Microsoft Build 2025 happened in Seattle this year, and I went there in person to see everything firsthand at the company's annual developer conference.

The big news was announced in Microsoft chief Satya Nadella's Monday keynote, and it was all about AI. Between Microsoft bringing DeepSeek R1 models to Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs and Microsoft 365 Copilot debuting new research tools for work, it's clear AI remains a key priority for the company's software and services.

And while we didn't hear anything about Windows 12, the many ways in which Microsoft is trying to work AI into Windows 11 dominated the conversation around Build.

You can read our blog updates below for all the Build news we covered. While Build isn't officially over until the end of the week (May 23), the lion's share of the interesting news was announced in the first two days. At this point, it's all developer networking and informative sessions about how companies can use Microsoft technology to do business more effectively.

But there were some exciting moments to see in the first keynote, which you can watch in full below as you scroll down to see our live blow-by-blow reporting about everything you need to know about Build 2025.

LIVE: LATEST UPDATES

What to expect from the keynote?

Microsoft Build will kick of this year with a two-hour keynote from CEO Satya Nadella and other execs discussing all the latest features and services Microsoft has been working on. And, spoiler alert, expect AI to be mentioned a lot.

Microsoft has spent the last year building out Copilot and this is where we'll hopefully see new features finally rolling out after spending several months in the preview stage. I'm expecting Copilot to be even further baked into Windows 11, giving users things like semantic search in areas of the operating system like Settings and File Explorer.

The keynote will kick off today (May 19) at 12PM ET/9AM PT/5pm BST

Will we hear about the Xbox handheld?

I'm very skeptical that Microsoft will reveal anything about its forthcoming Xbox handheld at Build this year. We know the device is currently in development with Asus but early rumors suggest Microsoft isn't doing any more than providing the Xbox UI.

Given how popular handheld gaming is right now, it's a safe way for Microsoft to experiment with Xbox without having to commit too many resources. Build is likely to be far more focused on Windows and Surface hardware than Xbox.

Still... considering Computex 2025 is also happening right now and there's likely to be a ton of cool handhelds breaking cover at that show, it would be nice if Microsoft could give us just a little tease at its own event...

Copilot agents

Back in September, Microsoft unveiled Copilot agents, which are basically AI assistants that can function autonomously to streamline various processes for you. The shift to agentic AI is probably going to be the next big thing for the industry and Microsoft will probably reveal more about how this is going to work at Build.

Agents are specialized and work within Microsoft 365 Copilot to organize and execute tasks on behalf of the user. So, you may have one agent tasked with searching out the right vacation location while another is scouring through archive documents as part of a research project you need to get done.

Microsoft has said users can @ mention the agent as you would any other teammate to ask questions and get real-time answers.

Microsoft's new Surface devices

Microsoft's Surface devices have dwindled a little in recent years, but the company's in-house laptops and hybrid 2-in-1s are still something of a head-turner. Redmond revealed details about its new Surface PCs earlier this month.

We've got a new 12-inch Surface Pro and a 13-inch Surface Laptop. They're both slightly smaller, lighter and less powerful than last year's models, but the upshot is they should last longer on a charge thanks to their lowered specs.

I guess if there's a silver lining here, it's that in a world of tariffs and rising prices, the new 2025 Surface Laptop 7 (13-inch) starts at $100 cheaper than the least expensive Surface Laptop 7 (13.8-inch). So, there's that.

• Read the full story: Microsoft unveils smaller, cheaper Surface Pro and Surface Laptop — everything you need to know

A possible new Microsoft-developed Copilot model

There have been some rumors that Microsoft is working on its own AI models to use in Copilot, rather than using those from ChatGPT-creator OpenAI. Currently, Copilot is built on OpenAI's GPT-4 model, so if Microsoft can break away from that — and show its own models are a compelling rival to OpenAI — the AI race will have taken another interesting turn.

Microsoft has invested up to $13 billion in OpenAI in a profit-share agreement and according to some reports, the latter is currently renegotiating the agreement ahead of plans to someday launch its IPO.

Microsoft therefore would probably do well to move its reliance away from OpenAI and develop its own models. We've already seen the Phi-4 model family announced at the start of this month.

Phone Link panel rolling out to Windows 11

Here's a small nugget of news ahead of Build kicking off today — Microsoft is making it easier to interact with your Android phone in Windows 11 by rolling out a dedicated Phone Link panel to the start menu.

Users will be able to find it on the right of the start menu with the panel showing things like your device's connection status and battery level. You'll also find buttons for direct access to messages, call history and image gallery.

If you're unfamiliar with Phone Link, it will even mirror your Android device's screen to your PC. Nice!

Windows 12 news is a long, long shot

Some industry analysts expected we may see our first glimpses of Windows 12 this year but instead we got the Windows 11 update 24H2, which introduced a load of new features. That being the case, I would not expect Windows 12 to get any kind of a mention at Build this year.

If and when Windows 12 does arrive, you can probably expect a fully-fledged shift to AI from the outset. But, with Windows 10 ending support on October 14, 2025, Microsoft will be much more concerned about migrating users over to Windows 11.

Microsoft Build officially kicks off!

And we are live with Microsoft Build 2025. Right now we're getting some pre-amble discussing developers' enthusiasm for working with AI. I think it's safe to say this is a pre-cursor to what expect during this event. If you're interested in AI, prepare for a ride!

Satya Nadella takes the stage!

And here we go! Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is here to officially kick off Microsoft Build 2025. Again, this will be an AI-focused event where the company will detail the latest developments in its AI ambitions.

An interuption

As Satya speaks, it sounds like some protestors are trying to disrupt the show. However, the CEO is continuing his speech. Does anyone feel like this is deja vu? The same thing happened during Microsoft's previous event.

Coding agent

Microsoft now has a new coding agent available on GitHub. Said agent will further help developers with bug fixes. It can add filters for user group size, among other things. In short, this (like most stuff announced at Build) is meant to make developers' lives easier via AI.

Sam Altman joins virtually

OpenAI's Sam Altman joins Build virtually. This was expected given how closely Microsoft and OpenAI are working together.

Sam discusses the latest developments, including how AI agents can help take on larger workloads than before. Altman says models will become smarter and more reliable. Quoting Steve Jobs, Sam says these tools "will just work."

The pace of AI

Sam discusses how fast AI is developing and how people working with AI changed their workflow to compensate with all the changes. AI is in a different state now than even a year ago, so it should become more powerful going forward.

Microsoft 365 updates

We're now hearing about the latest Microsoft 365 updates. As expected, Microsoft's slew of apps is now driven by AI. AI agents analyze multiple source files to put expertise at a developer's fingertips, according to Nadella.

Onboarding new partners

Developers will be able to onboard new partners with the use of agents, which should help everyone get on the same page faster. This will be helped by a new program called Copilot tuning.

Testing the new Microsoft 365

Miti Joshi takes the stage to show off some new Copilot features for Microsoft 365. One new feature is how the AI agent can use reasoning in whatever field it's working in. It not only pulls from your work data, but also from the internet.

Some demos

Miti is now demoing how the server can keep the AI agent updated with the latest data. Agents can even work with each other to tackle more complex workloads.

Evolving apps

One of the themes of this event is that AI has to be useful for multiple and varied tasks instead of specializing in one area. This is something companies believe, given the vast number of partners Microsoft now has using its AI tools.

AI tools to help folks communicate

MyEngine is an AI tool that people with loss of hearing can use to communicate with others. This tool is even capable of understanding regional dialects so that it can be more accurate. This is an excellent way that AI can help folks outside of big business.

Grok is coming to AI Azure

Elon Musk makes an appearance to discuss Grok 3.5 and the partnership he has with Microsoft. Grok will now be available on Azure, which should make the platform more efficient.

Grok 3.5 will be more accurate

Grok 3.5 will use the laws of physics and help minimize error. This last point is important since AI can sometimes be incorrect, which can be detrimental for both developers and users.

Foundry models

Satya is now detailing all the different models that Microsoft is utilizing for its AI programs and tools. This is good so that developers aren't just relegated to using a single model for their work. This, in turn, should yield faster and more accurate work.

Using AI to help cancer patients

As you can imagine, there's a lot of information in a cancer patient's medical records. The healthcare AI agent helps bring together all this disparate information to help doctors. This information can also be shared with community hospitals, ensuring that information can get out to the world

Improving AI agents

Kedasha Kerr takes the stage to show off how developers can improve AI agents to help tasks like trip planning be more efficient. This can be done by using different AI models to give users better results, since they'll see fewer AI hallucinations.

Working on simultaneous issues

Thanks to Github Copilot, developers will be able to take on multiple issues at once and take care of them faster than before. This should help streamline one's work.

New Windows updates

Nadella announces Windows AI Foundry. Developers can use it to build features. It can run across CPUs, GPUs, the cloud, and more. This is something Microsoft has used internally, but is now making it available for all Windows 11 developers.

Creating desktop apps in minutes

Divya Venkataramu takes the stage to show off another demo. Like the previous demo, this AI agent takes info from various sources to complete tasks. It can talk to new forms of databases in Windows.

WSL is now open source

Nadella announces that WSL is now open source. This was a question developers have had for decades, and Microsoft can now answer with "yes."

The agentic web

Kevin Scott takes the stage to discuss what Microsoft calls the "agentic web." That's a fancy way of saying an AI-powered internet.

Smarter agents

One of this event's themes has been building smarter AI agents that can recall things you may have asked it to do in the past. This should not only make agents more personal, but also allow them to remember important aspects of the tasks developers need them for. This also includes having agents take actions on one's behalf

Using agents to build websites

This was already teased before, but AI agents can help developers create websites much faster than ever. In fact, they can create multiple websites in a fraction of the time.

Why the open agentic web is important

The idea for an agentic web is to make it more open to as many developers as possible. This should allow for more developers to be creative and thus make the web better for everyone.

AI for NFL Combine

The NFL Combine used Microsoft's AI tools to help it. This is another example of how well AI agents can gather information for users and developers.

Chat with your data

Being able to chat with data will be useful for developers and this is something they'll be able to do thanks to Microsoft's AI tools.

Nvidia and Microsoft

Nvidia's Jensen Huang makes a virtual appearance to discuss how computing now works. Huang details how much faster AI has gotten in recent years. The Nvidia founder also discusses how CUDA can help accelerate workloads and how it can handle different kinds of workloads.

Better weather prediction

Predicting the weather isn't easy since it requires a lot of supercomputing power. With Microsoft's AI tools, the hope is to make predicting the weather better. The aim is to build a cloud-based supercomputer specifically for weather prediction.

Microsoft Discovery

Microsoft Discovery will be a new AI tool to help further scientific innovations across a slew of scientific fields. This will not only be for theories but for real-world simulations.

Using Microsoft Discover for research

John Link takes the stage to demo how Microsoft Discover can create solutions by utilizing data across many AI models. To be specific, he wants to create a new cooling solution. He uses several data points to feed to the AI to build the right workflow to complete the task.

Actual results

The demo wasn't just for show, as Microsoft developed a new coolant using Microsoft Discovery. That, as John Link rightly said, is pretty cool.

Closing things out

Satya Nadella gives his final thoughts. Based on what we saw, Microsoft is working hard at creating better and faster AI for developers, which in turn can help create better tools for users.

Demo time

Now that the Build 2025 keynote is wrapped up it's time to do some demos.

Microsoft has set up a small showcase here in Seattle where spokespeople are talking up how the company's new AI tools and features can help companies run businesses more effectively and efficiently.

It's all AI all the time here at Build

Microsoft's all in on AI at Build this year, and all the demos are showcasing how the company's new AI tools can help make work more efficient.

Here I'm watching someone talk up the new Github Copilot Coding Agent, an AI agent that can be tasked to do things like fix bugs in your code.

Day 2 kicks off with a keynote for developers

Day 2 of Build 2025 is starting with a developer keynote that's going to get into far more technical detail than company chief Satya Nadella and crew went into during yesterday's inaugural keynote.

I'm sitting in the keynote right now with a room full of developers watching two Microsoft engineers showing off the new ways coders can use Github Copilot to take care of boring, repetitive tasks. It's pretty interesting, but only if you're a programmer or someone who works with programmers.

That's a wrap...for now

Now that Microsoft Build is in full effect and the Day 2 keynote is basically over, there's not much left to do but watch developers network in the halls and attend sessions throughout the conference center.

I'm going to hit the floor to see what demos I can check out, so we'll keep this blog going in case anything exciting crops up at Build 2025.

That's a wrap for me

Build 2025 is going to keep going for a few more days, but I'm not. I've got to catch a plane home, so after one last walk through the conference floor I'm going to wind down this blog and head to the airport. If it's not clear enough already, this year Microsoft was all about AI and helping its developer partners use Copilot and the company's other AI tools more effectively with less hassle.

Do you say “please” and “thank you” to Alexa? What about ChatGPT?

While AI assistants are designed to execute commands without the need for social niceties, a new survey suggests that a significant number of people still treat AI interactions with human-like politeness.

Whether out of habit, respect, or a cautious hedge against the possibility of an eventual robot uprising, our collective etiquette towards AI seems to be evolving. And this new data comes at an interesting time, as Amazon's big Alexa event is tomorrow, February 25th.

The rise of AI politeness

A new study conducted by Future Publishing with 510 participants from the US and 518 participants from the UK reveals that more than 55% of respondents say they consistently use polite language when interacting with AI, up from 49% in the previous survey.

This increase suggests that as AI becomes more integrated into daily life, more users are instinctively treating their virtual assistants as conversational partners rather than mere tools.

Some users even take their politeness to a humorous extreme. In the survey, 12% of respondents admitted that their courtesy stems from a tongue-in-cheek fear of a future “robot uprising,” a drop from 18% in the last poll.

While this response is clearly playful, it highlights the way AI is increasingly perceived as something more than just a faceless algorithm — it’s a presence in our homes, offices, and smartphones.

The bot etiquette skeptics

Not everyone believes in extending social graces to artificial intelligence. The number of respondents who take a more direct approach — choosing to forgo politeness for the sake of efficiency—has risen from 15% to 20%.

Another 13% state flatly that they don’t see AI as worthy of politeness, viewing it as no different from a kitchen appliance or any other inanimate tool.

This segment of users seems to embrace the core reality of AI: It doesn’t have feelings. Virtual assistants aren’t offended by blunt commands, and for many, taking the extra time to add “please” and “thank you” feels unnecessary.

Still, the rise in AI courtesy suggests that, for a growing number of people, speaking to AI without social norms feels unnatural.

What’s driving the AI attitude shift?

The increase in politeness towards AI could be due to several factors. As humans, we are hardwired to be polite. From childhood, we’re taught to be polite when making requests. For many, saying “Hey Siri, set an alarm, please” just feels more natural than issuing a cold directive.

Many parents model politeness when speaking to AI in front of their children, reinforcing respectful communication even in digital interactions. There’s a growing concern that children raised with AI assistants might learn to issue demands without courtesy, potentially influencing their real-world interactions with people.

As AI assistants become more sophisticated and natural-sounding, they feel less like basic tools and more like conversational entities. The more human-like the interaction, the more likely users are to default to typical social behavior.

Additionally, AI is taking on more responsibilities, from customer service to healthcare assistance, which may prompt people to subconsciously believe AI interactions carry more weight than in the past.

Being polite to AI today could be a sign of an emerging mindset where humans and AI collaborate more closely.

The future of AI interactions

The fact that more people are being polite to AI — even as others reject the idea —suggests that our relationship with technology is evolving. AI may not require politeness, but the way we interact with it could shape the way AI is designed in the future.

Will AI models be built to respond better to courteous users? Could AI-driven customer service prioritize helpfulness based on the politeness of the request?

Amazon is holding a devices and services event tomorrow, which undoubtedly means we're going to see a major Alexa upgrade. Either way, it's evident that this trend in etiquette towards AI reveals something about us as humans.

Whether out of habit, humor, or genuine respect, many people are choosing to treat AI interactions as they would human ones. And even if AI doesn’t appreciate the effort, it seems that more and more users do.

So, do you say “please” and “thank you” to your AI assistant? Share your thoughts in the comments.

More from Tom's Guide

• New study reveals people are ditching Google for AI tools like ChatGPT search — here's why
• Google launches AI-powered coding for free – here’s how to try it
• I just tested Grok-3 vs DeepSeek with 7 prompts — here’s the winner

The Samsung CES 2023 has kicked off at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center here in Las Vegas and mostly talked about the future of the connect home.

The show kicked off at 2 pm PST and can be viewed below. 

Just want the highlights? Scroll down below to see what was announced, when.

Catch up with Samsung's announcements at CES 2023 so far:

• Samsung unveils Micro LED TVs at CES 2023 — and we just found out how they’re making more sizes
• Samsung's new 57-inch ultrawide gaming screen is impressively ridiculous
• More than just flexible — this Samsung display also slides out
• Samsung S95C OLED TV hands on
• Samsung QN95C Neo QLED TV hands on

Looking for folding OLED displays? Samsung's got them. Check out the Flex Hybrid. Coming courtesy of Samsung Display, this device shows off a concept “smart mobile device” that has both a folding and sliding display.

Using this approach it takes a 10.5-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio and expands into a 16:10 12.4-inch screen. So not just adding more space but also transforming the shape of the screen.

While 10.5 inches is a little big for a smartphone, it’s not hard to see how this tech could be condensed down into a phone display and represent an evolution for folding phones. Don’t expect to see this on the potential Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, but it could be a possibility for future folding Samsung phones and tablets.

Update: we're in our seats at Mandalay Bay. 30 minutes to showtime! 

The show is starting. We've got some catchy music in the background. 

JH Han takes the stage. Asked the question: "Are smart devices really making our lives easier?" Man, I don't know that's a tough one. Probably not.

Han talking about the Device eXperience team formation last year. The DX team is working hard to be create more sustainable products, reduce carbon emissions and create great experiences for Samsung customers.

Han's out. Vice President of Corporate Sustainability Inhee Chung is on next. 

Samsung will reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The DX division will be net zero by 2030 and powered by renewable energy by 2027. 

"Many of our phones and TVs include recycled materials ... As we move forward even more products will include recycled material."

Chung is out. This is a breakneck pace! ... And the next dude is done talking, too. 

OK, SmartThings. More than 80 million connected devices to SmartThings platform. Samsung is partnering with other companies to reduce emissions. 

The end goal is that Samsung wants to create a future where homes have solar panels and batteries on the side of the home to store energy.

Chung is now talking about the issue of micro plastics. Introducing Vincent Stanley from Patagonia to talk about the steps it's taken since last year's CES.

"Engineers went to work creating a washing machine that could filter out micro plastics ... That technology has now reached the commercial stage."

Apparently this can reduce micro plastic pollution by 54%. Already available in Bespoke washer and dryers. The filter will be available to all washing machines down the road.

Jaeyon Jung up now to talk more SmartThings. SmartThings will let you check a device's status remotely through the app (an old feature, but a neat one).

Samsung Home Monitor will send you an alert if it detects something out of the ordinary. The microphones on your TV can detect strange noises in the house. 

(Ed. Ooh, not sure if I like the sound of that. My TV is just listening for weird noises all the time?)

Alana Gomez-Solis up next. She's a Communications and Content Specialist at Samsung. Using PetCare on a Samsung TV, she can check in on her dog when she's at work when it detects barking. The AI vacuum cleaner can also clean while she's away so she comes back to a dander-free home.

Gomez-Solis is talking about all the use cases for SmartThings, including the ability to find new recipes for dinner, workout tracking on her Samsung Galaxy smart watch, etc... Multi-view allows her to watch multiple things at once, perfect for her roommate situation, I guess?

Jaeyeon Jung is back introducing the latest SmartThings hub, SmartThings Station. Smallest and most convenient smart hub yet. Can be programmed for a custom night routine when it detects your phone on the charger.

Jasper Vervoot on stage. Philips Hue are now able to sync with any content on Samsung smart TVs. It's an immersive experience that will work through the Philips Hue Sync TV app, available on iOS and Android tomorrow.

Knox Matrix is all about privacy. This is way outside my wheelhouse. But it sounds...safe? I've heard the words security, privacy and safety thrown around umpteen times in the last three minutes.

Samsung is partnering with Harman to create a safer experience. Harman Ready Care wants to reduce the amount of on-the-road fatalities. Harman's in-car sensors can track driver drowsiness and take preventative measures to keep you awake.

Ready Care can detect factors that create stress in drivers and can send reminders that you personalize to help keep you relaxed. It can change the volume of the music or the cabin light color to keep you calm.

(Ed. This sounds kind of annoying, tbh.)

More talk of the internet of things era with Sebastian Seung. He says we've entered the 'Personal AI era' - basically The Jetsons.

"The smart home of the future will understand objects in their context ... In that future you can just say 'Turn on the TV' and it will turn on the TV closest to you." Jetbot will clean up crumbs under the table when you have dinner. 

(Ed. Now this I could get behind, but still, big time security concerns.)

"We're investing in new forms of AI."

Last announcement of the show: Relumino Mode. This helps people with impaired vision see movies and content that they couldn't see before. A video is going with an amateur director who's visually impaired

"Relumino Mode helps people on the blindness spectrum connect with content ... and each other." It's a nice sentiment and a nice way to wrap things up.

It's a free world out there on the internet. Free maps, free navigation, free voice calls, free email, free messaging, free apps — but should you trust your digital security to a free antivirus program?

• How to buy antivirus software
• The best identity theft protection services

For Windows users, some measure of security is needed on every computer. Malware, botnets, keyloggers and viruses are daily nuisances and constant threats, and that's why you need the best antivirus software you can get.

Antivirus software companies have certainly profited from this fact, but there are also plenty of free options, including free basic programs from the same developers that also offer for-pay packages.

On the free side are some solid and reputable antivirus programs for Windows machines. Avast Free Antivirus, Avira Free Antivirus, AVG AntiVirus Free, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition and Kaspersky Security Cloud Free are just a few.

Microsoft itself even builds very good antivirus software called Microsoft Defender Antivirus, also known as Windows Defender, right into Windows 10 and Windows 8.1. (Anyone still using Windows 7 or Windows Vista can download Microsoft Security Essentials, Defender's predecessor.) Like any paid program, Defender will scan your system for bad actors and keep a constant vigil on downloaded files.

There are dozens of paid antivirus programs from such well-known names as Bitdefender, McAfee, Norton and Kaspersky. Paid programs generally offer a slew of additional features, which can be helpful or overkill, depending on what kind of computer owner you are — cautious or geeky.

Avast's Premium Security package ($39.99 for one PC for one year), for example, has several features lacking in the company's free version, such as webcam protections to stop snoopers and a file shredder. It also opens suspicious programs in an "sandbox" environment so they don't infect your PC.

There are usually three levels of paid-subscription packages. Bitdefender, for example, has a $60 yearly subscription package (for three PCs) called Bitdefender Antivirus Plus. A step up is a $80 suite named Bitdefender Internet Security that adds parental controls, a two-way firewall and other features. But if you opt for the company's $90 Bitdefender Total Security package, you'll also get system performance checks and an anti-theft tool.

• The best parental control apps for iOS and Android
• Best cloud backup services

McAfee's Total Protection package ($120 yearly for 10 PCs) is another example of a complete package. It also includes parental controls, home-network security, a VPN and a password manager. It also lets owners encrypt particularly sensitive files to secure them in case a PC is stolen — ideal for laptop users.

Most of the more expensive packages bundle in antivirus software for other platforms, so you can get some of the best Mac antivirus software and the best Android antivirus apps at the same time.

The same, but different

In terms of performance in catching malware, what matters is the malware-detection "engine," not whether the program is free or paid. Most companies will use the same malware engine in their free and paid products, so Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition should detect malware as well as Bitdefender Total Security.

Some paid programs will be better at detecting new threats, such as a website laced with newly created malware. Paid products, with their elaborate system-behavior monitors, are more likely to pick those up and to warn you about other possible dangers. But some free programs have that kind of "heuristic" monitoring as well.

