward something with a pen garage. Other than that, it’s one of the best laptops you can get.
It’s no secret that the United States has a terrible smartphone market, and you’d be hard pressed to find evidence to the contrary. Between the stranglehold that carriers have on the market, coupled with the lack of options available, consumers in the U.S. get screwed over on both options and pricing in contrast to Europe and Asia. The recently-released Google Pixel 6a‘s value proposition in North America proves exactly that problem.
For context, the Google Pixel 6a is the latest mid-range flagship from Google. It packs the last generation of Pixel cameras and Google Tensor into a more affordable package, promising five years of updates on top of that. You get all of Google’s software smarts too, though some have felt let down by the sub-par specifications and higher price tag when compared to the competition. Some of those downsides include a 60Hz screen, slower charging, and the fact that it’s the last generation’s cameras instead of the current generation, which other “a” series phones had.
To be clear, the Google Pixel 6a is a good phone. I like it a lot, and I think that Google has consistently nailed the basics of a good phone for years at this point. However, time and time again, particularly with its flagships, there has been some kind of compromise. For example, the Google Pixel 5 had the Snapdragon 765G and the Pixel 6 series has Tensor with all of its inefficiencies. Typically, the “a” series has generally made sense in its pricing and its features relative to the rest of the competition, but that changes with the Google Pixel 6a.
The problem with the U.S. phone market
The U.S. phone market’s biggest issue comes down to carriers and their stranglehold. It’s very hard to get a phone that works on a U.S. carrier, and the easiest way to get a phone is through a carrier deal. You can spend more for unlocked variants, but carriers will try to rope you in by offering a deal that you can only get by buying one of their phones. Phones can be made cheaper thanks to trade-in deals and other offers, which makes this the most appealing option for many.
Not only that, but if you buy into a carrier’s ecosystem, you immediately open yourself to the world of carrier deals and trade-in offers. They offer financing, carrier-specific features like Wi-Fi calling and VoLTE, and even phone-specific features at times if you buy the phone through their stores. Phones that are unlocked for the U.S. region should be compatible with carriers too, but their support can be inconsistent.
The U.S. phone market's biggest issue comes down to carriers and their stranglehold
In contrast to phones that you buy locked, there are a few other problems. For starters, you may lose out on all of those carrier trade-in deals that you could get by buying from a carrier. There are also two “tiers” of unlocked phones: international phones, and those unlocked for the U.S. market. Samsung is the most well-known example of this, where you can buy U.S. versions of the company’s flagship phones that are unlocked for all U.S. carriers. These then switch the CSC (Country Specific Code) which changes what carrier features are enabled depending on the SIM card installed. Internationally unlocked Samsung devices will have the same CSC-switching feature but don’t include the necessary configurations for US carriers
Generally, all phones also have to be approved to work on a specific carrier, and there’s a good reason for this: band support.
In Europe, if you buy an international phone, chances are that phone will just work across the litany of carriers across the continent. That’s not quite the case in the U.S., as fewer international devices support the necessary bands. What’s more, even if your phone is compatible on a technical level, if it isn’t approved for use on the carrier, it may simply not connect. It’s a bit complicated though because roaming might work, but a native SIM might not activate — it depends on how strict the carrier’s activation requirements are. U.S. phones generally work in Europe, but the contrary isn’t always true. This might be part of what adds to the cost of a U.S. phone, as they support a lot of European bands (which may come with a licensing cost) whereas the inverse is not usually true.
Band support is why if you take a recently launched Xiaomi or OPPO phone to America, you might not get a signal at all and almost certainly will only have partial 5G support at best. Your odds of getting one working perfectly as if it was officially launched in the country, is almost zero.
The Google Pixel 6a compared to the competition
The thing about the Google Pixel 6a is that in the U.S. market, it’s a great value phone. There are basically no other offerings in the U.S. that can provide as complete an experience at that price range. Flagship chipset? Check. Great cameras? Check. Long-term software support with timely updates? Check. It’s got all the basic boxes of an excellent phone… but it costs $449. That’s a good price in the U.S, but it being a good price in the U.S. is more indicative of the high costs over there than anything else.
Taking a look at the European and Asian markets, competition is a lot tougher for the Google Pixel 6a. Unless you value excellent photos over everything else, there’s tough competition in this price bracket, and even cheaper. I can buy a OnePlus Nord 2T for less than a Google Pixel 6a. It has what I would call a more practical chipset, a better display, better speakers, longer battery life, and much faster charging. While Tensor is good, any long-term usage will see heavy thermal throttling and reduced performance as a result, which the Dimensity 1300 doesn’t suffer from anywhere near as much. You get better software on the Pixel 6a and a better camera, but it’s tough competition.
If OnePlus isn’t your cup of tea, let’s look at the new kid on the block. The Nothing Phone 1 arrived with much bravado, and again, we’re in a situation where it packs a whole lot of punch that the Google Pixel 6a does not. We’re talking about a better display (with some controversy, mind you…), great battery life, a better chipset (for the same reason that the Dimensity 1300 does a better job than Tensor in my opinion), and just as unique a design. On the software front, Nothing is a bit of a question mark, so it’s completely understandable that you may be wary of stepping into an all-new ecosystem like that.
Well, what about Xiaomi? Xiaomi has a ton of mid-range phones, either through Poco or Redmi. The Poco F4, for example, comes in cheaper and it’s the same story as the above. Better screen, better chipset, worse camera, faster charging… in every case with each of these phones, you’re trading a lot to simply own a Pixel.