Some users have complained about seeing more false warnings from free programs. There's a work-around for this, also free. When a suspicious file is tagged and you're not sure if it's safe to delete it, you can upload it to Virus Total (http://www.virustotal.com/), which will submit the suspect to scores of antivirus-engine interrogations and present you with results.

The primary differences between the free and pay products comes down to features — some of which can be extremely important — and ease of use.

Free programs generally offer no telephone technical support. This can be a deal-breaker for any small business, or a family with multiple computer users. Free programs don't, as a rule, offer parental controls that can keep kids off inappropriate sites or warn them about cyberstalking and bullying.

Free programs often also include advertising. This can be negligible, but ceaseless pop-up boxes pestering you to sign up for the paid version of whatever you're using can be quite distracting. Some free programs also try to change your web browser's home page and default search engine, which annoys us greatly.

In the you-get-what-you-pay-for category, the paid programs are sometimes easier to install and run and have fewer conflicts with other applications. You'll also find that should you lock down your system too tightly, it's easier with paid programs to select specific features and shut them off, or to set rules and behavioral exceptions.

The primary differences between free and paid anti-virus software, however, involve the additional features you get when you pay for a one-year license. There are the aforementioned parental controls, but you'll also find more elaborate firewalls to prevent intrusions, and performance and conflict scans for Windows PCs. The paid programs also look for suspicious behavior, such as a program attempting to access files it shouldn't.

In addition, McAfee's makers point out that most free programs do not rate or assess the legitimacy of websites or warn about the latest phishing scams.

Who needs what?

If you have a small business, one of the best internet security suites might be a better alternative. Technical support will prove essential should an employee or virus bring down your computers. Furthermore, features that allow you to block certain types of sites can keep employees from straying to begin with.

Parents may also consider buying a full-fledged program with parental controls. Not only can the additional controls be helpful, but the additional warnings about phishing can educate younger users. There are sometimes also home-networking features that can prevent freeloaders from using the family Wi-Fi.

For the rest of us, one of the better free packages, such as Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, may be sufficient. These are usually kept up-to-date with the latest virus signatures for scanning and monitoring, and their malware-scanning performance is comparable to their more expensive counterparts.

If you are diligent enough to download and install one of the best free antivirus programs, then you need to be more careful than most people when you're online. 

You may not need the added protection a $50 or $80 program affords, but should also be the type of person who isn't likely to open links in strange emails or fall for false ads on malicious websites. In other words, you shouldn't be in much danger to begin with.

One last issue to consider, though, is that while you can often add other free software to cover other issues that paid antivirus software offers, such as parental controls, or use those that are built into some browsers, mixing and matching can quickly get complicated.

Whenever there's a conflict with another program or a warning about a possible security threat, it can be difficult to tell which of several products you may be using is causing the problem. Does a setting in the free Windows firewall protection need to be reset, or is there another program blocking the software you want to access on the Web?

Ultimately, if you do go the free route, don't just click on the first "free antivirus program" button you see, whether it's a pop-up ad or the result of a Google search. Those are often malicious programs looking to infect a PC. Stick with one of the applications mentioned in this story.

• The best Android antivirus apps
• The best Windows 10 antivirus

Even though publicly available 5G networks just celebrated their two-year anniversary, you may still wonder when is 5G coming with faster service. 5G devices like the iPhone 12 may be widely available as wireless carriers tout their new networks. But for most of us, things don't feel much different than when LTE was the ultimate in cellular networks.

The truth is, 5G may have already launched where you live, only you haven't really noticed. First of all, you'd need a 5G-ready phone to pick up the signal. And though 5G promises improved speeds over LTE, we're not seeing blazing fast speeds from the nationwide networks launched by each of the three major wireless carriers. At least, not yet. 

• Best family cell phone plan: Which ones include 5G coverage?
• Forget the iPad Pro 2020: Why you should buy the older one instead
• Get the best 5G phones as your next handset

If you can get a 5G signal where you're at and you have a phone with a 5G modem, you'll likely see improved performance over LTE (aka 4G) networks. But even with an uptick in speed, the 5G experience isn't all that different from LTE at this point. However, Roland Moore-Colyer has found one compelling reason to adopt 5G.

The 5G landscape is constantly shifting and will continue to do so for the remainder of this year and beyond. Here's a status report on where we are now, how we got here and what's ahead for 5G as the new networking standard blankets more of the country with faster speeds and lower latency.

5G explained

5G is the fifth generation of wireless communication standards, following previous iteration of wireless networking. It was the arrival of 3G nearly 20 years ago that made it possible to surf the internet on a smartphone, while 4G delivered speeds that enabled video streaming and an entire economy of apps that need sustained, reliable connectivity.

In 2017, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project—the group that creates the rules for wireless connectivity—issued the non-stand-alone standard for 5G, which allows 5G to coexist alongside 4G. The standard for stand-alone 5G got finalized a year later. In the two years since, infrastructure developers such as Ericsson and Nokia have worked with the four major wireless carriers in the U.S. to build out 5G networks and test them with devices equipped with 5G radios that comply with the new standard. 

That means your existing smartphone won't be able to receive a 5G signal (unless, of course, you've already upgraded to a 5G device in the past year-and-a-half). The new standard requires a new device that may hit download speeds of 1 Gbps (but only on a high-band 5G network) and theoretically hit a peak of 10 Gbps. 

In theory, that would let you download full-length movies in seconds. More significantly, it opens up a world of possibilities we can't even imagine yet.

When is 5G coming: U.S. network cheat sheet

5G technologies affecting when 5G is coming

The backbone of the 5G standard is comprised of low-, mid- and high-band spectrum. 5G networks operate on different frequencies with sub-6 GHz and millimeter-wave (20-60 GHz) at the low and high ends of the spectrum.

Carriers were already using sub-6 spectrum for existing LTE networks, and now they need more of it to build out 5G. Millimeter-wave frequency was previously unused, and the advent of 5G has given carriers access to the spectrum that will enable the faster speeds we expect with the new standard.

But mmWave has a few drawbacks: Because it's so high-frequency, the waves don't travel long distances. In fact, they can't even travel through windows or buildings. That means a device operating on an mmWave-based network — primarily Verizon's at this point, though T-Mobile and AT&T also use mmWaver to some extent — will need to be extremely close to a 5G node to catch a signal.

That's fine in a dense metropolitan area, where you can stick a 5G node every few hundred feet. But in rural areas where there are few buildings or cell towers, mmWave won't work. 

That's why both sub-6 bands are necessary to make 5G signals more widespread. Indeed, Qualcomm CEO Christian Amon has long insisted that real 5G will be a combination of the low, mid, and high-band frequencies.

T-Mobile provides a good example of this. It launched nationwide 5G coverage at the end of 2019 using sub-6Hz spectrum. That meant lots of coverage — at launch, T-Mobile's Extended Range 5G reached 5,000 cities — but at speeds that were only 20% faster than 4G on average. T-Mobile has subsequently begun to incorporate the midband 2.5GHz spectrum it acquired during its merger with Sprint to boost performance for what the carrier has dubbed Ultra Capacity 5G. In some cities, T-Mobile uses all elements of 5G — mmWave, mid-band and sub-6Hz spectrum — for what it calls a layer cake approach.

When is 5G coming to your area?

5G is already here, but unless the stars of your location, the wireless carrier you subscribe to and the smartphone you own are perfectly aligned, you probably can't use it yet.

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile each offer 5G coverage, but there are caveats to their 5G. First, you'll need a 5G-ready device — that's easier than ever, as many of the top phone models come in 5G versions and we're even starting to see cheaper 5G devices that don't cost much more than $500. 

You also have to be in an area where there's coverage from your particular carrier — another factor that's more likely than it was a year ago, now that Verizon joined AT&T and T-Mobile in extending coverage across the country, though not at speeds anywhere close to the 1 Gbps download speeds you've been hearing about.

What's more, it's evident many smartphone users aren't sure what 5G is. In fact, one in three Americans already thought they had 5G, according to one 2019 study. The results showed that 47% of AT&T subscribers who own iPhones think their device is 5G-capable. AT&T's misleading 5G Evolution logo (5GE) to describe service that's really just advanced LTE, probably aided that confusion.

When is 5G coming to more areas and how will it perform?

The current state of 5G looks like this: Verizon has high-speed 5G in parts of 71 cities, along with mmWave towers in many stadiums, arenas and airports. To mark the arrival of the iPhone 12 last fall, Verizon launched nationwide coverage, which now reaches 230 million people. That service isn't as fast as Ultra Wideband and uses lower-band spectrum coupled with dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology that repurposes LTE for 5G coverage.

Verizon just snapped up a bunch of C-band spectrum, which it's hoping to use to bolster the range of its faster 5G coverage. That would help Verizon make up for the head start the other carriers had in providing nationwide coverage.

T-Mobile was the first to hit that milestone, and its 5G service now reaches 8,300 cities and towns, with mid-band coverage giving a speed boost to customers in more than 1,000 cities. A quarter of the way into 2021, T-Mobile now says its nationwide 5G network reaches 287 million people; of that total, 125 million people can enjoy faster Ultra Capacity 5G.

AT&T has launched its own nationwide network, too, reaching 14,000 cities and towns with low-band coverage and high-speed mmWave service in 38 of those cities. This faster 5G Plus offering is also available in 17 arenas, stadiums and convention centers dotted around the U.S..

A 2020 report by OpenSignal detailing 5G performance illustrates what impact the different 5G technologies can have on networks. Verizon, which had relied exclusively on mmWave in its initial 5G launch, boasted the best speeds by far at the time — 506.1 Mbps. Other carriers using mid- to low-band 5G, saw slower average download speeds — 114.2 Mbps for Sprint, 62.7 Mbps for AT&T and 47 Mbps for T-Mobile. (This survey was conducted prior to T-Mobile's efforts to fold Sprint's network into its 5G service.)

But take a look at 5G availability. The same carriers who have slower speeds because of mid- to low-band-based 5G can boast a wider reach. Verizon and its mmWave-based 5G network has the lowest percentage of availability of all, with users able to get a 5G connection less than 1% of the time.

Who has the best 5G network right now depends on who's doing the counting. And the pendulum has swung pretty decisively toward T-Mobile. Ookla said the Uncarrier had the fastest 5G at the end of March 2021, knocking AT&T out of the top spot. (AT&T is still tops in RootMetrics' latest survey.)

Meanwhile, OpenSignal published its results for the first quarter of 2021, where T-Mobile is pretty dominant, topping the key rankings for best 5G speed and greatest 5G availability. AT&T fared well in video experience, while it shared honors with Verizon for 5G gaming.

When is 5G coming to more phones?

Good news — after 5G phones were few and far between entering 2020, we're at the stage where every major phone release now includes 5G capability. That includes the launches of the iPhone 12 (Apple's first 5G phones) and the Galaxy S21, the third 5G capable-release in Samsung's Galaxy S family.

In addition to those devices, major flagships from OnePlus, LG, Google and Motorola all offer 5G connectivity. More importantly, midrange and budget phones are starting to support 5G as well, thanks to less expensive chipsets like Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G. 5G phones under $500 include the Pixel 4a 5G, Motorola One 5G Ace and TCL 10 5G UW. The OnePlus Nord N10 5G is just about the cheapest 5G device we've seen at $299, while Samsung hopes to challenge that with the $279 Galaxy A32 5G.

Expect the 5G devices to keep coming during the rest of 2021, particularly at the high end. Qualcomm has introduced the Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 870 5G for flagship phones; both new chipsets include 5G modems, and you'll see them powering most frontline Android devices this year.

When is 5G coming to the iPhone?

It's already here. Last fall, Apple went all in on 5G, introducing four models that support 5G, including Verizon's Ultra Wideband coverage. Ultimately, that could be the boost 5G needs. 

With the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12,  iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max now out and ranging in price from $699 to $1,099, don't expect Apple to look back. iPhone 13 rumors suggest that 5G will be a part of this fall's phone updates, too. Now the only question is when will Apple release an iPhone SE with 5G?

When is 5G coming to devices beyond phones?

People equate the G's — 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G — with smartphones, because that’s always been the place where we've been able to see an indicator of what kind of connectivity we're getting. But that's only part of what 5G is — the faster speeds will mean so much more than just higher-quality streaming and lightning quick downloads.

"5G will be the post-smartphone era," Robert J. Topol, Intel's general manager for 5G business and technology, said during an interview at the 2019 Mobile World Congress. "Phones are the first place to launch because [they're] such an anchor in our lives from a connectivity standpoint."

That’s in the process of changing.

Lower latency will make augmented reality and virtual reality more useful — and eliminate nausea — because there won't be any lag. AR glasses and VR headsets haven't yet cracked the mainstream, but tech companies are betting that these devices will eventually replace our smartphones. With 5G, that could actually happen. 

"Connected PCs, connected IoT products, connected AR/VR, connected gaming consoles, things like that — we see all of those on the horizon," said Ryan Sullivan, Sprint's vice president of product engineering when we spoke to him in December 2019 before he became vice president of devices and technology at the new T-Mobile. "They may not all be a 2020 thing, but you start to see some of those new use cases and new product categories emerge."

To that end, Qualcomm ended 2019 by releasing its XR2 mixed reality processor with 5G connectivity. That chipset powers the Oculus Quest 2, which came out last year. Qualcomm is also pushing 5G to always-connected laptops, with its Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 platform coming to 5G-capable devices from both Acer and HP among others.

Among the ways 5G could change your life, schools could take advantage of virtual- and augmented-reality experiences that will bring concepts out of textbooks and into real life for students. Faster connectivity and no latency could also revolutionize hospitals, enabling holograph-assisted surgeries. On the roads, 5G could make self-driving cars safer, because communication between vehicles and infrastructure will become instantaneous.

"It's not just speed and latency, it's so many other things," Verizon chief product development officer Nicki Palmer said during the December 2019 Qualcomm tech summit on 5G. "This transition from 4G to 5G is even bigger and frankly much more revolutionary."

This isn't going to happen overnight, but expect major shifts thanks to 5G in the next five years. Qualcomm's Amon predicts there will be 2.8 billion 5G connections by 2025. (That's not just phones, but rather connected devices, too.)

What will happen to 4G now that 5G is here?

Unlike past generations of connectivity, 4G and 5G will coexist. When your device drops a 5G signal, it will fall back on LTE. The hand-off should be imperceptible—aside from the fact that your upload and download speeds will decrease.

This will be especially useful in areas of the country where 5G networks will take longer to get off the ground.

Existing 4G networks will also play a role in carriers building out their 5G coverage, as technologies like dynamic spectrum sharing will allow carriers to share their spectrum between 4G and 5G uses.

And the improvements carriers are making to their networks to prepare for a nationwide 5G rollout will make 4G better, too. When we tested AT&T's 5G Plus network in Las Vegas in 2019, we saw 900 Mbps over 5G. LTE can't compare, but we also clocked more than 200 Mbps on an iPhone running on AT&T's 5G E (advanced LTE) network. That's exponentially better than AT&T's existing LTE network, which averaged download speeds of 32.91 Mbps earlier this year.

We've got a closer look at how 4G and 5G speeds compare.

Is 5G dangerous?

There is no evidence to suggest that 5G is dangerous to your health, and yet people are still concerned. Why?

For years, the belief that radio waves can cause brain cancer in humans has spread, seemingly affirmed by a 2000 scientific study of high-frequency waves and their effect on human cell tissue. A New York Times report examined that study and found it to be based on a misunderstanding of the human body — specifically, the skin’s ability to shield the brain from radio waves.

Our colleagues at Live Science have also looked into the dangers — or lack thereof — that 5G can pose, and found that while there is no reason to be alarmed about the rollout, more studies will (and should) be conducted as 5G becomes more widespread to determine its impact.

The latest conspiracy theories surrounding 5G have claimed the network technology somehow triggered the coronavirus pandemic — a dubious assertion that some people have taken seriously enough to set fire to 5G towers in the UK last year. The health experts we talked to think 5G coronavirus conspiracy claims are nonsense.

5G outlook

5G is here, but so far, it's a little underwhelming. Still, that should change as more cities come online and more 5G devices become available.

When announcing its quarterly earnings this past January, Verizon outlined 5G plans for this year that include adding 20 more Ultra Wideband cities and doubling the amount of UW sites in its network; it also plans to boost low and midband coverage. Verizon hopes to bring C-band coverage to 100 million people by year's end, as well. And its continuing to expand its 5G home internet service.

For its part, T-Mobile wants to double the area covered by Ultra Capacity 5G network, and the carrier has launched 5G home internet service of its own. AT&T also says it's planning on expanding its 5G coverage in 2021.

If the networks can deliver on their 5G promises, we'll no longer be asking when 5G is coming, but how we ever lived without it.

• Virtual Reality Headsets: What You Can Buy Soon
• What is Augmented Reality
• Best cell phone signal boosters

The Future Tech Awards are here. The annual event has taken place right alongside CES 2021 with our entirely virtual “Innovation Week.” And, this latest awards event has been made possible by five special sponsors: HP Inc., Roborock, Thermaltake, Tello and Wondershare.

The Future Tech Awards event has been broken up into three categories: 

• Future Choice - The best products, as voted for by Future Tech's editorial committee
• Reader's Choice - The best products as voted for by Future Tech's readers 
• Future 50 - The top 50 tech people, across five key tech industry categories

Every year, we get a ton of new technology dropped in front of us. From the latest in big screen displays and compact smartphones to smart cars and smart vacuums that free our hands for less menial activities, there are new gadgets and software that standout at the forefront of the tech space, and the Future Tech Awards are there each year to recognize those products and the people behind them. Even though 2020 was a trying year for most, the tech industry pushed ahead.

“Despite what we might have expected, we are delighted to note that technology is expanding and advancing at a faster rate than ever before. 2020 saw the launch of dozens of incredible new computers, phones, speakers, games, and home automations,” said Keith Walker, Managing Director, Specialist Consumer Tech for Future. “In an all-digital format, this year’s Future Tech Awards will commemorate these advances and effectively set the stage for an even bolder 2021.”

“In this year when so many people have been spending more time at home as a result of the pandemic, smart home technologies can be genuinely helpful. For instance, robot vacuums help keep floors clean of dust, while smart door locks can eliminate the need to handle keys, preventing the risk of bringing the virus into the home,” Roborock Head of Brand Andy Knight explained. “Smart home devices from temperature controls to voice assistants take away many irritating chores and ‘must-dos’ leaving people free to focus on the things that bring them joy.”

With technology making our home life more convenient, we can then turn to more enjoyable activities. Entertainment has been especially important in the last year, and it will continue to be. That includes streaming video, of course, but gaming has also seen a boom recently.  

In response to that popularity, Thermaltake has chosen to expand their premium gaming offerings. "We have decided to create a gaming series that can be enjoyed at all levels, including visual, auditory, and tactility while providing users to game and compete at the highest levels. The ARGENT series is a concept about creating an ecosystem, the hardware, software, and even the illumination can evolve to a state-of-the-art level. A truly immersive gaming and art enjoyment!" said Kenny Lin, the CEO of Thermaltake.

Consuming entertainment content isn’t the only way people are spending their time. Some also turn to making their own content as a way to entertain themselves and others. Wondershare has been working to make that creative capability as easy as ever. "We are devoted to simplifying the video-making process so our users can free up time for creativity," says Tobee Wu, CEO of Wondershare. "Whether you're a YouTube creator, a small-business owner, or just making great videos for your friends and family, the all new Wondershare Filmora X will change the way creators interact with video editing."

For 2021, Future Tech Awards are an all-digital feature on all of Future’s relevant properties. You can see the winners now, so be sure to check out the best of the best from the Future Tech Awards here. 

You’ll be able to find all the latest from the Future Tech Awards in our new “Innovation Week” hub alongside the latest news from the entirely virtual CES 2021. We’ll keep you fully informed with multimedia content, exclusive technology partner programming, demos, news and video interviews. So, make sure you tune in here for for all the latest content from Future’s Innovation Week.

Gig speed. No, it's not roady slang for how quickly a rock show can be set up; it's the next big thing in home internet. Gigabit-speed internet, also called ultra-high-speed internet, is leaps and bounds better than traditional cable internet, and it may even be cheaper, depending on which services are available near you.

Read on to learn why you should find out if gigabit-speed internet is available in your town.

What is gig-speed internet?

Gig-speed internet is shorthand for broadband service with up to gigabit-per-second download speeds. It's been around for only a few years, and in only a handful of cities, but it's the future of internet connectivity in the home.

The biggest bottleneck in home connectivity is presently the internet connection, and as we add more uses for it — like Netflix streaming, gaming and myriad of the best smart home devices — we'll need faster connections with more data.

It's also likely that as gigabit speeds become mainstream, the cost of connectivity will come down as well. In areas where gigabit speeds have been introduced, prices drop for internet access across the board, even for lower-tier plans.

• Maximize your connection with a fast VPN

Who offers Gigabit internet, and what does it cost?

While ultra-high-speed internet is becoming more widely available across the U.S., the rollout is still in its early days. If you live in a major city, chances are good that some people in your area have gigabit speeds available to them, but it's still pretty much a neighborhood-by-neighborhood thing. All major internet service providers offer some form of gigabit service, though the locations where it's available vary greatly from one company to the next.

Gigabit Internet services compared

Smaller cities and towns aren't completely out of luck, however. Many communities have proactively invested in local fiber networks, providing ready-made infrastructure for any service provider that wants to offer ultra-high-speed internet. Check your local options when considering internet providers, as many smaller companies are using the shift to gigabit as an opportunity to compete against the big boys, offering blazing speeds in places where the major companies aren't.

Pricing is also varied, but the overall trend is clear: Internet providers are charging prices similar to those for broadband, but delivering gigabit speeds. While this may change over time, right now, you can get the fastest internet around for the price of a good cable internet subscription.

Now, bear in mind that this is internet service pricing we're talking about, and that comes with a lot of caveats. Finding actual pricing data is difficult, and many of these prices are introductory rates that apply for the first year or two with a long-term agreement. You may be able to get a better deal when bundling your internet with TV service, or you may be charged an additional monthly fee for the unique hardware that gigabit speeds require. As always, you'll want to look into what options are available in your area, and you will definitely want to research pricing.

How does Gigabit internet work?

While gigabit internet is still rolling out across different parts of the U.S., internet service providers are offering gigabit speeds using two technologies.

The first is over fiber-optic networks. The data capacity of fiber-optic lines and the lack of interference (a common issue on standard copper lines) makes the light-driven data technology perfect for delivering blistering gigabit speeds. Until recently, gigabit speeds were offered only by providers with fiber infrastructure, like Verizon Fios and Google Fiber.

But a second player has entered the game, in the form of the DOCSIS 3.1 standard, which enables gigabit speeds over the same coaxial cables used for standard cable internet. But it's not quite the same, since the new format boasts 1-Gbps download speeds but only 35-Mbps upload speeds.

How does gigabit compare to current broadband speeds?

Compared to standard cable-based broadband packages, which offer download speeds of 20 to 100 Mbps, gigabit speeds are an exponential increase. We're talking 1,000 Mbps, or 1 million bits per second.

The other major benefit of gigabit (in most current implementations) is that download speeds are matched with similar upload speeds. Traditionally, you'll get a much smaller pipe for uploading, which is part of the reason you can watch a 5-minute YouTube video in roughly 5 minutes, but uploading the same amount of footage can take over an hour.

Faster upload speeds are also a boon for activities such as streaming your gameplay with services like Twitch.

What can I do with gigabit speeds?

All that data — a million bits per second — means that you can do everything you already do online, but a lot more of it, and faster. All of your usual web browsing and streaming will be supported, but with higher speeds and less congestion on your home network. That said, there are several specific uses that benefit dramatically from the new fat pipe of data that gigabit connectivity offers.

• Streaming video: All that bandwidth means lag-free Netflix, even when you're watching different shows on different devices at once. But the real improvement is that 4K streaming which uses four to five times as much data as a 1080p stream,will be just as fast, without the interminable loading and buffer times you may experience on standard broadband.
• Online gaming: Anyone who has ever lost a match due to a laggy connection will appreciate the switch to gigabit speeds. With matching up/down speeds, you'll never again need to worry about slow ping rates and spotty connections.
• Immersive media: Ultra HD streaming is just the tip of the iceberg, as faster upload and download speeds make more immersive media, like 360-degree video and VR, more accessible. As higher data capacity goes mainstream, you can expect new media formats to take advantage of this, just as streaming video exploded when broadband became mainstream.
• Data backup: Traditionally, backing up data has been centered around local storage, like external hard drives, especially for data-heavy uses like videos. With the move to gigabit speeds, expect more cloud capability and backups that you can access anywhere, anytime. See our guide to the best cloud backup services.
• Multiple users: Finally, the biggest reason to switch to gigabit speed isn't to satisfy one prolific data hog, but rather several users. A family of four can max out a broadband connection quite easily with little more than a movie marathon and a round of Grand Theft Auto online, but gigabit speeds promise to support far more data simultaneously, making it possible to stream music in the kitchen, 4K video in the living room and a game in the kids' rooms without a hiccup.

Can my current modem handle gigabit speeds?

The short answer is maybe. Without equipment to support either high-speed fiber-optic or the DOCSIS 3.1 standard for gigabit over coax, you might be out of luck with your current networking gear. The good news is that existing fiber and cable internet users may be able to upgrade simply by swapping out their old router for a newer gigabit-capable one.

The products found on our best cable modems page primarily use the older DOCsis 3.0 standard, but there are still great options out there, like the Netgear CM1000, the Motorola MB8600 or the Arris Surfboard SB8200, which are all approved for use with cable-base internet from providers like Cox, Spectrum and Comcast Xfinity.

Fiber-based services, like Google Fiber and Verizon Fios, actually require a different modem-like piece of networking hardware, called an optical network terminal, that converts fiber-optic signal to electronic ethernet. Without the right hardware, there is no way to get gigabit speeds.

The stickier issue is that similar upgrades need to be made throughout an internet provider's infrastructure. As long as some areas are being serviced with old equipment, there will be parts of the country where gigabit speeds just aren't available. Along those same lines, if you're still using dial-up or DSL, you're fresh out of luck.

Can my Wi-Fi router handle Gigabit speeds?

The best Wi-Fi routers can, in some instances, handle gigabit speeds — 802.11ac Wi-Fi, running on the 5-GHz band, with a MU-MIMO router using two or more antennae, you can get speeds up to and slightly faster than 1Gbps. And the newer 802.11ax (also called Wi-Fi 6) standard is found in many on new routers that can handle gigabit speeds with ease.

MORE: The Best Wi-Fi Routers Available Right Now

Older wireless standards, like 802.11g and n, cannot offer the same sort of throughput. If you haven't upgraded your router to 802.11ac or the newer Wi-Fi 6, you'll definitely want to do so when switching to gigabit internet, or your old router will be a major bottleneck that kills all the benefits of your zippy new gigabit speeds.

Can my computer or phone handle gigabit speeds?

Maybe, but maybe not. Most modern ethernet connections are capable of handling gigabit speeds, and you'll find those on plenty of laptops and nearly all desktops today. If you want the best speeds possible on your PC, ethernet is the way to go. The bad news is that ethernet ports are getting harder to find on laptops. And phones have no options for wired connectivity; Wi-Fi is all you've got.

If you're up to speed with the latest Wi-Fi standards, you can get a full gigabit connection to your phone or laptop, but it's highly unlikely that you'll ever hit that full capacity during normal use. But does it matter? In practical terms, any device that can connect to the internet will work with gigabit internet, since it dictates only the speeds coming to and from your home. And all of your connected devices benefit in some way, because a gigabit connection is like a multilane freeway, with plenty of data for every device to use at once.

Credit: Tom's Guide

• Best Wireless Router - Routers for Strong, Long Range Wi-Fi
• How Much Internet Speed Should You Really Pay For?
• Best Cable Modem - Comcast, Spectrum & Cox Modem Reviews

Think back to 2009. The iPhone was still in its infancy. The fastest networks were 3G. We all used wired headphones. And no one had a clue what an Alexa was.

Fast forward to the end of 2019, and a lot has changed in the technology landscape.

Smartphones have replaced cameras. Wireless earbuds have become ubiquitous. We're streaming Disney Plus and Netflix right to the palm of our hands and our 4K TVs. And asking Alexa pretty much everything that comes into our heads has become second nature.

And smartwatches like the Apple Watch — something that did not exist before this decade — are saving lives with the heart-health data they provide on the fly.

But it really hit me that we're entering a new decade as I conducted an interview for this very feature. As I asked questions, the Pixel 4's Recorder app transcribed what my interviewee was saying in real time. No, it's not as cool as a flying car or jetpack, but it was a truly amazing for me I didn't think possible 10 years ago.

The past decade has certainly seen the darker side of technology and its impact, including huge data breaches, privacy concerns around location tracking and especially Facebook's several violations of public trust. But on balance, I'm optimistic about what lies ahead.

As we hurtle toward a new decade of innovation that includes a 5G explosion, self-driving cars and augmented-reality glasses, it's important to take a step back to recognize the products that defined the last ten years.

After much internal debate here at Tom's Guide, here are the 15 best tech products of the decade. 

Sony A7R II (2015)

While Sony helped introduce the world to full-frame mirrorless cameras with the original A7R in 2013, Sony really nailed the design with its successor, the A7R II. Launched in 2015, the A7R II boasted a number of improvements that have become standard in the industry: a larger backside-illuminated 42.4MP sensor, in-body 5-axis image stabilization and full-width 4K video. All this in a camera that's much more compact than a typical DSLR. 

Other features that are just as good now as they were five years ago: An ISO range from 100-102400; a 399-point hybrid autofocus system; a 2.3-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF), all housed in a weather-sealed magnesium alloy body. 

"Although backside-illuminated sensors (BSI) had been previously developed in much smaller smartphone image sensors, BSI in full-frame made it possible to enjoy high resolution and high sensitivity in a single camera – something which had not been previously available," said Mark Weir, senior manager of technology at Sony Electronics.

It would take Canon and Nikon another three years before they launched their own full-frame mirrorless cameras, and even against them, the A7R II still acquits itself well. 

"It speaks to the significance of the Sony A7R II that it's now two generations old and it's *still* an incredibly potent camera," said James Artaius, the editor-in-chief of Digital Camera World. "Compare most of the bodies on the market today with this mirrorless marvel from 2015 and it still packs a ton of features that are tough to match. The Sony A7R II took great pleasure in tearing up the rulebook nearly five years ago, and it remains one of the key chess pieces in Sony's spectacular gambit that saw it checkmate the supposed kings of full-frame imaging."

Since the release of the A7R II, Sony has launched two successors, the A7R III and the A7R IV, the latter of which has an even larger 61-MP sensor, a better autofocus system, faster shooting speeds and improved battery life. Even so, the A7R II remains a very potent camera, and now that’s it's less than $1,500, makes full-frame mirrorless photography even more accessible. — Mike Prospero

Xbox Game Pass (2017)

The idea of a "Netflix for games" has been a mostly elusive one chased by many gaming companies throughout the decade to mixed results. PlayStation Now launched in 2014, but it largely existed to deliver older PS3 games via the cloud when the PS4 was already red-hot. That same year gave us EA Access: an all-you-can-play vault of downloadable games, but one that was limited to EA properties such as Battlefield, Madden and FIFA.

Then Xbox Game Pass came around in 2017, and redefined what a gaming subscription could be.

"Our fans were telling us they wanted an easily accessible library of games, and combined with the ongoing popularity of subscriptions and memberships, saw an opportunity to deliver on that," said Ben Decker, head of Gaming Services Marketing at Microsoft.

Game Pass started as an Xbox One-exclusive service, offering access to more than 100 Xbox One games (and backward-compatible Xbox 360 games) for a $10 monthly fee. The library started off humbly enough, with first-party titles such as Halo 5 sitting alongside older fare like Mad Max and Saints Row VI. 

Then, in 2018, Microsoft made the radical decision to offer all of its first party games on Xbox Game Pass on the day of release, meaning subscribers could instantly jump into titles such as Sea of Thieves and Gears 5 as soon as they launched. 

But Microsoft wasn't done. In 2019, the company debuted Xbox Game Pass for PC, a PC-centric version of the service that includes first-party games as well as PC-centric fare like Cities: Skylines and Into the Breach. Better yet, the company also introduced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: a $15-per-month service that gets you Game Pass for Xbox, Game Pass for PC and the console perks of Xbox Live Gold. That's a whole ton of games across two platforms for a low monthly fee.

Game Pass isn't just a great value –– it's also opened doors for titles that may have not found an audience otherwise. Hit indie survival game Outer Wilds debuted on Game Pass to huge critical and fan praise in the summer of 2019, spreading with the same feverish word of mouth that a hot Netflix show does. According to an internal Microsoft survey, 91% of Game Pass members have played a game they wouldn't have otherwise tried without the service.

"There are some great games that require a base number of players for an optimal experience; without a huge marketing budget, these titles may struggle to ensure high visibility and adoption at launch," Decker said. "With Xbox Game Pass, titles such as Laser League and Blair Witch have the potential to reach millions of players at release, which helps contribute to the overall health of the game."

Perhaps most important, Xbox Game Pass already sets up Microsoft well for next year's console wars, when the Xbox Series X will go up against the PS5 in late 2020. With a huge library of backward-compatible games, eventual Project xCloud support and upcoming titles like Halo: Infinite on the roster, Game Pass seems poised to ensure that both current and future Xbox platforms are packed with great games to play for an accessible price. — Mike Andronico

LG OLED TV 55EA9800 (2013)

LG's first OLED TV was sold in 2010, and other companies had made a handful of OLED TVs back as far as 2007, but it was the 2013 LG OLED 55EA9800 that really changed the game for the TV world. And change it has. OLED technology has become the yardstick by which we measure all displays by, thanks to its perfect black levels, infinite contrast and incredible slimness.

The 55EA9800 was the first OLED TV to land in the US, and it grabbed lots of attention back in 2013. At that time, comparisons were made to plasma displays – remember those? – but at $9,999, it was still a truly premium product. 

The 55-inch OLED TV was revolutionary. It was the first big-screen implementation of OLED technology, which had been limited to much smaller TVs and device displays in the years prior. While 55 inches wasn't the biggest TV option available, it was definitely the biggest OLED to date.

But the 55EA9800 wasn't impressive solely for its size. This TV was packed with features, including a number of faddish offerings that you won't find on many sets today, like a curved screen, a number of 3D options (glasses included) and stunning transparent speakers embedded in the TV's clear acrylic stand.

Although many of the 55EA9800's most attention-grabbing features have faded into history as the fads of 3D and curved TVs have fallen by the wayside, the central promise of LG's first big OLED TV still holds: This will look amazing. Six years later, and the current offerings from LG remain at the top of the TV pyramid. The LG C9 OLED is at the top of our best TV list, and the LG Signature Z9 88-inch 8K OLED pushes the humble OLED TV to dimensions and resolutions that were positively fantastical only six years ago.

"OLED has been a game changing technology for LG and a catalyst to drive innovation in the industry," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD Group. He points out how OLED's ascendancy has also spurred other industry players like Samsung to innovate to stay competitive. We may owe LG's OLED thanks for the explosion of quantum-dot technology used to make LCD sets look brighter, and with better color.

And LG's current fortunes owe a lot to that first OLED set. Since 2013 LG has sold more than 5 million units. That's still a relatively small portion of the overall TV market – it's roughly 1% of the 220 million TVs sold each year – but the OLED sets make up more than one-third of the premium TV market, where sets cost $2,500 or more.

Other display technologies threaten to overtake OLED, including micro LED, which is being embraced by Samsung. But OLED ruled this decade, and its reign will likely continue for some time. — Brian Westover

Roku 3 (2013)

Streaming players have become so common in the past five years, we take them almost entirely for granted. It goes without saying that you can connect a device to either a 2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz Wi-Fi network, then search across dozens of channels to find what you want to watch, then plug in your headphones and listen to your content without waking up the rest of the house. But up until the Roku 3 came out in 2013, these weren't common features. In fact, media players before then looked a little primitive by comparison.

"This was the first big introduction of our new user interface, and also the new introduction of our headphone jack," said Lloyd Klarke, director of product management at Roku. "The Roku 3 allowed you to very quickly search across channels, and within channels. The other thing it introduced that no other player had done before was the headphone jack for private listening."

Although the Roku 3 was arguably ahead of its time, customers embraced it right away. "It's a five-star product," Klarke said. "Customers loved it. It was probably the best embodiment of Roku. Find your channels fast, find something to watch quickly and enjoy it."

Almost everything that viewers love about streaming gadgets in general, and Roku products in particular, debuted in the Roku 3. There was the customizable Roku OS, which let users arrange their favorite apps into convenient rows, in whichever order they wanted. There was dual-band Wi-Fi for faster buffering and more reliable video signal. But the biggest addition was the headphone jack in the remote control — still a staple feature in high-end Roku devices.

"Private listening took something we saw in the home that was a pain point and made it simple and easy to use," Klarke explained. "If you want to watch something and not disturb others, or someone else wants to watch something and you don't want to be disturbed, private listening solved that in the home. 

"No settings, no configuration, nothing to do except plug in a set of headphones, and Roku did the rest for you. WE automatically diverted the audio for you to your remote control; we took care of the audio-video sync. We made it as simple as plugging in a headphone jack."

In fact, when I asked what's next for Roku, Klarke was keen to highlight how many strides the company has made with audio tech recently. The Roku Wireless Speakers, Roku Smart Soundbar and Roku Subwoofer are a logical evolution of the headphone jack: they simplify streaming tech by marrying high-quality sound to an intuitive Roku interface.

There were good streaming players before the Roku 3, and even better ones afterward. But this one would set the standard going forward. — Marshall Honorof

Xbox Adaptive Controller (2018)

The gamepad is a familiar game controller for players around the world, But because it requires two hands, all 10 fingers and full mobility, some players can’t use it. In response to this, Xbox revealed the Adaptive Controller to the world in 2018. It is the first officially made controller with fully customizable input methods, which lets users create a setup that perfectly meets their needs and play games as freely as the rest of the world.

"Our main goal when creating the Xbox Adaptive Controller was to design a product that was easy to use, affordable and readily available," said Gabi Michel, senior program manager at Microsoft. "We set out to empower gamers around the world and give them the opportunity to play the games they want, with the people they want, on the devices they want."

The Adaptive Controller began life as a project created during an internal Microsoft hackathon in the spring of 2015, inspired by stories of military veterans who struggled to use the standard Xbox controller, as well as building on the prior work of gaming accessibility interest groups. While there have been controller options available for gamers unable to use a standard controller fully, these were not mainstream products. "Frequently, custom rigs cost just as much as, if not more than a gaming console, and typically require technical expertise to build," Michel said.

It took three years of work and collaboration with experts and gamers before the Adaptive Controller as we know it was ready for users to buy. 

After its launch (on Global Accessibility Awareness Day), the Adaptive Controller was lauded for its design philosophy, and how well it was executed. The team is still continuing to work on the project though. "We’re passionate about accessibility and are excited to continue on this journey," Michel said. "We haven’t reached our end destination."

Microsoft recently announced the new Xbox, the console that will take over from the Xbox One and take on the PlayStation 5. When I asked about the future of the Adaptive Controller, Michel said that "we [will] continue our commitment to compatibility." — Richard Priday

Galaxy Note (2011)

With a 5.3-inch screen, the original Galaxy Note seems puny compared with today's mega phablets, but it absolutely dwarfed the iPhone 4s back in October 2011. This was a big gamble on Samsung's part, and it ultimately pioneered an entire category of big-screen phones — despite many critics who initially poked fun of the Note's imposing size.

"We knew that what we created was good when we put it in the hands of the first Note consumers…because they could do things and accomplish things that they can't anywhere else," said Suzanne De Silva, head of mobile product management and marketing at Samsung. 

Those things included delivering a lot more web pages without having to scroll, a more immersive viewing experience when watching video, thanks to a colorful HD Super AMOLED display, and Samsung's new S Pen, which let users do everything from sign PDFs to jotting down ideas on the go.

The Galaxy Note evolved during the 2010s and debuted several more innovations as the screen grew, including Multi Window multitasking with the Galaxy Note II (5.5 inches), the Galaxy Note Edge with curved display (5.6 inches) and a screen-off memo feature and clickable auto-eject S Pen button with the Galaxy Note 5 (5.7 inches).

The Note line took a near-tragic turn in 2016 with the Galaxy Note 7, which had to be recalled due to a number of fires and faulty batteries. But Samsung roared back with the Note 8, which delivered a whopping 6.3-inch display along with a telephoto camera with Live Focus mode. Today'.s Galaxy Note lineup gives users two options: large (6.3 inches) in the Galaxy Note 10 and extra large with the Note 10 Plus (6.8 inches). But both devices are remarkably compact given their screen sizes.

The Galaxy Note franchise has been so successful in taking big-screen phones mainstream that there are rumors that Samsung could sunset the brand. But Samsung has learned that the Note customer has very specific needs compared with the Galaxy S line.

"When we ask these consumers, 'What do you prioritize as the No. 1 thing you're looking for when you purchase your device?' said De Silva," time and time again, the Note consumer will say it is the S Pen. It is the productivity, the creativity. A lot of it has to do with not just what the Note brand has stood for over the decade, but also how we bring it together with the hardware and software." — Mark Spoonauer

Sling TV (2015)

By 2015, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video had successfully demonstrated that viewers didn't need expensive cable or satellite subscriptions to enjoy high-quality television and movies. However, live TV was still a bit of a problem. While an HD antenna could pick up some of the slack for local channels, shows like The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul and Mad Men remained locked behind cable packages that could top $100 per month.

Enter Sling TV: a streamlined subscription service from satellite TV provider Dish. This service promised a relatively bare-bones cable replacement package, with only 14 channels at launch. But here's the kicker: The channels were generally the ones that viewers wanted most, and the service cost only $20 overall.

For the first time, users could live-stream paid channels without locking themselves into an expensive, complicated contract with a cable or satellite provider. Sling TV offered AMC, ESPN, the Food Network, Cartoon Network, the Disney Channel, AMC and El Rey, ensuring that there was a little something for everyone.

However, 14 channels and a low introductory price could take a service only so far. The really clever thing that Sling TV did was offer users à la carte channel packages for reduced prices. You could buy a handful of extra channels for an additional $5 to 15 fee, depending on what you wanted to watch. There were movie channel bundles, sports bundles, kids bundles and even foreign-language bundles. Twenty dollars wouldn't buy you absolutely everything you wanted to watch — but maybe $25 or $30 would, without an additional $70 wasted on stuff you'd never want to watch.

Over the years, Sling TV has become more robust, more expensive and a little more confusing. The service now starts at $25, and is divided into Orange and Blue tiers, depending on what kind of programming you want. 

It's also no longer the only cable-replacement service in town. Since Sling TV debuted, it's been joined by the likes of Hulu with Live TV, AT&T TV, YouTube TV and PlayStation Vue (which is on the way out). However, Sling deserves credit for having a better interface and pricing structure than most of its competitors — and simply outlasting the others.

The TV market is in the process of fracturing again, as individual networks try to carve out their own content and sell users on boutique services, such as CBS All Access and the upcoming HBO Max. Will Sling TV fall by the wayside as users pick and choose their favorites — or become more valuable than ever by concatenating a variety of channels? We'll know for sure in a few years. — Marshall Honorof 

Dell XPS 13 (2016)

For a long time, everyone in the laptop market was trying to keep up with Steve Jobs and Jonny Ive. For years, Apple'[s MacBook Air was the best laptop, combining a heady mix of portability and power. But in 2015, Dell emerged from the crowded pack of MacBook clones and never looked back. It was lightweight. It was powerful. And it was nearly bezel-free. It was the Dell XPS 13, and the start of a new age. 

The XPS brand had been around since 1994 in many different variations. But the modern version of the XPS 13 we all know and love, came on the heels of the 2010 Dell Adamo XPS' failure. But according to Donnie Oliphant, senior director of product marketing for XPS, "that failed brand attempt for us was probably the best thing that could have ever happened for the XPS brand." It set the stage for a total brand relaunch that started with the 2012 XPS 13, then code-named Spider. With a mission of "delivering the absolute best products...within the consumer space," Dell continued to tweak the design with the target firmly set on Apple's consumer base — the premium market.

It was a feat that seemed impossible; Dell essentially had to out-Apple Apple. But at CES 2015, Dell caught lightning in a bottle, unveiling the first Dell XPS 13 with the InfinityEdge display. Formerly code-named Dino, the 2015 13-inch was a jaw-dropping beauty that claimed the title of the world's smallest 13-inch notebook. By eliminating the thick bezels, Dell shrank the XPS 13's profile by 23%. 

InfinityEdge wasn’t developed in a bubble. After receiving a challenge from the leadership to put a 13-inch platform into an 11-inch frame, the XPS team teamed with Sharp to create the innovative panel. It combined Dell's desire for a super-aggressive, close to zero bezel panel with Sharp's energy-saving EXO technology, which allows the panel to run higher resolutions more efficiently. After the first panel, Dell refined the color gamut, tweaking brightness and improving the viewing angles. 

"[T]hat's where Infinity Edge was derived from," Oiliphant said. "It basically was no compromise, the most aggressive mechanical packaging we could put together. And then, let's bundle this with a group of other technologies that would really differentiate our product."

However, that new svelte figure and eye-popping display didn't come without a noticeable compromise. The webcam was moved from the top bezel into the bottom, which for a few years was derisively referred to as a "nosecam." Funnily enough, several laptop manufacturers copied Dell's polarizing design choice. Not shying away from criticism, Dell used it to create a 2-millimeter webcam, making it the world's smallest.

"It was a painful few years, but we did get past it," Oliphant said, "and we appreciate the customers who stuck with us during that trying time for those that didn't appreciate the nose cam."

By learning from its mistakes and never resting on its laurels, Dell has become an undeniable trendsetter. Bezel-free laptops are now so common, the trend has made its way to gaming laptops. Dell has established a dynasty five years strong, and shows no signs of slowing down. — Sherri L. Smith

iPad (2010)

The iPad bookended the 2010s with its original model launching on April 3, 2010, and a trio of iPads arriving in 2019 following an excellent iPad Pro update in 2018. Originally criticized for just being a bigger iPhone, the iPad has thrived (while most Android tablets died) by both diverging from Apple's phone and keeping what makes it great. 

While many Android tablets are priced at cheaper levels, the iPad won by being worth its price. Consumer tech analyst Avi Greengart of Techsponential has a pretty simple reason for why the iPad's won: "It has a much better user experience," which you can tell by using it. Unlike Amazon's more affordable Fire tablets, which have always been kind of slow, the iPad, and especially its Safari web browser, have always been snappy.

And just like the iPhone, the iPad's popularity can be tied to the quality of its apps. Over the years, Greengart notes, the iPad's "apps have been in almost all cases, re-designed to take full advantage of the tablet's real estate, whereas most Android apps on tablets are blown up phone apps that don't have the right density of information." Making the most of a big screen also happens on the couch, as the iPad thrives in a space where it's OK that you've got something that's larger than a phone, but still want something more comfortable than a whole laptop.

With regard to their endurance, Greengart told me "Apple should also be commended for supporting its iPads and phones for longer than — I would say rivals, but there aren't many rivals to the iPad at this point. If you just think of Android phones and tablets, Apple updates its software for much longer than the competition, and that leads to consumers using them for longer periods of time."

While Apple would love for people to upgrade their devices frequently, one of my favorite things about iPads in general is how long they last. My parents love their 4th Generation iPad, which came out in 2012, and have been for years. 

And with the advent of iPadOS in 2019, Apple's tablet has become a bit more future-proof, with better multitasking tricks, mouse support and other power-user features. Apple’' continuing to position the iPad as a laptop replacement, and more of these features give the public reason to consider that argument (if they haven't bought in already). — Henry T. Casey

Apple Watch Series 4 (2018)

When Apple released the first Apple Watch in spring 2015, reviews of the smartwatch were mixed. The seamless iPhone integration was useful for notifications, and there were a few neat features, including the ability to scribble quick iMessages. But the device wasn't really a must-have.