Finally, let’s look at an old reliable — Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy A53 is a mid-range offering from Samsung that a lot of people have touted as a better alternative to the Pixel 6a even in the U.S. In some ways, I can see why. It has wireless charging, it has a better display (Samsung is one of the best in the business for that), and for some people, One UI is much better than Google’s Pixel software. However, I would argue that the Pixel 6a is a compelling buy against the Galaxy A53 for its better camera, much better chipset, and better battery life. There’s just one problem though: the phone that is inferior to the Pixel 6a is the only mid-range phone in this list that’s available in the U.S.
If you are in an Asian market, like India, then there are a whole host of other options from Realme, Vivo, Oppo, and more. Each has its own pros and cons, but all of them assemble their phones in India which Google does not. As a consequence, they enjoy cheaper pricing while the Google Pixel 6a deals with import duties, dealing it a rather heavy blow for pricing in a market that is supremely competitive. The Pixel 6a starts encroaching into premium-mid-range or even flagship territory pricing, at which point, one really needs to assess all of their options.
You must really want a Pixel
Look, I get it. The Google Pixel 6a is a good phone, and the software and that camera are both compelling. If those are your prerogative and you value those highly above all else, then sure, go for it.
But I feel like some of the other features are what the non-tech enthusiasts really care about. Most people care if their phone can last a long time, if it can charge fast and if they can use it to do their daily bits and pieces without worrying about it dying on them. A friend of mine recently handed me her Pixel 6 that she got at launch, worried that it was too hot, and was afraid of the damage it was doing as the phone slowed down every time it got hot. She’s essentially considering getting a new phone just because of Tensor. These are the “normal” consumers. The heat of the Google Pixel 6 is the only constant complaint I have heard from multiple “average” consumers that have asked me if it’s normal. Two of them are going to buy a new phone, and one of them is even switching to the Nothing Phone 1 and refuses to go near a Pixel with Tensor after his experience.
I’m sure all of us know people who got annoyed by software updates, especially given how slow they can be on Google Pixel phones too. I have waited for a long time to finish a simple security update on a Pixel, whereas other devices are much quicker. The Google Pixel 6a is good, it takes great photos, and it has great software. Nevertheless, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s missing quite a bit of what other people are looking for. Most people don’t care if their phone has the best camera in whatever class their phone is in, they just want a phone that takes good photos for social media. The OnePlus Nord 2T will manage that, and the Nothing Phone 1 can as well.
No matter what, I think the Google Pixel 6a being such a good option in the U.S. is not indicative of Google making an excellent phone. Instead, I think it points to how little competition there actually is in the region, and how the one phone people are pointing towards being an alternative isn’t really better at all. It solves the wireless charging and the screen “issue” (if you can call it that), but the rest, well, the Pixel 6a simply smokes the Galaxy A53.
Despite all of that, I can’t wait to see Tensor 2. Google is on to such a good concept with the Google Pixel 6 series currently, and if it can solve throttling and heating issues with the Pixel 7 series, then it’s on the road to creating a winner.
Thanks Zachary Wander for his assistance in the writing of this article!
Samsung has been quite consistent when it comes to pushing software updates to its devices. It’s one of those companies that has consistently shown how reliable it is when it comes to software support. A lot of the flagship Samsung devices, in case you don’t know, are eligible for four major Android updates and up to five years of security updates. That’s even better than what Google promises for its Pixel phones. The list of Samsung devices that are eligible to receive four major Android updates is already quite exhaustive, and the company is adding its Galaxy Z Flip 4 to that list as well.
That’s right, Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Flip 4 and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will both get four years of Android OS updates. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 runs Android 12 out of the box, meaning it will be supported all the way up to Android 16 — or whatever Google decides to call it at that time. This, of course, is subject to change depending on how Google approaches its updates in the future, but this is where the Galaxy Z Flip 4 stands right now. Additionally, it’ll also receive security updates for the next five years, meaning it’s covered till 2027. It may not receive them frequently towards the end of this tenure, but you can expect to get these security patches every month for now.
Samsung has consistently proved that it’s the best in the business when it comes to software updates, so you can expect the foldables to be treated the same way. The fact that these smartphones will be supported for such a long time in the future also makes them very easy for us to recommend.
If you’re interested in buying the new Galaxy Z Flip 4, then be sure to hit the link in the box above to find the best price for it online. We’ve also rounded up some of the best Galaxy Z Flip 4 deals you can explore to save some money on your purchase and splurge on one of the best cases for it.
A few weeks ago, it was reported that Google’s timer and stopwatch tool had gone missing. The tools could be found through a simple Google search for “timer” or “stopwatch,” making it convenient and easy to use. Luckily, after a brief hiatus, the tools are now back.
Google’s Danny Sullivan, the company’s Search Liaison, tweeted that the feature was now back and available for use. While there isn’t a specific date, the timer was reportedly removed sometime in mid-July. Sullivan confirmed on August 1 that the timer and stopwatch had indeed been pulled because of an issue. At the time, he did not confirm what kind of issue the tools were having. On August 17, Sullivan tweeted, letting everyone know that timer and stopwatch had been restored. He went on to thank the team at Google for working on the problem but again did not go into detail about what kind of issue it might have had.
If this is all news to you, the Google timer and stopwatch were first made available almost a decade ago. If you’ve never had the pleasure of using it, it is extremely convenient. To activate the timer, simply perform a google search for “timer” or “stopwatch.” This will bring up the tool in the web browser. You can also type “set a timer for (value) minutes” and have it set a timer for whatever value you have entered.
Since it is a simple tool, the timer does have limitations, like having a maximum time of 99 hours for its timer function. Like a real timer, once the countdown is complete, it will sound off an alert, signaling that the countdown has been completed. Of course, if you are doing something more serious, you will most likely want to use a dedicated stopwatch or your phone’s timer app. But for quick access, the Google search timer is an excellent choice.