"My first reaction was: That’s it?" said Ramon Llamas, an IDC research director who covers wearables. "There were a lot of people, myself included, who thought this is the device that will raise the entire market. The mistake that I made is that I thought it would happen immediately."

With the Apple Watch Series 4 just three years later, Apple hit its smartwatch stride. Not only did Apple for the second time offer a cellular option for people who want a watch that can be used on its own without an iPhone, but the Series 4 also baked in a slew of health and fitness features, including two that were cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for diagnosing irregular heart rhythm. A fall-detection feature could sense a tumble and then alert emergency services.

People were already attributing the Apple Watch Series 3, which offered low and high heart rate alerts, with saving their lives. The Series 4's built-in electrical heart rate sensor, which can diagnose atrial fibrillation when paired with the watch's ECG app, cemented its status as an essential health device. Apple CEO Tim Cook regularly shares stories he's heard, on-stage at Apple events and on his Twitter account, from Apple Watch owners about the impact the watch has had on their lives.

"I think it's a rarity within the realm of technology that you can establish some sort of emotional connection to a device," Llamas said. "You take away my smartphone from me and I'm gonna feel kind of like a fish out of water. In the case of the watch, Apple's playing the angle of this as a lifesaver, and connecting the dots as to why."

Though other companies were working on smartwatches long before Apple, the Cupertino company now dominates the market. Apple's wearables division (which also includes AirPods) would be a Fortune 200 company if spun out on its own.

Those other companies are now playing catch-up: Samsung just put an electrocardiogram sensor in its newest smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch Active 2, and Google acquired Fitbit, presumably in a bid to compete with Apple. Cellular connectivity is no longer impossible to come by in a smartwatch. The Series 4 proved that smartwatches could do so much more than deliver notifications to your wrist, or even make phone calls. They can diagnose disease, making them so much more than the simple accessories they once were. — Caitlin McGarry

Instagram (2010)

No app satiates our scrolling compulsions quite like Instagram. When the social media platform debuted in 2010, its signature filters and grid layouts didn't feel exclusive to photographers. With improving smartphone cameras, anyone could share snippets of their life in tiny squares.        

"At the time, Instagram gave us a dedicated channel to express and follow experiences and moments and thoughts of people in a simple, but compelling platform," said Brian Solis, independent digital analyst studying digital experience, innovation and disruption and best-selling author. "It was a simple visual medium when most social networks were text-based."

Instagram today looks different than it did 10 years ago. A modern white-and-black platform replaced the original blue-and-gray scheme. It has also evolved over time to keep its user base active, while luring new 'grammers with the key features from competing social media networks. 

"Instagram has embraced a fast-follow strategy, meaning it looks at trends from emerging rivals to mimic those capabilities," Solis said. "Like Stories from Snapchat, for example. It prevents people from leaving"”

Depending on your niches, Instagram feels personal and special. I'm able to absorb content from cheese plate artists, labrador owners and calligraphers that speak to my interests. But for some, the social network harvests a complicated culture of chasing likes.

"There's an underbelly of FOMO," Solis said. "Instagram inadvertently creates a sense of comparison economies. Over time, that erodes things like self-esteem and satisfaction."

In the last year, though, Instagram has been experimenting with hiding likes on posts. The move may trouble influencers or those who earn financial gain from their social engagement. But it may be what propels Instagram against fast-rising competitor TikTok as we begin the next decade.

"All eyes are on Instagram to emulate the TikTok experience to keep people from losing interest," Solis said. "Likes on TikTok are starting to erode the positive experience. In an accelerated period of time the optimism of the platform has faded." 

Instagram has managed to maintain its relevance for 10 years now, and there's no reason to suspect it's going anywhere anytime soon. — Kate Kozuch

AirPods (2016)

Admit it, when you first saw the Apple AirPods, you giggled a little. And who could blame you? Apple's grand entry into the wireless earbuds looked like EarPods, but with the wires lopped off. The jokes were flying. But here I am writing about why the AirPods are one of the top products of the decade.

In the tech world, it's been said that a product category hasn't arrived until Apple takes a crack at it (see smartphones, tablets, smartwatches). And so it went for the truly wireless earbuds space. At the onset of the category, I had reviewed my fair share of strong products and vaporware, but when the first generation AirPods debuted, the market seemed to solidify, inspiring other heavy hitters to enter the industry.

Tim Bajarin, Creative Strategies analyst, said that Apple's entry into the space was all but inevitable. "It goes back to Steve [Jobs]'s, incredible love for music and the desire to have that music heard in the greatest quality possible."

But what is it about the AirPods that makes them so special? Apple's particular brand of je n'ais ce quoi lies in its simplicity. Pairing the AirPods with the iPhone was so simple it seemed like magic, thanks to Apple's revolutionary W1 chip. Plus, it didn't hurt that the AirPods actually delivered surprisingly good audio quality and 5 hours of battery life (24 hours with the charging case). It made the weird design less of an issue. 

"[O]ne of the things that we've understood in the tech sector for a long time," Bajarin said, "is that people will buy based on need as opposed to style the majority of the time...Apple has always designed for what they believe the customer needs and what the customer wants." 

Apple continued to fine-tune the formula with the 2nd Gen AirPods, maintaining the design, but doubling down on the functionality. The new, improved AirPods were outfitted with Apple's new H1 chip, making switching between devices even faster while letting wearers simply say "Hey, Siri" to chat with Apple's assistant.

But something was missing. Something consumers had been asking for since the first AirPods debuted -–– noise cancelling. Apple finally gave people what they wanted late this year with the AirPods Pro. Does it shut out all noise? No, but it's a massive improvement. In addition to ANC and Transparency modes, Apple finally added eartips to the mix to give listeners a secure, comfy fit. There's even a hearing test to make sure you're wearing the right set of tips. Apple was even kind enough to change up the design and make the buds a little less conspicuous with shorter stems.  

So what's next for the AirPods? Bajarin believes the ubiquitous buds will be the company's first foray into augmented reality as a complementary component to a pair of glasses. He speculates that the AirPods will evolve into some sort of lightweight bone-conduction earphones that will allow for a more immersive experience.

"[T]hat's why I believe that if you look at it, I actually think that part of the rationale behind building the AirPods in the first place was with a long-range vision that this would be connected via critical hardware component of their long-term AR strategy."

Wherever Apple takes the AirPods in the future, one thing is certain: The tiny white earbuds have made an indelible mark on the wearables landscape. — Sherri L. Smith

Nintendo Switch (2017)

Nintendo didn’t exactly own the gaming conversation for most of the 2010s. The popular, family-friendly Wii was on its way out, and while 2011's Nintendo 3DS handheld thrived through a whole decade, Nintendo needed a home console contender. That ended up being 2012's Wii U: a confusing, gimmicky console that featured a giant tablet as its primary controller, and one that was already behind the looming PS4 and Xbox One in  power. 

It felt as if Nintendo's next generation of hardware would be a make-or-break one for the company. And when the Nintendo Switch arrived in March 2017, it was overwhelmingly the former. 

The concept is simple: a small tablet that can be used as a TV console when connected to a dock, or taken on the go as a handheld or tabletop machine thanks to a set of detachable Joy-Con controllers. You can binge on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on your couch, undock the Switch, and pick up right where you left off on the subway. You can also stand the Switch up, slide off the Joy-Cons, and enjoy instant multiplayer in titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

However, even the most brilliant gaming hardware is useless without great games, and despite a relatively slow start, the Switch eventually amassed one of the most impressive libraries of all time. 

"One of the most important factors when launching the Nintendo Switch system was making sure we could ensure a strong lineup of launch software and a steady pace of software," said Charlie Scibetta, senior director of corporate communications at Nintendo, when asked about what lessons the company learned from the Wii U era. "We made various efforts with both our internal software development and with third-party partners to make this happen."

And make it happen Nintendo did. Tentpole titles like Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate were eventually joined by seemingly impossible ports of Skyrim, Dark Souls and The Witcher 3. The Switch quickly became the de-facto portable indie game machine, thanks to a constant drip of beloved smaller games such as Celeste and Untitled Goose Game. Heck, even rival console maker Microsoft is supporting the Switch with such titles as Minecraft, Cuphead, and Ori and the Blind Forest. 

With a brilliant concept and a steady flow of great games, the Switch was able to surpass the Wii U's lifetime sales after just a year on shelves, and the system has sold more than 40 million units at the time of this writing. The Switch platform has also evolved, with Nintendo launching a dedicated handheld version of the console in September 2019, dubbed the Switch Lite. to capture the 3DS crowd. And with titles such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4 in the pipeline, it’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Nintendo might have begun the 2010s stumbling, but thanks to the Switch, it's starting the 2020s on top. — Mike Andronico

Apple iPhone 4 (2010)

The number of firsts to the iPhone 4's name is almost too long to list.

This was the first iPhone with a front-facing camera and FaceTime for video calls; the first with an A-series processor designed by Cupertino in-house; the first with a high-resolution Retina Display; and the first smartphone with a glass-and-aluminum sandwich design. The rear camera was accompanied by a flash for the first time as well, and iOS 4, the operating system that the iPhone 4 launched with, was the first version to allow app multitasking.

Of course, smartphones existed before the iPhone 4. However, this was an inflection point. Modern phones owe more to the iPhone 4 than any other device. Everything we expect and associate with the mobile experience — the razor-sharp displays, the design-forward attitudes, the evolution of the phone as a symbol of luxury and craftsmanship, not to mention the very idea of a smartphone as a camera as much as a communications device — we owe all to the iPhone 4.

"The iPhone 4 is most significant to me as being Apple's first 'camera,'" Rene Ritchie, Apple analyst and iMore editor-in-chief, said. "Previous iPhones had cameras. The iPhone 3GS famously added video. But the iPhone 4 was the first in what began a long line of really camera-centric keynote presentations for new iPhones.

"Looking back, I think we'll be able to trace a direct line from the iPhone 4's emphasis on cameras to the iPhone 7 and now iPhone 11 in being really almost camera-first. And among the best in the industry," Ritchie said.

The iPhone 4 isn't just remembered fondly for what it could do; it's relevant for what it stood for. Design was always a pillar of Apple's product philosophy, but the iPhone 4's workmanship was simply on another level. Where previous iPhones predominantly used plastic, the iPhone 4 bonded two slabs of strengthened glass with an aluminum frame for the first time. It looked unlike anything else back in 2010 — it was beautiful.

"The very Leica- and Brawn-esque design blew me away when I first held it," Richie recalled. But, of course, the iPhone 4's unique construction also proved to be its most crippling flaw, because the breaks in the aluminum band necessary for the phone's antennas could be easily obscured by the user's hand.

"Antennagate is, for me, the example of the quintessential Steve Jobs' Apple," said Carolina Milanesi, Creative Strategies analyst,. "Only Jobs could have pulled off 'You are holding it the wrong way.' I always point to that when I look at how different Apple is now under Tim Cook, where the admission of missteps are a little more forthcoming."

Ritchie agreed, calling to mind the infamous Gizmodo prototype leak that preceded Apple's launch by two months as another example of the company's growing pains on its way to being the preeminent player in the mobile industry.

"I think both the left-it-in-a-bar iPhone 4 and antennagate opened Apple's eyes to the realities of being both a consumer and not just computer tech company, but also a mobile device manufacturer," Ritchie said. "They weren't handled gracefully at all, but they forced Apple to grow and understand the risks and the responsibilities that would come with their new business opportunities." — Adam Ismail

Amazon Echo Dot (2016)

Since Amazon unveiled the Echo Dot in 2016, the small smart speaker has disrupted homes well beyond making parents hesitate on naming children Alexa. Priced at a comfortable $49.99, the stationary hockey puck helped propelled voice assistants into the mainstream and changed how we interact with technology forever.

"The price point was pivotal to the general adoption of voice assistants in the home," said Eric Turkington, vice president of strategic partnerships for AI-voice solutions consultancy Rain. "The Echo Dot price was a quarter of the first Echo speaker. It presented a lower barrier to entry so many people could buy them."

With the Echo Dot Amazon introduced a new experience: a low-cost, hands-free and home-based device that connects users to thousands of skills and services. Alexa's superpowers span audio providers, interactive games and organizational assistance. You can ask for traffic conditions, get a daily news briefing, create shopping lists and more. 

The Echo Dot's influence has given way to a number of smart-home developments, too. Connected gadgets like smart lights, smart locks and smart plugs make more sense to manufacture, sell and buy when it's expected you’ll have a smart speaker to control them. 

There are 35 million U.S. smart homes or residences that hold networked devices and related services that enable home automation through either voice, app or third-party hub control. In 2016, when the Echo Dot debuted, there were just 15 million reported smart homes.

"The Echo Dot has been a transformative consumer product for voice assistants and smart homes," Turkington said. "People are buying them as a way to blanket their homes in voice assistant accessibility."

In 2019 Amazon, as well as Google and Apple, faced backlash over transparency in privacy policies when it was discovered that humans review voice recordings for quality feedback. The companies have since doubled down on privacy measures by expanding user data controls. 

"Privacy has been a significant concern in the voice space, but hasn't necessarily dampened the tide of device sales," Turkington said. "We’re still seeing voice-enabled products among the top consumer sales."

Amazon's Echo offerings span sizes, prices and practical uses, but none hits the same sweet spot as the Dot. It provides smarts and solid sound in a compact, affordable package. And it only gets better with age: We gave the third-generation Echo Dot a perfect rating in our review. — Kate Kozuch

I never thought I'd get an Apple Watch — or any wearable, really. The idea of being handcuffed to data and information felt more unbearable than helpful. Today, I stand (to hit my Apple Watch Stand goal) in front of you as a smartwatch convert. I wear an Apple Watch Series 5 every day, and now I can't believe I was so wrong. 

Yes, even though I wrote about how I was skipping the Apple Watch Series 5 back in September, I've become a superfan. What happened? Well, it's all about age and learning to love information on your wrist.

Changing my mind

After I wrote that article, the reply guys showed up, defending their wearable of choice. And for once, they were right. It didn't hurt that, as the weeks passed between Sept. 14 and my late-October birthday, my anxiety about aging crept up on me.

Age might not be anything but a number, but knocking on the door of my 35th birthday, I wasn't (and am still not) in my ideal physical condition. And while I've been dumb enough to snack mere hours before my bedtime, I'm smart enough to realize that the older I get, the harder it will be to do something about my body. 

And then I got the chance to split the price of the watch, thanks to my parents asking what I wanted for my birthday. So, I went to work, figuring out that the 44mm Watch looked right on my wrist and that the Space Gray Aluminum case and Midnight Blue Sport Loop fit with practically everything in my wardrobe.

Fitness-tracking: Counting calories and filling rings

I took to the Apple Watch's Activity rings exactly as intended: a challenge that I had to live up to every day. The Apple Watch visualizes your physical activity (tracking your movement, exercise and standing) with three rings that fill throughout the day. Fortunately, the early default settings I found myself working toward — 790 calories for Move, 30 minutes for Exercise and 12 hours for Stand — were easily achievable, so much so that I always exceeded my Move goal by at least 30%.

On that first day, I completed the Move and Exercise rings thanks to a lot of walking, which I had already planned to do because that night was going to center around a delicious, but caloric, night of eating at my favorite restaurant, Emily West Village (get to know their Detroit-style pizza). I have a standing desk, so filling the Stand ring wasn't an issue.

The Apple Watch is the first fitness tracker I've ever had, so I decided to supercharge my health tracking by finally doing something I had dreaded for years: counting calories. In the MyFitnessPal app, I'm logging my food and workouts to see if I'm reaching the calorie deficit I need to lose weight.

But as much as I want to change my body, I know what I like and enjoy in life, and I don't know if I could make this change at the expense of enjoying tasty food. So, on Nov. 3, when I knew the Popeye's chicken sandwich was coming back, I went hard on exercise to increase the amount I could eat. By the time I strolled up to that chicken shack, I'd put in 35 minutes on the elliptical, more than 5 miles of walking and about 20 minutes of mixed cardio on Ring Fit Adventure, burning enough calories for a pair of those delicious sandwiches (690 calories each).

• Apple Watch Series 5 Review

Ending the day on the right side of the caloric equation, I felt really clever. Or at least I did until I woke up the next day.

Seeing results: The Apple Watch doesn't let you slack

I started reaching my Move goal too quickly, and the Apple Watch noticed. The watch adjusted my goal from burning 790 calories to 1,460 calories.

So I decided to walk more. I took more breaks and took the stairs more often. I was exhausted, but in a good way. Fortunately, I subscribe to a lot of podcasts and an unlimited data plan, so I've always got something to listen to for all my activities.

I don't check my weight on my scale very often, mostly because of some fear that I won't see the results I want. But when I saw my parents after they'd been away for three weeks on vacation, they immediately complimented me on my weight loss and asked how I did it. (I replied "Exercise and chicken." But the real cause was the Apple Watch.) I've lost 11 pounds since I started tracking my weight and using the Apple Watch.

Sleep tracking: just OK

I was originally hesitant about the Apple Watch because of its 18-hour battery life, which isn't long enough to track sleep without some planning. I downloaded the AutoSleep app, one of the best sleep-tracking Apple Watch apps, because I know I need a better night's sleep and $2.99 seemed like a fair price to pay to learn details I can't see on my own, and to hopefully figure out why I don't sleep enough.

But for AutoSleep to work, I had to make sure the Apple Watch would stay charged. So I placed the wearable on its stethoscope-like charging pad whenever I didn't need it, to make sure it would last through the night. One evening, before I went to bed, I saw 29% of the Watch's battery refill in 41 minutes. I had done a pretty good job of gradually feeding power to the watch before bedtime so I could ensure AutoSleep would gather a full night's worth of data.

• The Apple Watch Series 5 just hit its cheapest price yet on Amazon

The results: My sleep is not great. The first night I tracked my sleep, AutoSleep recorded only 6 hours and 41 minutes of sleep, with only 3 hours and 34 minutes of that time as "quality" sleep and zero minutes of deep sleep, for an overall rating of 54%. 

The watch has made me more cognizant of what I do before I go to bed so that I'll be able to see which activities correlate with solid rest and sleepless nights. If Apple eventually decides to take a stab at built-in sleep tracking, I hope the native app offers more insight.

Apple Watch faces: curing information overload

My tech-addled brain loves data, so I immediately gravitated toward the watch's Infograph Modular face. As I use it now, it offers me one-tap access to five of the Watch complications (the micro-apps in faces) I use the most: Overcast (for podcasts), Activity, Workout, Hello Weather, and Rain. 

I give Rain the most prominent placement — the entire middle of the face — because I really value its hourly precipitation view. 

All of my favorite productivity apps — Things, Todoist and Deliveries — have Apple Watch apps, so I began managing my reminders more easily.

• The best Apple Watch apps

One night, I thought about how I could use a break from all the information. So, I sought out a less distracting face, and landed on Simple, with all complications turned off. Don't forget that, yes, Off is an option.

And as much as I loathe this phrase, the watch faces can also spark joy. The 2019 Pride face's vertical version responds to taps and spins of the Digital Crown. As I watched the rainbow-colored strings zig and zag around the watch face for the first time, I actually felt feelings that haven't worn off one month later.

The little things: timers on my wrist, finding my phone

As I was preparing a batch of my homemade cold takeout-style sesame noodles (for an office potluck — I'm not that carb crazy), I looked through the big constellation of Apple Watch apps and realized I finally had a way to make good use of the Timer app.

Opening it, I saw that 5 minutes (the exact amount of time I boil the noodles for) was one of the preset timers, and I smiled. It's probably one of the commonly used amounts of time, but it was a great moment when technology just made things easier. 

It's super easy to set and turn off the alarm when you don't need to ask Siri (and hope it hears you right) or keep your ears open (as the Watch simply vibrates on your wrist).

• Best Apple Watch Black Friday deals and sales in

I misplace things all the time, so I was happy to discover that asking Siri on the Apple Watch, "Where's my iPhone?" triggered a series of vibrations and ringtone chimes on my 11 Pro Max buried in a sofa. 

When other people are around and I don't want to look like a forgetful doofus, I just flick up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center, where I can tap an icon of a ringing iPhone to get the phone to vibrate. Yes, this kind of help is available from the Find My iPhone app on macOS or the iPad, but it's so much more accessible when it's right on your wrist.

Battery life: a long way to go

One night, I put my watch on its charging pad to juice it up before hitting the hay. Unfortunately, I dozed off before that happened.

The Series 5's battery life is stuck at around 18 hours, which is part of the problem. If the watch lasted longer, and supported slightly faster charging, sleep tracking would be easier.

• Samsung Galaxy Watch Review: Get It for the Battery Life

I assume battery life is the main reason Apple hasn't released its own sleep-tracking app. If I upgrade to the hypothetical Series 6, improved battery and built-in sleep tracking will be the reasons why.

Outlook

Clearly, my concerns about the Apple Watch were a little overblown. My early weight-loss victory (I want to lose more, but this is good for one month) just one month in has made me sure the Apple Watch was a valuable purchase, if only for my health. 

If I could go back in time and tell myself to get an Apple Watch earlier, I would. I shouldn't have waited so long to get it, and I should have taken my colleague Caitlin McGarry's advice earlier about buying one; she's reviewed all of our smartwatches, and she's right way too often.

If the Apple Watch can turn skeptics like me into believers, it's obviously worth buying. I can't wait to see what Apple does with the Series 6.

This year has delivered a whirlwind of hype surrounding 5G: how it will change lives, where 5G networks are launching around the world and when exactly your smartphone will be capable of lightning-fast speeds. But some people are concerned that the rollout of 5G is happening so quickly that we don't truly understand if or how the launch of next-generation connectivity will bring unintended health consequences.

The short answer: The scientific consensus is that 5G, like 3G and 4G before it, is not harmful to your health. In August, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially determined that 5G's radio waves are safe.

But that finding probably won't stem the tide of worry over 5G's rollout, especially as more 5G phones hit the market and the coverage becomes more widespread.

Why are people concerned that 5G is unsafe?

Early 5G networks — including those launched by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile — use high-frequency, millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum to deliver faster speeds. Some people are concerned that those radio waves, along with the additional cellular infrastructure needed to build out mmWave-based 5G networks in major cities, will increase the amount of radiation in the environment.

Millimeter-wave spectrum has never been used for telecommunications. However, that's not because it's dangerous; the higher-frequency bands are just not as effective at transmitting data across distances. An mmWave-based 5G signal can't penetrate objects, such as glass windows or concrete buildings. It also can't penetrate the body.

The concerns over 5G are an extension of the worries some people have about cellphones in general. 

But 5G is a form of radiation, right?

There are two types of radiation: ionizing and non-ionizing. Ultra-high-frequency ionizing radiation — which includes gamma-rays, UV rays from the sun and X-rays — is harmful to humans because it penetrates the body at the cellular level and causes electrons and atoms to break apart. Ionizing radiation can cause cancer, which is why you're supposed to wear sunscreen outdoors and avoid unnecessary medical X-rays.

Non-ionizing radiation does not cause cancer, and runs the gamut from FM radio waves to visible light. In between the two is 5G, which operates at a slightly higher frequency than 3G and 4G.

The FCC requires all electronic equipment sold in the U.S. to meet the agency's safety standards for acceptable radio-frequency (RF) energy by determining the device's specific absorption rate (SAR), or the rate by which the body absorbs RF energy. The FCC recently reevaluated its standards, which were created in 1996, when determining the safety of 5G. The recommended RF exposure limits remain unchanged.

MORE: What Is 5G? The Definitive Guide to the 5G Network Rollout

"The scientific consensus is that there are no known health risks from all forms of RF energy at the low levels approved for everyday consumer use," a spokesperson for CTIA, a trade group for the wireless communications industry, said in an emailed statement. "The FCC regulates RF emissions, including millimeter waves from 5G devices and equipment, and has adopted the recommendations of expert scientific organizations that have reviewed the science, including dozens of studies focused specifically on millimeter waves, and established safe exposure levels."

What's driving the fear of 5G?

There are a few factors contributing to the concern — or outright fear — of 5G's effects.

The first is scientific research that has been interpreted by some to support concern about cellphone radiation. For instance, a 2018 study released by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) found that when rats and mice were exposed to radio-frequency waves like the kind that emanate from cellphones, they developed malignant tumors. This particular study looked at 2G and 3G phones. However, that doesn't mean 5G will cause cancerous tumors in humans.

"The exposures used in the studies cannot be compared directly to the exposure that humans experience when using a cellphone," John Bucher, a senior scientist for the NTP, said when announcing the findings. "In our studies, rats and mice received radio-frequency radiation across their whole bodies. By contrast, people are mostly exposed in specific local tissues close to where they hold the phone. In addition, the exposure levels and durations in our studies were greater than what people experience."

The NTP has said it plans to develop thorough studies to evaluate the safety of 5G.

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer has categorized RF waves from cellphones as a possible carcinogen, which is another factor contributing to the concerns over 5G. But, for context, an ingredient in coffee is also considered a possible carcinogen. Red meat is categorized as a probable carcinogen, which means it has a stronger link to cancer than cellphones do.

MORE: 5G Phones: Every Known Phone and Release Date

The New York Times reported earlier this year that one of the primary 5G fearmongers is Russian propaganda spreading on YouTube, Facebook and blogs across the internet. Videos and news articles filled with misinformation are scaring U.S. consumers even as Russia proceeds with its own 5G plans.

Have there been studies to prove that 5G isn't a health risk to humans?

5G is a new standard for wireless communication, but from a technological standpoint, it isn't all that different from 3G and 4G. The radio-frequency waves from 5G cellphones are akin to the RF waves from LTE devices (i.e., non-ionizing). According to the American Cancer Society, most studies have shown that "the RF waves given off by cell phones don't have enough energy to damage DNA directly or to heat body tissues."

In 2000, a now-debunked study on the effect of radio waves on brain tissue fueled conspiracy theories about cellphones and radiation. The author of the study, physicist Bill Curry, claimed that wireless devices could cause brain cancer in humans. According to The New York Times, Curry neglected to take into account that our skin protects our internal tissues from high-frequency radio waves (which is, again, why you need to wear sunscreen to protect the skin from even higher-frequency UV rays).

However, because 5G networks are just now getting off the ground with a new roster of 5G phones, no long-term studies of the network or the devices and their effects on humans have been conducted. In addition, the types of devices we use and the way we use them are constantly changing. For that reason, skeptics such as Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, are calling for a halt to 5G's rollout.

Moskowitz said it would be unethical to conduct a conclusive scientific study on human beings controlling for the health effects of cellphone radiation, so researchers rely on observational and animal studies. Those studies haven't proved conclusively that cellphones are harmful to humans, but Moskowitz thinks there's enough evidence to "put a moratorium on the rollout of new technologies" like 5G infrastructure build-out until more research is done.

"I'm certain that, within the next five years, radio-frequency radiation will be declared at least probably carcinogenic [by the WHO]," Moskowitz said.

But Christopher Collins, a professor in New York University's radiology department who studies the safety of electromagnetic fields, said the lack of 5G-specific research doesn't mean researchers are starting from scratch when evaluating 5G's potential effects on human health.

MORE: Here's Why Apple's 5G iPhone Isn't Coming Until 2020

"A lot of the premise of people who advocate against 5G or wireless communications fields in general seem to suggest that we just don't know and we need to do more studies," Collins said. "We know a lot. We've been doing experiments on humans and animals for decades over this entire spectrum."

Collins said scientists "never want to say the book is closed," but based on what we already know, there's no evidence to suggest that 5G will cause cancer or other detrimental health effects in most people.

So why are some local governments putting a stop to 5G development?

Prior to the FCC's 5G safety determination, city and state regulators were hearing from residents who were concerned that not enough was known about 5G. Specifically, people are concerned that the density of small cell sites required to build out mmWave-based 5G networks would emit dangerous amounts of radiation.

The FCC's 5G FAST Plan, which requires municipalities to approve 5G cell sites within 60 to 90 days, has caused concern. Carriers are moving quickly to build out infrastructure without giving residents notice, The Wall Street Journal reported, and local legislators are pushing back. Some 90 cities and counties have filed suit against the FCC in a case currently pending in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Homeowners may not want new antennas outside their homes for aesthetic reasons, or because they want advance notice when changes occur in their communities, but the FCC, industry trade groups and many scientists maintain there is no proven health risk.

MORE: 5 Ways 5G Will Change Your Life

"Typical exposure to 5G devices — such as small cells attached to phone poles or the sides of buildings — is far below the permissible levels and comparable to Bluetooth devices and baby monitors," the CTIA spokesperson said. "The FCC continues to monitor the science to ensure that its regulations are protective of public health."

Or, as NYU's Chris Collins put it:

“One thing that we know can cause cancer is sunlight. People would generally do better to worry about that than the exposure levels we're talking about with cellphones. If you're more concerned about the base station on your building than you are [about] spending an hour in the noonday sun without any protection, you might want to think about your priorities."

Bottom line

Scientists and researchers will keep studying radio-frequency waves, including 5G, to add to the existing body of research. But without replicable, concrete proof that radiation from cellphones or wireless networks causes serious adverse health effects in humans, Collins said, there's no reason to stop the rollout of 5G.

"Is it time to stop questioning? No, it's never time to stop questioning," he said. "It's important to remember that, based on what we know now, there is no effect except for heating. This is based on many decades' worth of study in these fields. It's another thing to say, 'Should we stop progress?' based on what I would call unfounded concerns. I am quite certain there's nothing to be alarmed about for millimeter waves."

If you are concerned, there are ways to mitigate your personal exposure to cellphone radiation by using fewer wireless devices. That might also do wonders for your mental health, too.

September is typically the beginning of smartphone season, so I decided I'd finally make the leap: After using iPhones exclusively since phones got data plans, I've always been curious about what life is like on the Android part of the world. 

So I decided to find out, spending at least a month with an Android device to see if switching mobile platforms made sense for me. It turned out I needed less than that to know I'm not really an Android person and that I'll remain an iPhone user for a very long time. The experience even pushed me to upgrade my iPhone earlier than I planned to. 

Here's my diary from my first — and last, at least for a while — month on an Android phone. 

Day 1: Picking an Android phone

I wanted to get the most neutral version of Android imaginable, so I borrowed a Pixel 3a from the Tom's Guide labs. I made my choice in a kind of "what if?" scenario, wondering how I'd respond to the cheapest Google phone after using the iPhone XS Max for a year. 

After swapping my SIM card into the Pixel 3a and booting the device up, I began to appreciate the feel and look of Google's phone. Yes, the bezels on its chin and forehead (or bottom and top, if you prefer) are a bit chunky, but it felt superlight in my pocket, at 5.2 ounces — 29% lighter than the 7.3-ounce iPhone I was used to lugging everywhere.

When interacting with Google's interface and downloading apps, I didn't find any jarring or disruptive speed drop. I did notice that Android lacked anything close to Apple's Reachability feature, which makes it easier to tap items at the top of your screen. Yes, XDA made a tool for this, but that years-old feature should be a basic offering by now.

Day 2: Wait, you can't copy an image?

We spend years acclimating to the world around us, and change isn't always pleasant. So I shouldn't have been surprised that Android lacks one of the very simple things about iOS that I've grown to rely on: copying and pasting images. I ran into this issue when I tried to explain the "xkcd" comic "Someone is wrong on the internet" but couldn't copy the image from the web page using my Pixel 3a.

Yes, even though you can share an image (or anything, really) between apps using the share sheet, Android doesn't let you copy a photo to your clipboard. That might sound wildly trivial, but trying to change to the share sheet just felt wrong — particularly when I'm trying to send an image in a tweet via a text to a friend. The official Twitter app doesn't even let you share images; you just share the link to the tweet. 

Day 3: Well, I guess I'm not trusting Assistant

I set a reminder in Google Assistant to filter my cold brew concentrate, and, well, it just didn't show until I opened my phone a minute later. That's not how reminders work with Siri (they appear on the phone’s lock screen), and I can't believe I'm saying Siri is better at something than another assistant. This is why it's good to tap outside your bubble.

My colleague Rami explained that he hit a similar problem on his Pixel 3 and just ditched reminders for timers.

Day 4: Where's Android 10?

I know Apple spoils people with prompt access to iOS updates, compared to how third-party Android device owners often have to wait. However, I didn't think that one of Google's own Pixel phones would take days to get a new software update. Yes, while Android 10 "came out" on Sept. 3, I was still refreshing the update section of settings, looking for it on Sept. 4.

MORE: Android 10 Review: An Update in Progress

At the worst, Apple takes about half an hour extra to circulate major iOS updates, and in the case of iOS 13, it's available to phones dating back four years. 

Day 5: Dark Mode arrives and disappoints in Android 10

Yes, two days after I thought I'd get it, I finally got Android 10. And … I've gotta ding Android on its own dark mode feature. I'll be getting more acclimated with iOS's new Dark Mode soon, but I have to agree with my colleague Adam Ismail, whose Android 10 review mentions how poorly Google integrates the mode.

MORE: iOS 13 Review: The Biggest Update in Years

For example, when I tried to type in the Google bar on the Pixel's home screen to search for details about the upcoming movie Parasite, I saw a glitch that made it look like not everyone was told about Android 10's Dark Theme. Specifically, the text hadn't turned white, so I had the experience of reading barely legible dark text on a dark background.

Day 6: The Pixel camera was made for wedding season

My first real test of the Pixel 3a's cameras — which do a lot of what the Pixel 3's cameras do — came when I went upstate to the Catskills for a wedding. The Night Sight feature, for capturing much more of what you see in low-light situations, made shots from the bride's family's house in Andes, New York, look fantastic.

Our smartphone camera face-offs help you find the best camera phone, but this experience taught me how good Google is without having to put photos side by side. When I can swap my $1,099 iPhone XS Max out for a $399 Pixel 3a, and have nobody ask questions about my photo quality? And in fact compliment the quality of the shots, as happened with this photo from NYC? That's a win for Google.

In fact, this made me all the hungrier for Apple to put its own take on Night Sight into the iPhone (more on that in a couple of days).

Day 8: Android's widgets are better

As we pulled out of town, going back to NYC for the workweek, I started to overplan my schedule. So, I thought I'd dive into the Google Calendar app and see if I could get a better view of my upcoming days. 

I found a pair of Android home-screen widgets for Google Calendar that I love. When I swipe my home screen to the left, I now see the Schedule view, which presents your appointments and reminders in list form, so I can get a lot of details on the immediate items on my agenda. On the next screen over, I've got the full month view, so I can see into the distance. 

MORE: Top 7 Android 10 Features That You Should Try First

Yes, Apple has some widgets in the Today view (left of the home and lock screens), but I often neglect them because they don't feel as useful. The Apple Calendars app has two widgets: Up Next and Calendar, which just aren't as useful and can hog much more space than they need. Android widgets have far more granularity on the amount of screen they take up.

Day 9: Leaving my iPhone (and apps) behind

Today was the first day I didn't even think to bring my iPhone to the Tom's Guide offices with me. Typically, I've been carrying around both, because some of my favorite iOS apps don't have Android counterparts.

But after a little over a week, I've begun to actually trust the Pixel 3a, having learned little eccentricities like image management and reminders. The one thing I don't think anyone should be forced to get used to, however, is how Android versions of popular apps just aren't as well made.

Slack, in particular, has the most baffling disparity and seems to be designed for people who work in only one Slack workspace. (I'm in five.) On iOS you can see all your workspaces by right-swiping repeatedly, going from the channel or DM you're in to the list of channels to the workspaces. For some reason, the Android Slack app hides the list of workspaces behind a grid of squares above all of your channels.

MORE: iOS 13 Features You'll Want to Try

I also found a curious glitch in Android Instagram. When listening to music from Spotify or Apple Music, and then opening up a Story post that has audio, the audio of said story post would pop onto my headphones between each Story post segment. Another weird Android Instagram flaw is that swiping back a screen doesn't always work. Yes, you can use an edge-swipe to advance from a DM convo to your list of DMs, but performing that same gesture again won't bring you back to your home screen. 

Day 10: The iPhone definitely needs Night mode photography

The past nine days with Android's Night Sight convinced me that I wouldn't buy a new iPhone unless it had something similar. So you can bet I was happy that the iPhone 11 unveiling focused on the one thing I really wanted from Apple: better photos. In fact, once Tom's Guide had the chance to test out Apple's new iPhones, we decided that the iPhone 11 featured the best low-light camera we've tested.

And in that moment, I was pretty sure I'd be upgrading to a new iPhone. Apple was taking on the one Pixel 3a feature I liked the most and doing a ton of other iPhone tricks. And I even thought about upgrading sooner rather than later, as one can do on Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program.

Day 20: Why can't iPhones do GIFs like this?

Yes, I went 10 days between entries, but that's because I slowly found everything I liked or disliked about the Pixel 3a and Android experience. Attending a pro wrestling show in deep Brooklyn, I discovered the last really interesting Android feature that I am begging Apple to add.

Why, Apple, can't I turn a Live Photo into a GIF? The Pixel 3a can do this really easily, thanks to its "motion photos" (basically, the same as Live Photos) and an Export menu option that has a GIF option. On iOS you need to … well … import your Live Photos to a Mac, open them in Photos and then you get an option to export as GIF. 

Apple needs to recognize that a lot of the world doesn't use the company's Live Photos format. Twitter, and many other services, are so in love with GIFs that they have a GIF button.

Day 25: I miss my writing apps

After a while of poking around the Play store, I've come to the conclusion that Google Docs is the best writing app on Android. And I'll be honest —  that's not good news.

Maybe I developed standards for writing apps that are too high. If it's not a well-laid-out, lightweight app that uses Markdown and that syncs between all of my devices, I don't want it. Working with iA Writer was the closest I got to liking an Android text editor, except when I tried to navigate its menus … which feel slapped together. 

Day 30: Take me home, iPhone 11 Pro Max

So, as my month-long experiment drew to an end, while I was still using the Pixel 3a, I went to my local Apple Store and exchanged my XS Max for the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Now that Apple had the nighttime photography mode I envied, there was less reason to consider staying in the 'Droid life. 

MORE: iPhone 11 Pro Max Review

While I really envy the GIF export and superior widgets of Android, I'm already too acclimated to the iPhone life. You'll notice I didn't say iMessage once. Yes, people joke about green bubbles versus blue bubbles, but I never found that anyone I talked to cared. 

For me, it's more that iPhones work the way that my brain works, which is probably more about my mind conforming to Apple's methods. Maybe if Android let you copy an image to the clipboard and app developers worked as hard on their Android apps as on their iOS apps, I wouldn't have gone running back to Apple. But the iPhone delivers all of the above, plus its dark mode supposedly works a lot better than Android's, so it's where I'm staying.

We're still getting acquainted with Wi-Fi 6, the new, faster wireless standard that came to market earlier this year. But just as soon as one standard arrives, the next is being developed, and the next generation of Wi-Fi is already starting to take shape as Wi-Fi 7.

Wi-Fi 6, the easy-to-understand official name of the 802.11ax standard, started appearing in routers earlier this year, and several announced Wi-Fi 6 networking products are only now coming out. The standard is even less prominent in other consumer devices, as laptops and smartphones have only just started using it. You'll find Wi-Fi 6 capability in the Samsung Galaxy S10, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and the Apple iPhone 11, but we're still waiting for other manufacturers to catch up.

If you're not up to speed on the new naming conventions, the previous mainstream Wi-Fi standards have been retroactively renamed, with 802.11n and 802.11ac becoming Wi-Fi 4 and 5, respectively. Here's a handy chart to help you navigate the name change, but if you're still confused, check out our guide to Wi-Fi 6.

• Wi-Fi 4: 802.11n
• Wi-Fi 5: 802.11ac
• Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax
• Wi-Fi 7: 802.11be

That's a long way of saying that Wi-Fi 6 has only just arrived, and it will be the dominant wireless standard for the next several years. But that doesn't mean it's the be-all and end-all of connectivity, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – the group that develops and defines versions of the 802.11 standard – is already hard at work figuring out what Wi-Fi 7 will look like.

• Make the most of your great internet with the best fast VPN

The IEEE formed a study group and started work on the 802.11be Extremely High Throughput (EHT) project late last year, with the goal of establishing what the next evolution of Wi-Fi will look like. As the name would suggest, one goal of the new standard is a dramatic increase in throughput, bringing Gigabit-Ethernet speeds to multiple devices in the home.

As the IEEE drafts standards for the new technology, the capabilities and features of tomorrow's Wi-Fi have started to take shape. Some of the highlights of the upcoming standard include speeds of up to 30 gigabits per second, up to 16 spatial streams for handling dozens of devices, and an array of technical refinements to deliver capabilities that will blow away today's best routers.

The collection of features and technologies being developed will likely combine to become Wi-Fi 7 once the standard has developed enough to be certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

MORE: WiFi and Home Networking - Articles and Forums on Tom's Guide

Though the standard is far from final in these early days of development, the initial details present a picture of significant advancement over present Wi-Fi capabilities. Among the features discussed is a move to 320-MHz bandwidth and significantly more efficient use of noncontiguous spectrum, opening the floodgates for data to handle gigabit speeds to multiple devices in the home.

Multiband and multichannel operation will let devices connect over more than one wireless band, allowing a tri-band router to combine multiple connections to feed devices data. With 4K video streaming and online gaming chewing through more home data than ever before, and connected home devices nibbling at your connection throughout the day, the need for a more robust Wi-Fi solution is already here, and the need will only continue to grow.

MORE: Best WiFi Extender - Boosters to Extend Your Wi-Fi Range

With up to 16 spatial streams – a big step forward from the 12 streams offered on the best routers today – and improved MU-MIMO capabilities, a Wi-Fi 7 router would be better equipped to handle the many devices that fill today's connected homes, offering greater multiple-device management and higher bandwidth for each.

The first Wi-Fi 7 chipsets will be available for testing in 2021, but it will take longer for manufacturers to explore the capabilities, refine the features and design the products built around the new standard. All told, the technology isn't likely to reach consumers until 2024.

5G is in its infancy, and we're still getting a grip on what 5G is. The past nine months have seen pricey 5G smartphones on just launched next-gen wireless networks lead the initial push. Right now, those networks are only live in a handful of cities, and while the 5G speeds we've seen so far are promising, it will take a while for the coverage to be widespread. Still, once 5G blankets the U.S., smartphones that can instantly download lengthy movies will be ubiquitous.

But 5G will have bigger ramifications on your life than putting a faster phone in your pocket (though we are excited for that). 5G could replace home broadband and bridge the gap between rural areas and cities; give kids in schools more learning tools; improve health care outcomes; make streets safer with self-driving cars; and bring augmented reality from a Google Glass-like spectacle into the mainstream.

Here's how.

5G in your home: Cable broadband killer?

5G isn't just going to make your phone faster. Theoretically, your home internet will also be faster if 5G fixed wireless replaces broadband. Instead of paying a cable company to wire your place and hook you up to the internet, you could install an antenna that beams 5G into your home from a cell tower. For rural areas in which laying cable is super-expensive, grabbing a 5G signal from an existing tower would be much cheaper. 

"We used to talk about fiber to the home and running cable in the neighborhoods. People were excited about that, and you had to check your ZIP code to see if it was available in your area," said Steve Koenig, vice president of research for the Consumer Technology Association. "5G won't eliminate that, because there will sometimes need to be a physical connection, but for consumers, your home broadband service could be 5G. 5G can penetrate better than 4G because it penetrates across three bands: low, mid and high." 

Carriers like Verizon and AT&T are already getting into the 5G fixed wireless business, and though it's the early days still, increased competition for cable providers could mean lower home internet bills for consumers, who still don't have many options when it comes to broadband. 

Peter Linder, head of 5G customer engagement marketing for Ericsson, said 5G fixed wireless could improve internet access for people outside metropolitan areas, where fixed broadband connections aren't great and mobile connectivity isn't much better.

"If we're trying to make the city smart, we have to make sure the countryside is clever," Linder said. "Otherwise the gap between rural and metropolitan opportunities is going to get even bigger."

5G on your body: Augmented-reality glasses get real

Every expert I've talked to predicts that 5G will usher in the era of augmented reality. People have been hyping AR for years, but 5G will make the devices we'll still need to wear to overlay information on top of our vision much lighter and thinner — like Google Glass, but attractive.

"5G connectivity may not just be on your phone, it could be across a range of consumer devices: wearables, like AR glasses, could have their own 5G connection," Koenig said.

Currently, augmented-reality glasses require a connection to a computer — either over a Wi-Fi connection or physically tethered to a wall-mounted computer or a wearable computer attached to, for instance, a belt. Headsets with fully integrated computers, like Microsoft's HoloLens 2, are massive. 5G AR glasses would eliminate connectivity issues and would be comfortable enough to wear for lengthy periods of time. That would unlock a whole new way of interacting with the world.

MORE: 5G Phones: Every Known Phone and Release Date

"I grew up reading manuals, and my daughter laughs about that: 'Why don't you just watch it on YouTube?'" said Ericsson's Linder. "I think her kids will laugh: ‘Why did you watch it on YouTube? Why not just put on your AR glasses and say, 'Alexa, show me instructions please.'"

"The 4G era is more or less centered around the input to the device is always tapping on glass — the output to you is coming out of the glass window," Linder added. "5G is breaking out of that as the only way of doing things."

5G in the classroom: Flying over the Great Wall

The faster speeds and lower latency that 5G will deliver will make AR and virtual reality transformative for kids in classrooms.

Toby Redshaw, Verizon's senior vice president of 5G innovation, offered a scenario in which 5G could make education more accessible: "You have a child that sits in a class for four hours. There's a presentation about China: a PowerPoint. It's a good environment. But there's another child in the class. [The teacher:] 'Put on that headset and we'll drop you into a 360-degree video so you can be [in China] without being there.' [The kid:] 'I'm flying over the Great Wall! That is unbelievable!' The second child had an experience. A whole chunk of his brain lit up. That immersive environment is between three and eight times more effective.'

Verizon put out a call for innovative applications for 5G in middle school classrooms for its 5G EdTech Challenge. Earlier this year, the carrier's foundation awarded $1 million to 10 groups that created ways to make 5G useful in the classroom. Some of the winning ideas included a virtual-reality experience of space, a mixed-reality game to help students with autism work on social skills, and an app that brings physics to life. 

For students who need more than a lecture or a textbook to fully understand concepts, 5G could unlock a whole new way to learn.

5G in the hospital: Holographic surgeries and beyond

Just as 5G could make it easier for kids to experience subjects that most of us have only read about in books, next-gen speeds combined with augmented reality could also make it easier for doctors to learn and perfect procedures.

In May, medical startup Medivis received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an augmented-reality platform called Surgical AR that will guide surgeons through procedures via a holographic overlay on the patient. Earlier this year at CES, Medivis CEO Christopher Morley said 5G will reduce latency so much that surgeons will be able to use AR to perform surgeries in real time. Morley expects 5G and AR will reduce the possibility of error and improve post-surgical outcomes.

But 5G could take surgeons out of the operating room entirely. Steve Koenig of the Consumer Technology Association said 5G could allow doctors to perform operations remotely using 5G-connected robots. 

Outside of the OR, 5G could improve health care outcomes across the board. Columbia University is using Verizon's 5G network to test remote rehabilitation for stroke patients using virtual-reality headsets. Therapists remotely guide patients, who are wearing VR headsets, through exercises to improve their motor skills, which is critical for those who can't travel to facilities for in-patient rehab. The program is also useful for therapists, because it analyzes everyone who follows the program and determines if the exercises actually work. 

"How often does this great therapist show up in rural Arkansas, or east Los Angeles? Probably never," Verizon's Redshaw said. "In the 5G world, what do I need for this person to show up? I need them to have a connection and this $200 set of goggles. Economically that's a great thing for that industry, and for patients, it's fantastic to blast through socioeconomic barriers."

5G in self-driving cars: Safer (and more fun) rides

Self-driving cars are already being tested on the roads, but experts predict that 5G will make them safer and alleviate concerns that most of us have about letting a computer drive for us. It's also one of the most exciting use cases for 5G — and there's a lot at stake.

"Connecting cars, giving them the ability to connect to the internet, streaming movies to passengers — but also advanced safety, giving the cars ability to communicate with other cars, passengers, infrastructure. Those are the marquee things," said Danny Tseng, Qualcomm's technical marketing manager.

MORE: Apple Car: Release Date, Tesla Rumors, Project Titan and More

Above the fleets of self-driving vehicles that Tseng, Koenig and others imagine will take over the roads, autonomous drones will be delivering packages and embarking on rescue missions with the help of 5G. The time it takes for a drone to receive instructions and deliver footage to the ground will be instantaneous over 5G, which will make its missions more accurate — whether it's for Amazon deliveries or search-and-rescue operations.

OK, cool — but when is this 5G nirvana happening?

The transformative potential of 5G can sometimes feel overblown. After all, not many people can even access a 5G network yet, and we've been talking about it for years. Expect that to change very soon.

"You're not going to see this incremental thing," Verizon's Redshaw said. "It'll be: '‘Wow, now I'm surrounded by 5G.’ You'll start to see the differences between non-5G spaces and 5G spaces by the end of next year. Marry sizzle to economic benefit and you'll see this take off tremendously."

But what exactly will happen when 5G is everywhere? We obviously have some ideas, but there are also life-changing applications that no one has thought of.

"5G is going to be a catalyst of incredible innovation, much like we saw with 4G mobile broadband," Koenig said. "Some of which haven't been imagined yet."

Six consecutive quarters. That’s how long the smartphone market has been in decline so far. And market leaders like Apple and Samsung are really feeling the pain. But not Huawei.

On a tear in China but also coming on strong in Europe, Huawei saw 50 percent growth in smartphone sales in Q1 year over year, while Apple plummeted 30 percent, according to IDC. Samsung didn’t struggle as much, but shipments were still down 8 percent, and that was before the Galaxy Fold debacle.

The scary part? Huawei phones aren’t even sold officially in the U.S. This is largely due to security concerns and reported links between Huawei and the Chinese government. Huawei has denied those claims and is suing the U.S. government. And yet Huawei is thriving anyway.

“Huawei doesn’t necessarily need to have a position in the U.S.,” said Peter Richardson of Counterpoint Research. “Working with the U.S. carriers can be expensive due to the need for extensive testing and then marketing support.”

Huawei on a roll

Despite the political controversy, Huawei has been one of the most innovative smartphone makers over the past few years. For example, in 2016, the Huawei P9 was the first phone co-engineered with Leica with a dual-lens shooter. The Huawei Mate 10 in 2017 was the first phone with an embedded AI chip. And last year’s Huawei Mate 20 Pro was the world’s first phone to offer reverse wireless charging (way before the Galaxy S10).

For its most recent Huawei P30 Pro, the company literally reinvented the smartphone camera, delivering not only a 5x periscope zoom but a super spectrum sensor that delivers incredible low light performance with a crazy-high ISO of 409,600. As a result, the P30 Pro edged out Google’s mighty Pixel 3 in a photo face-off, which has been our best camera phone.

“Apple and Samsung should definitely be worried,” said Avi Greengart, founder and lead analyst for Techsponential. “The perception that a flagship phone has market-leading advances is crucial to the value proposition.”

Of course, it helps that Huawei is strongest in the Chinese market, which is not nearly as saturated as the U.S. or Europe, where more and more consumers are holding onto their phones longer. In Q1 2019, the company shipped 30 million of its 59.1 million smartphones in its home country, or about 50 percent, according to IHS Markit. The research firm said in its report that Huawei is “competing on even footing with Samsung and Apple in the high-end, while expanding into other price segments.”

Huawei vs. Samsung vs. Apple

If Huawei keeps this pace up, it won’t be long before it surpasses Samsung, which has been the No. 1 smartphone maker for years. IHS Markit says that Huawei’s market share worldwide was 18 percent in Q2, compared to 22 percent for Samsung. So if Huawei’s growth rate continues, it could knock Samsung from its pedestal as soon as this year.

In April, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group, said the company expects to be the world’s largest smartphone brand by 2020. And right now, its phones look quite favorable compared to Samsung’s. For instance, the Huawei P30 Pro has a superior camera to the Galaxy S10, and the foldable Huawei Mate X has garnered more positive early reaction from critics than the troubled Galaxy Fold.

Huawei also has its Honor brand, which offers more aggressively priced devices targeted toward younger audiences. The Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro will be introduced at a press event in London May 21. In addition to sporting a Galaxy S10-like, hole-punch display up front, the Honor 20 is rumored to offer Alexa integration and periscope camera that’s very similar to the Huawei P30 Pro.

Add it all up and Samsung could be in trouble.

“Huawei has invested a lot of money into its brand to help them grow presence on a global basis,” said Tuong H. Nguyen, senior principal analyst at Gartner. “It’s also improved its quality on smartphones to be able to compete with tier 1 vendors like Samsung.”

Where Apple and Samsung still win

While Huawei may have overtaken Apple as the world’s second biggest smartphone maker, it still trails Apple when it comes to ecosystems. Yes, Huawei phones offer Huawei’s own EMUI interface, and the company offers a Mobile Cloud storage service. Huawei also has a music service in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, as well as a video service in China, Italy and Spain. But it doesn’t provide the breadth of services that Apple does — and that’s unlikely to change given Apple’s push to beef up the services side of its business.

Samsung is ahead of Huawei in services, too, but also when it comes to offering a wide range of devices that work together, such as the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Buds, smartwatches like the Galaxy Watch Active and also the way Samsung’s phones can work with its TVs and other appliances.

“If you think about Samsung, they’re traditionally very good at tech and hardware, but they’re also looking to deliver a holistic experience in terms of providing features and functionality to drive these experiences as well,” said Nguyen. “Think about Samsung Pay, Bixby, and the spectrum of consumer electronics devices offered by the company.”

Of course, Samsung is not standing still on the phone front. The Galaxy Note 10 will launch this summer, and the company will be bringing its lower cost Galaxy A Series hitting the U.S. this year. Plus, Samsung is launching one of the first 5G phones on multiple carriers in the Galaxy S10 5G. “Samsung is building 5G launch phones at multiple carriers in multiple geographies - an astonishing feat of engineering and logistical innovation,” said Greengart.

Nevertheless, it looks as though Samsung’s reign as the king of smartphones could be coming to an end.

• The Most Anticipated Smartphones — New Phones Coming Out
  

“Alexa, is Amazon making Alexa earbuds?” The assistant won’t answer that question, but the tech giant is reportedly working on an AirPods 2 rival that will be released this year.

According to Bloomberg, the new Alexa earbuds will have three main advantages over Apple’s wireless earbuds: a lower price, better sound quality and instant access to a smarter assistant. Amazon could easily wind up selling millions this holiday season, but it’s not a sure thing.

There are some serious obstacles in Amazon’s way beyond the company’s past failings in mobile — remember the Fire Phone? — but based on interviews with several analysts, the mega retailer should not be underestimated.

Undercutting Apple

The AirPods 2 start at $159 but go up to $199 with the wireless charging case. That leaves plenty of room for Amazon to undercut Apple and other premium earbuds, such as the Jabra Elite Active 65t ($189), which also happen to be Alexa enabled.

“Considering Amazon's past pricing strategies, its new device will be cheaper than AirPods,” said Liz Lee, a senior analyst with Counterproint Research. “If it has a sort of stylish hardware and advanced features, it could be a cheaper alternative to AirPods.”

MORE: 9 Cheap Wireless Earbuds (Under $60), Ranked Best to Worst

There are dozens and dozens of cheap wireless earbuds out there already, some of which offer better sound quality than the AirPods, such as the $79 Anker Soundcore Liberty Air. However, we found the touch controls to be poor on that model, and it didn’t integrate well with Siri or Google Assistant due to the lackluster speech recognition support.

We could see Amazon charging $99 for its Alexa earbuds, which according to Bloomberg will come in a storage case that doubles as a charger. That means you wouldn’t get wireless charging, a trade-off value-conscious shoppers will likely be happy to make. It’s also worth noting that only Apple offers an H2 wireless chip that allows for instantaneous pairing with devices and quick device switching.

So could Amazon make a big dent in the market by charging a mid-range price? Stephen Baker, vice president at research firm NP, says that’s not where the action is right now. “The fastest growing segment in wireless headphones (after AirPods) is your basic $25 and below wireless headphones,” said Baker.

Still, we wouldn’t underestimate the sheer marketing muscle of Amazon and its ability to prominently promote its own earbuds during key shopping events. This strategy has worked phenomenally well with products like the Echo Dot and Amazon’s Fire tablets.

“Amazon could take aggressive markdowns, including offering its new gadget in Prime deals and bundles for cheap during the Black Friday sales to increase market share,” said Lee.

Nevertheless, it will be vital for Amazon to make its earbuds stand out to command a premium over other basic true wireless buds.

What Alexa Will Do In Your Ears

As you might expect, Amazon’s earbuds will reportedly let you summon Alexa by simply saying “Alexa.” And, according to Bloomberg’s report, you’ll be able to “order goods, access music, weather and other information on the go.”

In addition, the earbuds will reportedly feature gesture controls. For example, you’ll be able to tap to start and end calls, as well as switch between songs. Those are standard features for this category, though.

There is a certain appeal to having Alexa in your ears, as opposed to using an Echo that’s across the room. You don’t have to let everyone around you hear every time you want to ask about the forecast, skip a track or add something to your shopping list. It would certainly be easier to ask about more sensitive topics, such as medical issues.

MORE: Best Amazon Alexa Skills For Your Echo Speaker

“A wearable Alexa. Sounds kind of Star Trek-y, doesn’t it?” said Ramon Llamas, a research director at IDC. “I like that it can be kept private, and that you don’t have to bark out orders to the nearest smart speaker.”

But Amazon will have to go beyond the basics to get people excited about wearing Alexa. For example, could the assistant let you know when to turn left or right when giving directions? Or maybe you could have Alexa let you know when a price on a certain product drops for Prime Day.

Then there’s the simple fact that Alexa is simply smarter than Siri, based on our third-party evaluations and our own testing. “It is apparent that access to Alexa could be more appealing for some people than access to Siri, as Alexa can be used to order goods from Amazon directly and Amazon's ecosystem is more open than Apple's,” said Lee.

Major Obstacles

On paper, Alexa-powered earbuds sound promising. Yes, there are already other headphones with Alexa integration, but Amazon creating its own affordable AirPods rivals would be a much bigger statement then simply lending its support to other products.

“The device will get Alexa into the ears of more people,” said Lee. “Alexa-equipped hearables could mark Amazon’s renewed steps into mobile hardware.”

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to mobile. Its Fire Phone, which was introduced in 2014 with a gimmicky 3D display, flopped. And, even though the companies Fire tablets continue to sell well, the overall market for slates is in decline. The company is also being very cautious with its other mobile Alexa device — Alexa Auto — which is only available by invitation.

The biggest problem for Amazon is that it doesn’t control its destiny with phone when it comes to platform support and integration as it is on the smart speaker front, where it owns the whole widget. Because the Alexa earbuds reportedly won’t have cellular connectivity built in, the company will have to find a way to have Alexa to live alongside existing assistants like Google Assistant and Alexa on the iPhone and Android phones.

“This is a large challenge for them without a phone or an OS to latch onto, said Baker. “Their previous successes have mostly been in newer growth segments where they can reinvent/control the product story.”

In a separate interview with Yahoo Finance, Loup Ventures managing director Gene Munster went so far as to call Amazon's earbuds "a bad idea for them," citing integration issues with iOS and Android.

As Apple looks to build on its momentum with the second-gen AirPods and its Hey, Siri support and Google looks to rebound from the fail that was its own Google Pixel Buds, the companies have little incentive to embrace Amazon and its efforts to disrupt the wireless earbuds space. So it’s up to Amazon to find a way to work within the limitations of other companies’ ecosystems in iOS and Android. Chances are, you’ll have to run an Alexa app on your phone, similar to the experience of using other mobile Alexa devices, such as the Anker Roav Viva Pro or Garmin Speak Plus.

“That’s what Amazon has to solve with both platforms in order to be of value to the owner,” said Llamas. “Apple prefers to keep things in-house, and even if Android is a bit more open, there could still be obstacles there depending on which phone you own.”

Outlook

When you look at Amazon’s overall strategy, it’s easy to see where Alexa earbuds fit in, especially if you use Alexa already. The assistant is constantly learning based on what people are asking and user feedback, and putting it in millions of users’ ears could help Amazon keep pace with Google Assistant while creating more distance between itself and Siri.

“Amazon has launched dozens of its own Alexa-enabled products over the past few years, and its strategy is typically to offer low pricing on hardware to improve its AI platform penetration overall,” said Avi Greengart, lead analyst and founder of Techsponential.

Introducing the Alexa buds at a significantly lower price than AirPods should be enough to get a sizable wave of early adopters this holiday season. But Amazon will have to demonstrate a truly unique value of wearing Alexa to keep the momentum going beyond the early buzz phase.

Credit: Tom's Guide

In 2003, Emmy-nominated TV anchor Catherine Bosley was vacationing with her husband in Key West, after recovering from a life-threatening illness. On a whim, she decided to leave her comfort zone and enter a wet T-shirt contest. She could never have prepared for the consequences she would face.

A year later, explicit video footage of her escapade appeared online, on a Girls Gone Wild-esque exhibitionist website. The footage spread from site to site. Residents of her hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, recognized Bosley's face in the video, and she lost her job as a consequence. All along the way, comments and emails were pouring into Bosley's inbox, insulting everything from her appearance to her character. Some said she should be ashamed of herself; others even said she deserved to die.

If you've spent any time online, you doubtless know how it feels to receive online hate comments: insults, mocking, trolling; even threats from anonymous strangers.

A 2016 survey from the Cyberbullying Research Center found that over a third of middle- and high-school students have experienced cyberbullying, with hurtful comments, rumor-spreading and sexual harassment among the most prevalent forms. And a 2017 Pew Research Center study found that an even higher 41 percent of U.S. adults have experienced harassment online, including offensive name-calling, purposeful embarrassment and physical threats.

But as social media becomes more integral to our work, school and home lives, how can we survive the haters and trolls with our self-worth and mental health intact? We asked experts what works — and what doesn't.

Surviving in the short term

DON'T feed the trolls: There's one tip that survivors and experts seem to agree on: Don't respond to the comments. For Bosley, resisting the urge to get into fights was paramount.

"It was so hard not to respond," said Bosley, who has given a Ted Talk on her experience. "But I knew that if I responded, it was only going to fuel the fire."

While you might hope that responding to a troll makes them realize they were wrong to insult you, you're more likely to demonstrate that they've succeeded in upsetting you — and give them an opportunity to upset you further.

"Bullying isn't about who's right and wrong," said Patrice O’Neill, founder and director of the anti-bullying nonprofit Not In Our Town. "It's about power and trying to gain power by diminishing someone else. Try not to give that power to someone who is bullying you. It'll only encourage them to seek that power further."

MORE: How to Teach Your Kids to Be Safe Online

There's one exception to this: If you're being accused of a crime or other behavior that could impact your professional reputation (such as plagiarism, fraud, racism or misogyny), it might be worth clarifying your intentions (if you think your critics are wrong) or apologizing (if they're right). But even in these situations, avoid direct engagement with your commenters, said Alexis Moore, a risk-management consultant who specializes in cyberbullying, and author of Surviving A Cyberstalker: How To Prevent And Survive Cyberabuse And Stalking.

"Never engage with the predator directly," Moore said. Instead, post a public "follow-up" addressing their concerns, which is less likely to devolve into more antagonism. "Something along the lines of 'A few are saying that I might be a ‘racist'. I’d like to clarify my post,’” she recommends.

DO take a break from the internet: You don't need to leave social media forever — but experts say that if mean comments are affecting your mental health, you should take a break.

"Once I stopped looking at the comments, I started to feel a little bit stronger," Bosley said. "Abandon the haters and close that computer."

"Just meet up with your friends like we used to," Moore advised. "We've got telephones. You don't need to use social media. You really don't."

DO talk to others about your experience: In her freshman year of high school, Aija Mayrock experienced a teenager's nightmare on social media: A classmate had dressed up as her for Halloween, and the caricature went viral. Mayrock's social media were bombarded with trolls, insults and even threats. “My classmates told me that my life was worth nothing, that I'd be better off dead," Mayrock said.

Mayrock, who is now an anti-bullying activist and the author of The Survival Guide To Bullying, kept her experiences with online shaming to herself at first — but that made her feel only worse.

"I suffered from depression and anxiety because of the fact that I did not allow myself to talk about it," Mayrock recalled. "I finally opened up to my parents, and that was what finally helped me heal and cope."

If you're not sure where to start, Mayrock recommends making a list of the top five people you're most comfortable talking to, including family members, adult friends, or therapists and counselors. Make your way down this list, and share your feelings with each of these people as you grow more comfortable doing so. These people know you much better than trolls do, and their support can counteract the hostility you faced online.  

It's also imperative that you stay connected to supportive friends, family or professionals to replace the community you used to find on social media. Otherwise, you may be tempted to go back online and keep reading comments.

DO keep an eye out for repeat behavior: Most online trolls, while they may be scary or frustrating, are just that — trolls. But some harassers may pose a greater danger, especially if they're making repeated threats to your safety.

Moore recommends a "three strikes, you're out" policy. "If someone's bothered you more than three times in six months, take notice of them," she said, though adding that "that doesn't mean acting like a crazy-ass fool." Rather, you should be documenting: Write down the offender's handles, screenshot their comments and consider whether it's worth approaching a lawyer or authorities.

Thriving in the long-term

DO find the right time to go back online: Whether or not to return to social media is completely your choice. If you do return, you'll want to make sure it's at a time when the hate has calmed down enough, and you have recovered enough, for social media to be a safe environment again.

Mayrock left social media for years after her shaming. If you feel that you're ready to go back, she recommends logging into one social media account for 10 minutes each day. Take notes about how you feel before and after, to get a full picture of how it's affecting you.

If it's consistently making you feel worse, stay off. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram aren't going anywhere.

DO try new things (offline): Social media is a big time commitment for many users, and cutting it out of your life, even for a short period, can be a big change. It's not unusual to feel a sense of isolation when you're not plugged into your Facebook or Twitter feeds, as well as the temptation to peek at hateful comments.

Bosley recommends searching for an offline hobby to occupy that time and energy, and to remind you of the opportunities for fun that exist outside the cyberworld. For her, it was running and spending time with her cat.

MORE: Parental Monitoring: How Much Is Too Much?

Let your loved ones know about the new activity, so they can help you stick with it, even on days when it’s hard. "Family and friends pulled me through one day at a time," Bosley said. "They said, 'Get out of bed. Get out of the house. Try to live. Stop going on the internet.'"

DO support others in similar situations: Many victims of bullying feel better about their own situations after sticking up for others who are receiving hate, said O’Neill, and online hate is no exception.

"Over and over again, we've seen that people who have been targeted and supported are more likely to go and stand up for someone else," O’Neill said. "We create a cycle of support."

Not only will you likely feel good about supporting another person, but you'll also see firsthand that you’re not alone.

"Understand the nature of bullying, the role of gender bias, racism, intolerance, anti-Semitism, deepening our understanding of that is incredibly important," O’Neill said. In her experience with online communities, interacting with and supporting other victims can help you "draw strength from the fact that this is part of a larger attack...to see this as a collective problem, not just an individual problem." The problem is with the trolls — not with you.

That said, even in these situations, be careful not to engage with the trolls and become a target yourself. Instead, send a supportive message directly to the victim.

DON'T try to forget about your experience: Neither Mayrock nor Bosley has forgotten the bullying they faced. Instead, they've learned and grown from their experiences, and used them to help others.

"You don't really get past something like this," said Bosley, who still receives comments about her pictures from time to time. "It becomes part of you. But surviving something like this isn't something that should just be pushed away and forgotten. It gives you more empathy, and more of an understanding."

You may not go on to become an anti-bullying activist — but you will survive.

Credit: Shutterstock

Nintendo's products are so hard to kill, there's a whole meme dedicated to them. Old-school Nintendo gadgets have lived through falls, house fires and even bombs. But times change, as I learned the hard way when my Nintendo Switch bricked itself after refusing to recharge in its own dock.

Over the next grueling day, I discovered that if your Switch breaks — which it might, for no reason — Nintendo pretty much has you over a barrel. Repairs to the Switch are costly, and just about impossible to perform yourself. And, to add insult to injury, the system makes it as difficult as possible to back up your saves, unless you cough up expensive subscription fees for a substandard online service.

So, I'm not very happy with the Big N right now. But more than that, I feel that Nintendo has finally let me down. As a grown-up, I know that Nintendo is an electronics manufacturer, and it's always going to be more concerned with its bottom line than how it is perceived. But 27 years after I first fell under Super Mario's spell on the NES, it's finally hit home that my love of Nintendo is very much a one-sided affair, and that hits harder than a brick(ed Switch).

A mysterious ailment

The strangest part of this story is the way it began, as I still can't explain it. A few days ago, a call went out to the Tom's Guide staff who had their Switches on-hand. We were putting together a piece for the console's two-year anniversary, and wanted to take some new photos. I grabbed my Switch from my backpack and hit the power button. Nothing happened.

This, in and of itself, wasn't that unusual; after all, I'd played it on and off for about a week, and the battery was getting pretty low. I figured all I needed to do was plunk it down in a dock for a few minutes until it got enough charge for a few screenshots. When I dropped the Switch into the dock, it flashed a low-battery signal — then the screen went black. It's been black ever since.

After figuring out an alternate strategy for the photo shoot, I figured the machine just needed a little more time to warm up. I left it in the dock for an hour and came back to check on it. No dice. At this point, I visited the Nintendo website, which, to its credit, has a number of steps you can try if your console won't turn on. But nothing worked.

Reddit was my next stop, but no one else seemed to have quite the same problem. My battery was dead and my system refused to charge; most posts involved Switches that wouldn't charge, but still had enough battery power to try a hard reset. The only recourse for people like me seemed to be to get in touch with Nintendo and let them do the legwork.

A costly fix

By the time I got home that night, I'd tried every charging configuration I could think of to kickstart my Switch. I'd charged it in the dock and with the charging cord directly, with and without the Joy-Cons, and nothing had any effect. The Switch wouldn't turn on; it wasn't even getting warm. If only I knew what the exact problem was, I reasoned, I could at least try to fix it myself.

After waiting on hold with Nintendo's tech support (for much longer than the estimated 5 minutes), I finally spoke with a representative. To her credit, the rep didn't make me go through the painstaking fixes recommended by the website again; she just confirmed that I'd already tried them. She then confirmed that my system was out of warranty, and it was not Nintendo's responsibility to fix it. (The Switch's warranty is just one year, in case you were wondering.)

MORE: Nintendo Switch Two Years Later: What We Love and Hate

As long as the system was out of warranty, I figured it couldn't hurt to try fixing things myself. I explained my system's symptoms to the rep, and asked her if she could hazard a guess about what was wrong with the system, or what caused it. She said there were so many things that could go wrong with charging a system, she wouldn't even know where to start. ("Why did Nintendo design a product where so many things could go wrong while charging?" I wondered, gritting my teeth.)

To her credit, the rep knew her stuff, and got the repair process started quickly. She also assured me that I wasn't responsible for any payments until after Nintendo had fixed my Switch, just in case I had a brilliant idea on how to fix it within the next few days. But I nearly gagged when I heard the price of the repair: $120. This is almost half of what it costs to buy a brand-new console.

And yet, without so much as a clear diagnosis of what was actually wrong with my Switch, what choice did I have?

Who saves the saved games?

Well, I had precisely one other choice, which was to try to effect repairs myself. While Nintendo doesn't exactly condone everyday consumers cracking their Switches open, it doesn't actively discourage them, either. Just opening a Switch does not void the warranty, and even after the warranty is done, you can still send it in for repairs as long as you haven't damaged its inner workings or added third-party products.

I could stomach spending $120 on repairs, and I could stomach Nintendo's coy attitude toward what went wrong. But I couldn't stomach losing every single save file on my device.

Based on my Switch's particular problems, it seemed reasonable that there was some problem with the charging port. Fixing the charging port is not something that the average user can tackle (it requires a soldering iron), but swapping out the battery is. I got permission to perform a similar operation on our in-office Switch, hoping to empower my own device just long enough to get online and back up my saves.

Therein lies the problem. I could stomach spending $120 on repairs, and I could stomach Nintendo's coy attitude toward what went wrong. But I couldn't stomach losing every single save file on my device. Unlike the Xbox One, the Switch does not automatically back up saves online; unlike the PS4, the Switch does not let you copy saves to a USB drive or microSD card (even though there's a microSD slot right in the console). Instead, if you want to back up your saved data, you must pay for Nintendo's subpar online service ($20) and upload your data to the cloud.

To be fair, the Nintendo rep told me that if I could turn my Switch on, she would give me some complimentary online access in order to preserve my save files. But if not, I would probably have to kiss them goodbye forever.

MORE: Nintendo Switch Review: How Nintendo Won Me Back

With almost 100 hours in Breath of the Wild, to say nothing of Mario+Rabbids, Bayonetta 2, Tales of Vesperia and Hyrule Warriors (this is a surprisingly long game, even past the main campaign), I would have done just about anything to keep my save files intact. But thanks to a stripped screw on our office Switch, I had to abandon my daring battery-swap plan halfway through. I didn't want to cannibalize another Switch just to save my own. I realized it was time to pack up my console and send it to the professionals.

In all likelihood, they will wipe my console, send me back a refurbished unit, and call it a day.

Learning to let go

I understand that as a full-grown adult, I have more important things to worry about than the sanctity of my video game save files. But also as a full-grown adult, I don't have a whole lot of time to play video games. It was difficult enough to carve out those dozens of hours in the first place; I don't think I'll do it again, especially knowing that my Switch could just as easily malfunction and break again for no reason, leaving me up the creek a second time.

Besides, gaming isn't just a simple way to kill time between cradle and grave. My girlfriend got me my Switch as a surprise 30th birthday present. I received it just after one of my closest relatives died — and it kept me sustained through many long flights after two others died in rapid succession. When I was at my lowest, conquering a shrine in Breath of the Wild made me feel like a champion. When I was home from work, as sick as a dog, Bayonetta's smooth combat skills made me feel powerful. Even if I was doing something as pedestrian as riding the subway home from work, Tales of Vesperia was there to immerse me in a grand adventure.

The fact that Nintendo was content to build this easily breakable product, remain vague about its faults, and charge through the nose to fix it is simple insult to injury.

Oh, I'll pay the price, of course. I'll get my Switch fixed, as there's no sense in hanging onto a broken console, and I'd rather lose $120 than a whole library of games. But I don't think I'm going to play much Switch after this.

And I'm definitely going to think twice about buying Nintendo's next project.

Credit: Tom's Guide

It's been two years since the Nintendo Switch first launched, and what a two years it's been.

What was once a promising but bare-bones Zelda machine has evolved into Nintendo's biggest success in years, selling more than 32 million units worldwide. Since its launch, the system has racked up a massive library of hot exclusives like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon Let’s Go, as well as tons of indie games and notable AAA titles.  

Nintendo also launched its $20-per-year Switch Online service last fall, putting its online titles behind a paywall for the first time while also offering such perks as cloud saves and a growing library of classic NES games.

To celebrate the Switch's second birthday, the Tom's Guide gaming team has gotten together to look back at what we love and hate about our two years with Nintendo's new console, and what we're looking forward to seeing next.

Mike Andronico, Managing Editor

Switch owner since: April 2017

Favorite games: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Celeste, Bayonetta 2, Splatoon 2

Most anticipated game: Super Mario Maker 2

What I love: My obsession with the Switch can be summed up in four words: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo's joyous, content-packed all-star brawler has captivated me like no other Switch title before it, and I haven't stopped mashing away with friends online (and in the office) since it launched last December. But Smash is just one of many examples of how excellent and robust the Switch library has grown — with superb indies like Celeste, excellent multiplayer games like Super Mario Party and constantly evolving online games like Splatoon 2, I'm always overwhelmed with choice. And while I have some issues with Nintendo Switch Online, the service's growing NES library and ultra-addictive Tetris 99 have more than made the cheap $20 entry fee worth it.

Smash is just one of many examples of how excellent and robust the Switch library has grown.

What I hate: Although Switch Online offers a decent amount of features for the price, it doesn't fix the issues I have with the console's basic infrastructure. Why can't I send messages or game invites to friends? And why can't I just start a party chat from the system itself instead of using Nintendo's clunky mobile app? The system's slow trickle of entertainment apps has been frustrating, too. While I'm happy to have Hulu and YouTube, the addition of Twitch and Netflix apps could turn the Switch from my favorite console into the only entertainment machine I need in my living room.

Henry T. Casey, Senior Writer

Switch owner since: Christmas 2017

Favorite games: Gris, Celeste, Ape Out, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Most anticipated game: Pokémon Sword and Shield

What I love: As our Lab Tester Jorge Jimenez says, I'm "indie trash scum," and that makes the Switch the perfect console for me. Sure, I love to Smash my colleagues when we can all find the time, but gaming for me is more of a single-player experience, which titles such as Celeste, Gris and Ape Out all offer in spades. I'm also becoming more and more enamored of the Pro Controller, as I continue to use the Switch primarily in docked mode. Those three indie games I rattled off may not be CGI wonders like God of War, but, wow, they look gorgeous on a 55-inch, 4K display, especially with Gris' hand-drawn aesthetics.

What I hate: I'll echo everything Mike A said about Switch Online's failings, but add that I need a WWE Network app for the console (but, please, no WWE 2K games). On top of that, I'm growing less and less enamored of the joysticks in the Joy-Cons, and hope they get closer to the Pro Controller sticks in the next edition. Lastly, I'm just upset that the wonderful Persona 4G and Persona 5 games aren't being re-released on the Switch (at least not yet), especially as the Vita gets end-of-life'd.

Marshall Honorof, Editor

Switch owner since: June 2017

Favorite Games: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Bayonetta 2, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition

Most Anticipated Game: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3

What I love: At the risk of being wowed by the same thing two years in a row, I'm still delighted by the Switch's core concept. Docking and undocking the console really is as effortless as Nintendo advertised. I doubt I will ever get tired of playing a game on my couch, picking up the system to take with me on the subway, then picking up right where I left off when I get back home. The game selection has also grown steadily, with a healthy mix of new favorites (Breath of the Wild, Mario + Rabbids), Wii U ports (Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors) and last-gen remasters (Dark Souls, Tales of Vesperia). And while this is a personal preference, Nintendo's lack of focus on achievements/trophies makes it easier to just play games on their own terms, without feeling pressured to strive for arbitrary goals.

The system's lack of streaming apps is baffling.

What I hate: Now that the Switch's online service is mostly up and running, I can say definitively that I hate it. Having to use your phone for voice chat amounts to "solving" a problem by introducing an even bigger problem. Adding friends is still an arduous process, and inviting them to play games is not much easier. The system's lack of streaming apps is also baffling. Adding Hulu was a good start, but that was almost a year ago. Netflix and Amazon Video are nowhere to be found, to say nothing of other common streaming apps. These programs come standard in every other modern gaming system and mobile device, so their absence is conspicuous. The Switch is also missing a huge opportunity to sell a plethora of NES, SNES and N64 games, opting instead for paltry, confusing monthly selections.

Rami Tabari, Staff Writer

Switch owner since: March 2017

Favorite Games: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Most Anticipated Game: Super Mario Maker 2

What I love: As someone who's constantly sharing a cramped space with another person, I appreciate that I never have to fight for the TV because of the Switch's versatile capabilities. That feature alone is alluring, but what really makes it take hold is that it's home to so many great exclusives, like Breath of the Wild, which has the absolute best open-world design featured in a game. And even beyond that, the Switch has created a whole new dynamic setting for playing indie games. Where you'd typically be confined to your PC, the Switch lets you take your favorite indie games like Hollow Knight on the go.

What I hate: Nintendo Switch Online, but more specifically, the fact that cloud saving is trapped behind a nonsensical pay wall. And on top of that, the cloud-save feature doesn’t work universally across all games. Nintendo previously explained that the company doesn’t allow cloud saves for games like Splatoon 2 because they're competitive. However, more casual games like Pokémon Let's Go also don't have cloud saving enabled. So basically, if my Switch breaks, I have to condemn myself to countless hours just to get my progress back in one of the restricted games — epic.

Credit: Tom's Guide

When an over-the-air TV signal works properly, it's like magic, giving you an HD picture and a wealth of live content for free. But when you're dealing with a weak or degraded antenna signal, you start wondering what you can do about it, and eyeing every connection and part with suspicion.

Tom's Guide forum user Wabbit41 is in that very position, trying to determine why his TV signal isn't coming in clearly. He asks: "Does the length of the cable from the antenna to the TV affect the signal? My TV is on an inside wall and the window is about 15 feet away and the cable would have to go around a door opening."

Cable Length and Signal Loss

Let's get the basic answer out of the way up front: Yes, cable length can and will have a negative impact on TV signal, because it's an imperfect transmission medium, and signal degradation is a known issue. While we could get into the technical details of radio-signal strength, transmission frequencies and cable impedance, there's not much need in this case.

MORE: Best TV Antenna - Indoor HDTV Antenna Reviews

When it comes to signal loss over longer cable lengths, the basic rule of thumb is that a 50-foot cable can experience noticeable signal loss, and a 100-foot cable can drop as much as one-third of the original signal. That can be a problem for some home antennas, especially when installing a rooftop aerial or running a connection from one end of the house to the other.

Therefore, your 15-foot cable shouldn't be long enough to introduce that sort of problem. Assuming that there's no additional source of signal loss, then what your TV is getting should be pretty much identical to what your antenna is receiving in the first place.

Fixing TV Antenna Signal Problems

If you're experiencing signal issues with your TV antenna, there can be a number of possible causes. There are also several ways to improve your reception, and pull in a few more channels with better clarity.

Let's start by troubleshooting the antenna as it's currently installed. Since the cable is a source of concern, we'll start there. A damaged cable is also easy to replace, making it easy to determine whether the cord is the source of a problem.

The first thing to check is the cable itself, looking for kinks, nicks and signs of corrosion. If the cable shielding – the braided layer around the insulated core – is damaged, you'll experience a sharp drop in signal quality. Avoid sharp bends in the cable and look for damage from a cable crushed under furniture, or mangled by improperly nailing or stapling it in placeCheck to make sure that the coaxial connections at either end are properly secured. If the cable was incorrectly attached, or damaged with overzealous crimping, that could be the source of your problem. Check the center conductor, too. This inner wire should be nearly impossible to deform once properly connected, but in the process of shipping, handling and installing the antenna, it could be damaged.

You'll also want to check the screw-on connections to both the antenna and the TV. Disconnect and reattach each coax connector, making sure to tighten each connection securely — but only as tight as you can get using your fingers. Leave the wrench in the tool box for this one, as an overtightened coax connection can cause exactly the sort of damage you want to avoid.

Note what sits next to the antenna cable. Coaxial cables are prone to picking up interference from nearby electrical cables, just like the ones powering your TV and other home-theater equipment. Try to keep the cable from running parallel with any of these power cords – crossing at a perpendicular angle is OK – or maintain at least a 6-inch separation between them.

Reposition the Antenna

There's also a good chance that your signal isn't being weakened by the cable at all, but that poor antenna placement is preventing you from picking up all the channels available to you. See what channels should be available in your area using a tool like AntennaWeb.org's address lookup, and check for your exact address.

Once you've got a good idea of just how many stations you could be pulling in, you should try moving the antenna to different positions in your living room to find the best spot for it. This may take some trial and error, as you'll have to put up the antenna and re-run a channel scan on your TV each time. But after a few tries, you should be able to identify the best spot in the room for your antenna to pull in the most signal.

Here are a few guidelines for optimal reception:

• Choose the window, not the wall. Windows tend to offer better signals, as opposed to walls, which can block or dampen radio waves. Try hanging the antenna directly on the glass.
• Go high. TV signal is blocked by terrain, making hills or mountains a real impediment to TV reception. Try to get the antenna as high as you can to clear low obstacles.
• Steer clear of metal. Metal objects, like support beams, radiators and circuit-breaker panels can cause all sorts of reception issues.
• Watch the weather, including sunshine. Clouds, rain and snow will all have an impact on how well broadcast signals travel through the air, so watch for temporary problems that might clear up. And some channels actually boost transmission power during the evenings, when more people are likely to watch. Poor reception may be temporary.

Get more helpful hints in our guide to better TV antenna reception.

When to Upgrade

If you're still running into signal strength issues, try adding a signal amplifier. These small devices connect to an antenna or cable, and provide a boost to the signal strength of whatever the antenna is pulling in. They're relatively inexpensive, and easy to add to your existing antenna setup.

MORE: Top Cheap TV Antennas (Under $20) Ranked Best to Worst

But it's likely that you'll also want to find an antenna that offers better reception, since an amplifier can only strengthen a signal that's already there. It can't create signal out of nothing, so a more sensitive antenna rated for a greater range will help out on that front. We offer plenty of recommendations in our best HDTV antennas page.

Finally, you can get the best of both worlds, with a long-range antenna that comes with its own amplifier. Our favorite amplified indoor antenna is the Mohu Curve 50, which offers superb performance, a USB-powered amplifier and stunning good looks. It's rated to pull in channels from as far as 50 miles away, easily outclassing the 25- and 35-mile antennas that most people buy.

Credit: Shutterstock

Motorola is launching a trio of solid-looking, value-priced phones in the Moto G7, Moto G7 Play and Moto G7 Power, all of which cost less than $300.

But people can't stop talking about the Wall Street Journal report that the company could revive the Razr in a new foldable-display design, with the device selling for a whopping $1,500.

Kalil also took aim at AT&T's practice of rolling out "5GE" logos on phones as Motorola prepares to launch its own 5G mod for the Moto Z3 on Verizon. "We believe in real 5G,” said Kalil. "We prefer to give consumers the right experience compared to their expectations."

Last but not least, Motorola defended the price increase on the Moto G7. The new phone will cost $299, compared to $249 for last year's Moto G6.

Check out the full interview below.

What are the key differences between the Moto G7 Play, G7 Power and G7?

Thomas Milner: We do a ton of consumer research, and we rely it a lot not only in our marketing but [also] for our device definitions, and we find that there are certain consumers who do want a more compact phone. That's where the new Moto G7 Play comes in.

People can't get enough battery life. That's why we put an industry-leading 5,000-mAh battery in the G7 Power.

The Moto G7 is definitely the more premium-looking design, with Gorilla Glass on both sides. We also have our new U design display, so it really maximizes the screen-to-body ratio. And [we have] the dual cameras.

Is it an issue that the Moto G7 costs $50 more than the G6, that the price is creeping up?

Rudi Kalil: When you look at the portfolio strategy, it's shifted a little bit. We are definitely bringing the [Moto G7] device up. What we're trying to do is find a solution to every price point while trying to address all the consumer pain points.

If you compare what this [$249 Moto G7 Power] device has right now to the original $249 price point for the Moto G6, you're going to see the three-day battery and the big, 6.2-inch screen. So, there's lots of improvements that we are bringing.

Milner: I'm at 97 percent [battery at 11:20 a.m.], and I took the G7 Power off the charger at 6:30 a.m. And I've been looking through my presentation and going through emails.

Apple and Samsung seem to be struggling on the high end. Do you see flagship fatigue setting in?

Milner: Consumers are becoming more and more aware that they are spending all this money on smartphones, and the innovations are very incremental year over year at this point. So, why am I continually spending this money?

So, I think that's a great opportunity for us at this price point. For 90 percent of consumers, [the G7] is going to have everything you need.

Do you feel like consumers are finally warming up to unlocked phones?

Kalil: Consumers are getting better educated, but the migration from consumers buying phones in retail stores versus carrier stores is still not happening as fast in the U.S. as other markets.

How important is it that your G7 line is multiband?

Kalil: Every device that we introduce to the market works across all the carriers. This is something we've been doing since the fourth generation of Moto G, and it's been very successful and why we've been No. 1 in the unlocked space.

If someone puts an AT&T SIM in your phones, will they see the 5GE logo?

Milner: I've been told no.

Can I ask your perspective on that whole 5GE controversy given you're going to have one of the first 5G phones with Verizon?

Kalil: We believe in real 5G. We are the leading manufacturer on real 5G. We prefer to give consumers the right experience compared to their expectations. The 5G Mod [for the Moto Z3] is the right implementation of 5G.

When the Wall Street Journal report came out about the potential revival of the Razr as a foldable phone, the news exploded on the web…

Milner: We have no idea what you're talking about.

Were you guys surprised at the reaction?

Kalil: I think everyone was impressed with the number of articles and the comments, and that is a reflection of everyone being bored with the bars.

People are looking for something that is new.

Milner: There is so much nostalgia for the Razr. It's a phone that redefined what a phone could look like and do with a bigger screen and a sleek form factor, and everybody had one.

That nostalgia — I had no idea it was so alive and well.

Why do you think people are excited about the prospect of the Razr's return? And can you confirm you're making it happen?

Kalil: This industry has become all about specs, and it has lost that fancy, charming side of it. This [report] revives that side of it.

Foldable technology, I'm sure multiple companies are exploring that, but unfortunately we do not talk about future products.

What's your take on the foldable phone trend in general?

Kalil: I think the industry is working on it and multiple display vendors are working on it, but we have not seen any device launched yet. It seems like the technology is not yet mature.

Back in 2016, we had this big event called Tech World in San Francisco where we had a showcase of a foldable device that you would wrap around your wrist. So, foldable technology from a prototype perspective you can find in many places, but it's still rough. But everyone will go there eventually.

What, if any, influence does Lenovo have on your products. Is it more behind the scenes?

Kalil: We were owned by Google, and Google sold us to Lenovo. We continue to be a subsidiary of the parent company. We are the mobile business group for them. We leverage synergies on supply chain and some functional areas, but the development is pretty much all Motorola.

We have development facilities in Brazil, China and Chicago. Some resources came from Lenovo and some from Motorola. We leverage all the resources we have. We are definitely integrated as a company.

How strong is the Motorola brand now?

Kalil: We are No. 4 now here in the U.S. We are No. 2 in Latin America. We have been making a lot of progress. Last year, just to give you a data point, if you look at the U.S. and Canada combined and you look at absolute volumes, we were the No. 1 player in growth, even ahead of Apple. And most of our growth comes from these [G Series] devices.

Milner: It's growing, and that's why we want to introduce more.

Credit: Tom's Guide

• Moto G7 Hands-On: The Budget Phone Champ Grows Up

Nvidia’s hot new RTX graphics cards are finally hitting gaming laptops, and it just so happens that our sister site, Laptop Mag, got its hands on the Alienware Area-51m with Nvidia's RTX 2080 GPU.

Based on our testing, this is the fastest gaming laptop ever. And both the CPU and GPU are upgradeable, which is a first for laptops.

This baby is equipped with the most powerful GPU currently available for a laptop, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, and it’s paired with a 3.6-GHz Intel Core i9-9900K desktop processor, 64GB of RAM and a pair of 1TB PCIe M.2 SSDs in RAID 0 configuration.

How much does a monster like that cost? Oh, just $5,099, but don’t worry, you’ll get exactly what you paid for. (And the starting price is a more palatable $2,549.

Overall Performance

On the Geekbench 4 synthetic benchmark, which measures the overall performance of a laptop’s processor, the Area-51m scored 29,989, crushing the 21,118 premium gaming laptop average. Its competition, the Aorus X9 (Core i9-8950HK, 25,915), MSI GT75 Titan (Core i9-8950HK, 22,765) and Origin PC Eon 17-X (Core i7-8700K, 21,273), all trailed behind with their less powerful CPUs.

MORE: Alienware Area-51m - Full Review

Rise of the Tomb Raider

On the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark on Very High at 1080p, the Area-51m achieved 92 frames per second, which washed away the 63-fps premium gaming laptop average and even the GT75 Titan’s RTX 2080 (76 fps). Despite being armed with previous generation GTX 1080 GPUs, the Aorus X9 (73 fps) and Eon 17-X (69 fps) scored solid marks.

Hitman

The Area 51-m blasted through the Hitman benchmark (Ultra, 1080p) at 143 fps with the GT75 Titan nipping at its heels, at 140 fps. The RTX laptops crushed the Eon 17-X, Aorus X9 and category average, which all landed at 96 fps.

Grand Theft Auto V

Despite the GT75 Titan’s persistence to keep up, the Area-51m was the only laptop to reach triple digits on the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark (Very High, 1080p), averaging 105 fps compared to the Titan’s 91 fps. The Aorus X9 (86 fps) as well as the RTX laptops surpassed the 75-fps category average, but the Eon 17-X (55 fps) fell far behind.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

The Area-51m continued to wreck shop with a whopping 132 fps on the Middle-earth: Shadow of War benchmark (Ultra, 1080p), which blows away the 86-fps category average as well as the GT75 Titan (112 fps) and Aorus X9 (99 fps).

Metro: Last Night

On the Metro: Last Light benchmark (Ultra, 1080p), one of our most taxing tests, the Area-51m dominated again with 103 fps, leaving the GT75 Titan (95 fps), Aorus X9 (85 fps) and Eon17-X (82 fps) all in the dirt. Despite that, they all easily tore through the 64 fps category average.

Bottom Line

The Alienware Area-51m is the king of monsters. Nearly each laptop that we’ve compared it to can easily run taxing games at over 60 fps, but the Area-51m aimed higher and performed in the triple digits on multiple benchmarks.

For $5,099 (starting at $2,549), you not only get a massive performance boost with a desktop CPU and killer GPU, but also the Area-51m’s gorgeous design, upgradable components, deep-travel keyboard and smooth 17.3-inch, 144Hz display.

While the Area-51m comes at a high price, you simply can’t beat all of that power.

Credit: Tom's Guide

• The Best Gaming Laptops

Unlike other smartphone makers, Honor is riding high these days. The company has reported a 27.1 percent increase in sales, in a global smartphone market that has actually shrunk 3 percent, according to research firm IDC.

Honor, which is owned by Huawei, hopes to keep that growth up with its latest flagship handset that debuted in the past week. The Honor View 20 is a midpriced smartphone with premium specs, the icing on the cake being its record-breaking 48-megapixel camera sensor.

In a candid interview, George Zhao, Honor’s president, spoke to Tom's Guide about the importance of this phone for Honor and where his company stands on everything from foldable phones (not a fan), notches (again, not a fan) and the U.S. (a big fan, but don't expect the View 20 anytime soon).

Other highlights of the interview include:

• Why other phone makers are struggling with hole-punch cameras.
• The reason the headphone jack is here to stay.
• The unreliability of in-display fingerprint scanner.
• Why the future of camera technology in phones is AI.

Tom's Guide: How long have you been working on the View 20's All-View display and how do you see it evolving in the future?

George Zhao: We spent quite a long time studying the pinhole and [time of flight] 3D camera technology. We had to decide whether we selected a notch, a dewdrop in the middle or the pinhole. It was a year ago [when] we decided to go in this technical direction.

Honor is a brand for young people, and they use smartphones for games and video, so we considered the best way to serve the selfie user and not impact the user experience. The notch really impacts the experience. Most of the time the pinhole is invisible and it doesn’t impact on what you are doing.

We faced a challenge, however. The industry capability meant the hole sizes were big. For the most part, hole sizes were 5.5mm to 6mm and that is too obvious. It's an acceptable level but not the best level. We tried our best to reduce the hole size. [The View 20's hole size is 4.5mm in diameter.]

Is this the end of the notch for Honor, or will the View 20 sit alongside other phones in the lineup with notches?

In the future for Honor, there will be less notches on the smartphone. We will be going with the better solution. Notches are too big.

You kept the headphone jack, while other manufacturers have lost this. Why is that?

Where possible, we will keep the headphone jack. Our philosophy is to provide convenience to young people. We still have the infrared controller; most smartphones don't support this but all our flagships since 2014 have supported it. We will follow this strategy.

Are you looking into foldable phones in the future? Is this something Honor is interested in?

We are looking into foldable phones deeply. But for us it is all about experience. From a technology point of view, it's good. But why do we need a foldable phone? What can the experience offer the user?

Maybe [the approach is] putting two phones together? But that's too thick and not convenient. Or it could be a phone that folds in half and into a square ... from my point of view the technology needs to bring an improved service. That's more important.

"The [foldable phone] design and experience doesn't yet impress me, but it is good technology."

— George Zhao

The technology needs to bring the better experience, to improve the service. That's more important.

MORE: Foldable Phones Don't Yet Have a Reason To Exist, Says Honor

You don't think there is a use case at the moment?

No. What kind of design is needed by the consumer? I am the president of Honor, but I am also the user so I have to ask myself [if I need a foldable phone], and I don't need the technology. How does this benefit me? Why do I need this? The design and experience doesn't yet impress me, but it is good technology.

Is it a cost reason you haven't included the in-display fingerprint scanner with the View 20? Or something else?

You've experienced the in-screen fingerprint sensor, right? To be frank, the unlock ratio experience is not as good as the sensor on the back.

Secondly, we use an LCD solution [on the View 20] that can't support it, only the flexible AMOLED screen can support it. We put the pinhole in the corner and if we used the AMOLED, then there would have been distortion on the selfie camera. So putting it all together for us, we decided it best to have the fingerprint solution on the back and the punch-hole.

"We'll continue to work on the U.S. market. Maybe not the View 20, but some other phone."

— George Zhao

When is the U.S. going to get more Honor products?

Honor operates in the U.S. market, and we brought the Honor View 20 to CES and it was the star. We’ll continue to work on the U.S. market.

So, you hope to see the View 20 in the US?

Maybe not the View 20, but some other phone. We have a team in the U.S. market, we are a consumer brand, and we use our product to communicate to the customer and the media.

You announced the Honor Watch Magic for Europe but it doesn't use WearOS. Is the intention to keep using your own software on wearables?

The experience is not so good [with WearOS]. The battery was a big problem so we used our own LightOS system. Now you can see the battery and the experience becomes much better. In fact, our GPS is even more accurate than the Garmin Fenix 5X Plus. There's between 20 and 30 percent improvement to the GPS position in our own tests… we can't give away too much information.

Also there's the 24-hour heart rate detection. With our solution, we can have two processors so when you're doing sport you can use the powerful processor. Then if you just walk or something – that’s low-power consumption work.

Magic UI is new, and replaces Huawei's EMUI as the phone interface. How are we going to see it evolve?

We are going in a different direction – AI is very important [to us]. For young people, the Honor brand and the Huawei brand ... the AI, the personality, should be different. This is why I insisted we go to the Magic UI.

You can see this with the Honor AI assistant – YoYo. We'll design the AI assistant so it can grow and be aligned to the Honor brand spirit and target that customer. In the future, this is our main driving force.

How it shows on the screen on the Honor smartphone is not so important. You can change the icons or something, which is simple. What's more important in the future, [is that] the Honor AI system should have a different personality.

What's more important to Honor on the camera side of things? AI or megapixels?

We already test AI, and that is the most important thing. In the future, all of our functions will operate around the AI capability. We think we can use the AI capability to transform the [camera] functions to improve the experience.

[Whether that is] how to configure pictures, so you can make a very special image, I want to use AI to help users take the perfect image so everyone can reach [the level of a professional photographer]. That is our direction.

Fortnite in 60fps has been a struggle for Android. How have you done it?

Epic [Fortnite's creator] understands that Honor is eager to improve the game experience. Our business development team spent a long time collaborating with them. After the GPU Turbo and Kirin 970 chip was released, they understood the quality level was good and that our products make a lot of effort on the gaming side.

MORE: Here's the First Android Phone to Play Fortnite at 60fps

We also worked with GameLoft before [this], so we have a very good record. Epic also knows that we are a promoter of improving the performance of games [on phones].

They know that Honor is also a promoter for the game performance. That's why they selected Honor as a partner and also gave us an exclusive Fortnite skin as well.

[The Honor View 20] is ready. The function is already verified and tested, so we're just waiting for the launch date. It's very soon. I know it's very soon… but I can't tell you the actual date. We are the first.

This interview was conducted alongside TechRadar.

Credit: Honor

One of the biggest trends of CES 2019 was to bash CES. "Iterative." "Underwhelming." "Nothing revolutionary." Those were just some of the things I heard from people who attended the world's biggest tech event this past week.

But if you ask IP Park, CTO and president of LG Electronics, about a gadget malaise, he'll point to his partner during his CES keynote as evidence that the tech world is not only not standing still, it's accelerating.

"I think if you were at CES 10 years ago, 15 years ago...who would have imagined a robot would co-host a CES keynote,"  Park said. LG also happened to unveil the most talked-about "wow" product at the show, the world's first rollable OLED TV.

I sat down with Park to discuss a wide range of subjects, and these are the highlights of our chat:

•  LG is working on both rollable and foldable phones. Park isn't yet sure about market demand, but the company will be ready.
• While Samsung is banking on MicroLED displays, Park says it will take "many years" for microLED TVs to compete with OLED.
•  8K TVs are going to take over sooner than you think: "Once your eyes get used to high-resolution displays, you don't want to go back,"  Park said.
• The robot invasion is real. LG's service robots are so popular that the company can't keep up with demand.
• 5G has the potential to inspire a wave of smartphone upgrades: "I think this year could be the year of an upgrade in the smartphone industry because of 5G."

What do you think it is about the rollable OLED TV R that's has really captured the imagination of so many people?

You've never seen anything like this before, right? This is a very new form factor. We think that it has a very compelling use case. If you have a beautiful home, you don't want to cover one part of it with just a TV.

So the idea is that you can get rid of it when you don't want to see the huge screen when nothing's turned on, but just use it as a TV when you need it.

Without giving away any secrets, how were you able to pull this off?

First of all, having the OLED panel is the biggest factor because it's so thin, it doesn't require a backlight. That's the uniqueness of OLED TVs. It's a few millimeters thick, and you can make it into a much more flexible form factor, including rolling. Of course, we did more than just a regular OLED TV to make sure it can be rolled and unrolled many, many times throughout the lifetime of the TV, and it doesn't break.

One of the other big trends at CES was 8K TVs. Do you feel like this is the year that it starts to take off, or is it going to take some time?

I think both. There's no 8K content yet. Also, in order to support 8K, the whole broadcasting or content industry has to upgrade, right? The infrastructure and content and everything else. However, that doesn't mean you cannot enjoy 8K. We can utilize AI technology to upgrade the quality from 4K to 8K. Once your eyes get used to high-resolution displays, you don't want to go back.

How else is LG leveraging AI in TVs? And why are you supporting both Alexa and Google Assistant?

I think one point to acknowledge going forward is how AI can help you use TV better than how regular TV was before. You can use the TV screen to bring multiple content from different sources, and that creates complexity. We think that having AI to help you watch what you want, when you want it, will be critical.

Likewise, interacting with TV, voice is going to make it much simpler. The reason why we have multiple voice assistants in the TV is to make sure that we provide the best service to the customer. If you're stuck with just one proprietary voice agent, you're stuck with a very limited amount of service, and that's not fair for the customer.

MORE: Best Smart TVs 2019 - The Best 4K and HD Televisions for the Money

Samsung is touting its microLED technology for TVs. How do you think it compares to OLED?

I don't think you can compare between OLED and microLED at this point. OLED is here in production, and super-good quality. MicroLED is not mature yet, as to compete with OLED. It's going to take more years in terms of the resolution, in terms of the product maturity. OLED is already here. It's superthin, it's got really nice colors.

We are also doing development, R&D in microLED. We showcased that in September at IFA. MicroLED itself is a good potential technology, but it's not mature yet.

Are you looking into rollable and foldable phones as well?

We are exploring many different form factors for phones, including foldable and rollable. Because display technology has grown so much that it can make it into very flexible form factors. And with 5G, if the market requires much bigger screens, we'll need to fold it or roll it. So we'll explore.

A lot of people are saying the whole smartphone market has stagnated and there are even some who argue that LG should exit the business altogether. What's your reaction to that?

The smartphone business is very tough because of the competition. Also because of the penetration. Everyone has a phone now, right? Everybody has a big screen, and everybody has many features that others have. I think this year could be the year of the upgrade in the smartphone industry because of 5G.

5G is going to be available this year, and people will come out with 5G phones. And 5G is different from LTE, not only because of bandwidth, but also latency. You may want to have even bigger screens on 5G phones because of the more content you can get. That could trigger different killer applications that you run on phones.

MORE: All the Incoming Foldable Phones for 2019

Robots are starting to evolve to the point where consumers are getting more comfortable with the concept of having robots in their home. Do you feel like robots are at a tipping point?

We have robots in five different categories. [The] first one is service robots in public areas. For example, if you come into the airport in Korea, we have 14 robots there in full service. These robots will help you with anything. It speaks four languages; it's got many different sensors, camera, light and ultrasonic sensors; it's very smart in navigating, so it doesn't bump into people, but goes really quickly to a target location. You can ask it to guide you to Burger King and it will escort you there.

If you're at the baggage claim, it will just come to you and you can ask for help. It's almost like somebody approaching you. You don't have to try to look for an information desk anymore.

How long do you think it will be before robots like that are used in the U.S.?

We have a lot more demand than what we can produce right now. So as soon as we launch, we get calls from every airport out there. Maybe sometime soon we can see them here, but it really depends on the priority. These robots can be deployed in other big public areas like shopping malls, banks, hotels and others. And the variants of these can carry stuff: luggage, food and drinks. In fact, during my keynote, I had a robot deliver beer.

MORE: Beer Me! LG Launching Home Brew Kit at CES

You're using ThinQ branding on everything from TVs to phones and even refrigerators. What is the easiest way to define ThinQ for consumers?

When I talk about ThinQ, I talk about three different aspects of ThinQ. It's called Evolve, Connect and Open. Evolve means that in whatever product you have ThinQ, the product will evolve over time by learning from you, learning about the environment, learning about the situation. So the more you use our products, the more it knows about you. It adapts to you, rather than you having to learn about our device. So basically, the value of the product will go up as you use it more.

The second one is what I call Connect. What it means is that LG makes a diverse portfolio of products. Home, on the road, in the office, in public spaces, even robots. And we want the AI experience to be seamless across all devices. Let's say you have 10 different devices and each has its own AI working differently, you cannot use this. We want seamless AI experiences across all products that we make.

The third one is Open. It means that we want to provide the best service to our customer, whether the solution service comes from LG or from one of our partners.

What's a good example of how an LG ThinQ product evolves and gets better as it gets used?

Our air conditioners will evolve based on their usage pattern, how many people are where and all that, so it'll optimize its efficiency to use less and less energy. So it knows when you're at home; it knows when you're not home. It knows when more people are at one location than the other. So it'll get more and more efficient.

MORE: How to set up ThinQ AI on your LG TV

With our robot vacuum cleaner, if you let it run a few days in your home, it will optimize itself so it can concentrate on where you have more traffic. It can avoid obstacles based on whether it thinks it's running into a piece of furniture, or people, or dogs. So it gets smarter.

What are some of the other big trends that you've seen at CES 2019 that are going to continue throughout the rest of this year?

The automotive industry is changing. It's no longer just OEMs making a new model and announcing it. It's all about autonomous driving. And what happens when you have an autonomous car? The inside of a car is another huge opportunity area for companies like LG, because we have so many different technologies and products for you to use as entertainment and productivity at home. All of those can be directly transferred into a cabin space inside a car — because you don't need to drive at all, right? — as autonomous driving technology matures.

Some say this year's CES was more of an iterative year, that there was nothing revolutionary. Do you agree with that? And where do you feel like technology needs to go to get people more excited?

I think if you were at CES 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I think the change was much more incremental. Everything was about TV. You could see nothing else but TV. Each year would be just increasing the screen size — from 42-inch, to 50-inch, whatever. There was nothing else. But recently, it's been all about automotive, it's been all about AI, smart home, etc. I think we are moving much faster than before. And you're going to see more interesting things coming up. Who would have imagined a robot would co-host a CES keynote, right?

• Best of CES 2019 - Top New Tech

The year of 5G is finally upon us. The question is, will consumers notice?

If they don't, it certainly won't be for lack of hype for the new wireless connectivity standard that promises faster speeds and lower latency. Wireless carriers have already begun touting their 5G efforts, with AT&T already touting its 5G network in TV ads, even though its 5G service is only available in a dozen cities and there aren't any 5G-capable phones out yet.

5G also figures to be a big talking point at the upcoming CES trade show, where 5G modem maker Qualcomm is hosting a press event and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg is slated to deliver a 5G-focused keynote next Tuesday (Jan. 8).

"It's almost like the lottery. Are you lucky enough to be in an area where 5G is going to be deployed this year?" — Jason Leigh, IDC

So expect to hear plenty about 5G's benefits both this month and next, when February's Mobile World Congress will shine a spotlight on the 5G efforts of even more device makers and network operators. As for actually experience those benefits, though, you may be in for a bit of a wait.

"It's almost like the lottery," said Jason Leigh, senior research analyst for mobility at market research firm IDC when I asked him if consumers are likely to be impacted by 5G this year. "Are you lucky enough to be in an area where 5G is going to be deployed this year?"

MORE: 5G — What’s Coming in 2019

No one would dispute that 2019 is going to be a big year for 5G. But even as 5G services come online and 5G-capable phones and other devices start appearing, we'll still be in the early stages of the transition to the new networking standard. Here are a few things to keep in mind as the switch to 5G picks up steam.

5G networks are launching, but gradually

"5G will be there in 2019," Ignacio Contreras, Qualcomm's director of marketing for 5G, told me last month at that company's annual tech summit. "It will be there across several regions — North America, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Australia, China. So it's a very different set of scale versus what we've seen before [with the transition to 4G] and what we were expecting a few years ago."

In the U.S., AT&T has already made good on its pledge to turn on 5G service in 12 cities, though at the moment, the only way to connect to the network's faster speeds is through a 5G hotspot built by Netgear. The plan is to add 19 more 5G cities this year.

Verizon has launched a 5G home broadband service in five cities, and plans to launch its mobile 5G network this year. Expect to hear more details about Verizon's rollout plans shortly. Sprint has circled 2019 on its calendar, too, with 5G rolling out to nine markets during the first half of the year.

T-Mobile spent 2018 building out its 5G network in 30 cities, with an eye flipping the switch in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas this year as 5G phones become available. The Uncarrier is looking at 2020 for nationwide 5G service.

That 2020 date is noteworthy, as it may be a more realistic date for when smartphone users will have a better chance of jumping on high-speed 5G networks. "Even as some of these [2019] deployments come online, it's going to be in pockets of cities," Leigh said.

MORE: I Just Tried 5G for the First Time: Here's What It Lets You Do

In other words, 5G may be coming this year, but not necessarily to where you're living. And even if it does, it may be a little bit longer before networks are fully available.

5G phones are coming, but when?

Getting a 5G network up and running is just one step. You also need devices that can connect with 5G. Right now, in addition to Netgear's Nighthawk 5G mobile hotspot for AT&T's fledgling network, Inseego is making a 5G hotspot for Verizon. D-Link just announced a 5G router that replaces your cable line with 5G connectivity, but that's not arriving until much later in 2019.

As for 5G-ready smartphones, it's pretty easy to summarize availability at the moment — they're aren't any.

The good news is that figures to change fairly quickly. Last month, Qualcomm unveiled its Snapdragon 855 mobile platform, which includes the X50 5G modem. (You'll also find an LTE modem capable of delivering 2 Gbps speeds for those times when 5G connectivity is nowhere to be found.)

OnePlus has already committed to making a 5G phone that uses the Snapdragon 855, and both AT&T and Verizon say they're working with Samsung on 5G phones for the first half of 2019, which presumably will use the Snapdragon 855 chipset, too. LG and Sprint have a 5G phone of their own in the works. And an already announced add-on for the Moto Z3 will let owners of that Verizon-exclusive phone add 5G connectivity just by snapping the Moto Mod onto the back of their device.

"5G will be one of those guideposts signalling flagship devices in 2019," Qualcomm's Contreras said. "It comes with a set of experiences and expectations on what a premium device is."

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau told at least one media outlet that his company's 5G phone might cost $200 to $300 more than current flagships.

That means a premium price tag, too. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau told at least one media outlet that his company's 5G phone might cost $200 to $300 more than current OnePlus flagships. OnePlus's 5G device may also be a separate offering from the company's standard flagships, suggesting that phone makers might treat 5G-ready phones as niche devices, at least for this year.

MORE: These Are the First 5G Hotspots Coming Your Way

OnePlus might not be the only phone maker taking that approach. Samsung hasn't commented officially, but rumors surrounding its upcoming Galaxy S10 device suggest that 5G connectivity will only be available on one version of the phone — and that device will ship later than other S10 models.

And one of the biggest phone makers may skip 5G entirely in 2019. According to reports, Apple is going to wait until 2020 to come out with a 5G-ready iPhone, just as it delayed releasing a 4G version of its smartphone back in the day. Apple is also reportedly turning to Intel for its 5G modem as a result of its ongoing legal tussle with Qualcomm, and those chips may not be ready until 2020.

5G's most compelling benefits go beyond mobile

There's no doubt 5G will mean faster speeds and lower latency for your next-generation smartphone. That's a big benefit if you play a lot real-time games or need to download big files in a jiffy. It will likely mean smoother cloud experiences, too.

"When you upload your photos, your videos, it will be exceedingly smoother versus what we have today," Contreras said. "Basically, it feels like the cloud is in your device. Longer term, it becomes less distinguishable what's running on your device and what's running on the cloud. It might not even matter."

"If someone's a consumer and they do a lot of streaming, they'll see a benefit," agreed Leigh, though he added those may be the least interesting changes that 5G brings about. Instead, the lower latency of 5G figures to have an impact on areas such as automation, telepresence and connected devices.

"When you upload your photos, your videos, it will be exceedingly smoother versus what we have today. Basically, it feels like the cloud is in your device.” — Ignacio Contreras, Qualcomm

"The most interesting things will be on the enterprise side," Leigh said. And not all of those benefits are likely to materialize the moment 5G comes online in 2019 anyhow.

When I had a chance to see some 5G demos last month, the most compelling experience I saw illustrated how doctors could use the fast speeds and lower latency of the new network to remote manage physical therapy for patients. It's an impressive use of technology, but not one most of us will take advantage of whenever we take the plunge on that 5G-ready smartphone.

And from the CES 2019 chatter, it seems a lot of the demos at this week's show will focus on 5G's bigger picture use. We're talking about ways the faster networking standard will impact digital medicine, smart cities and self-driving cars.

4G will get better, too

There is one benefit to 5G that should benefit everyone as carriers launch their new networks this year and into next. As mobile users migrate to 5G, that will mean less congestion — and faster speeds — on LTE.

"For cities where millimeter wave and 5G are going to be deployed, you'll see an increase overall in the capacity of the network," Contreras said. "So many users, those with 5G devices... will get the benefits of 5G speeds and the new spectrum. But even those that stay in 4G will see a benefit."

Credit: Tom's Guide

• The Most Anticipated Smartphones — New Phones Coming Out

As the CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, with more than 2,200 companies as members, Gary Shapiro needs to have his finger on the pulse of innovation. That's because he oversees CES, the world’s biggest technology event. But he also sees it as his duty to defend against those forces that he believes threaten innovation and the overall health of the technology industry in the U.S.

And during a very candid interview with Tom's Guide, it became clear that while there is much to be excited and optimistic about as we enter 2019, there's also cause for concern.

These are just some of the highlights:

• On China tariffs, President Donald Trump "is just wrong when he says that the Chinese companies are paying. No, the American consumer is paying."
  
• 5G and AI are going to be the two biggest themes of CES 2019, and they'll be coming together in autonomous vehicles and health care. Expect big announcements from AT&T, Verizon and others. Shapiro says the word "handheld," so expect 5G phones and not just 5G-enabled hotspots.
• Shapiro is not pleased with Facebook’s multiple privacy scandals, saying "they clearly violated consumer trust." Worse, "they poisoned the water" in the debate over how to best balance privacy and innovation.

As we head into CES 2019, which gets underway Jan. 8 in Las Vegas with an expected 180,000 attendees, Shapiro sat down with me to discuss the state of the consumer electronics industry. His new book, Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation (William Morrow), goes on sale Dec. 31.

CES has evolved a lot over the years. What does this event stand for now?

The diversity of groups and people has changed phenomenally. For example, we have a whole bunch of ministers coming from different countries, and the ministers' titles are all different. Some are innovation, some are the economy, some are transportation. Over one-third of our attendees are from outside the U.S.

Several years ago we saw convergence in technology, and we went after it...from automobiles to Hollywood, from health care to robotics. We tried to get everyone and serve as an optimistic inspiration starting point. We always think about increasing the value of serendipity, of discovering something you didn't expect, of putting two unrelated ideas together, which is really the essence of innovation.

MORE: CES 2019 Preview: 6 Biggest Trends to Watch

What are going to be the biggest trends of CES 2019?

AI is the huge story of the show, so in a sense, it's one of the key ingredients. You're going to see a lot of continuation of the theme. Everyone from Panasonic to Yamaha to IBM will be talking about it.

We're seeing that in health care. We're seeing it in government policy. There'll be a lot of talk about privacy and AI. Augmented and virtual reality will still be here. It's expanding to all sorts of different commercial applications.

The one thing you'll see that we didn't talk about much  in 2018 will be 5G. We have the top people from AT&T and Verizon giving major keynotes. We'll see it from the chip companies. We'll see it in some of the handheld announcements and products that will be shown. And we're the only event that actually brings the full 5G in mobile ecosystem together.

We'll see it with the keynote of AMD's president, Dr. Lisa Su. We'll see it with Verizon's CEO, Hans Vestberg. We'll see it with Ericsson Intel and Sprint, T-Mobile exhibiting. 5G is really big.

And then you'll see more of an emphasis on digital health. That's really, really big. There's certainly more exhibitors and more conference programming. For the first time, we're actually giving doctors continuing medical education credits. I don't think that's ever happened before at a technology trade event.

5G is finally becoming real in 2019. What do you think it will enable?

It will be one of the core technologies, I believe, behind self-driving vehicles, so it'll save lives. That excites me. Saving lives and preventing injury.

5G will also deliver amazing broadband in crowded congested cities. I think it's easier to deploy, because it's a lot of small little dishes. It's not the answer for rural broadband. I'm really interested in seeing what AT&T and Verizon say about it.

It will allow for a lot of the other things we're talking about at CES, like remote monitoring in health care and and telework. You may not have to go to your doctor, if you could get diagnoses remotely thanks to 5G. That's important.

CES has become a much bigger platform for the auto industry. How has the integration of technology changed consumer expectations?

For me when I was growing up, it was all about zero-to-60 and horsepower. And then it went to if you had a Bose or a Sony stereo or sound system, it was cool, and they could sell it. When people are getting their new cars now, they're checking all the boxes for technology, including collision avoidance and lane departure.

We're a place where the chip companies are showing what they can do for the auto companies who are cutting deals with all sorts of the display people, and then the brand- name people, and they're all coming together.

MORE: The Truth About 5G: What's Coming (and What's Not) in 2019

What did you make of the latest revelations around Facebook and their other privacy scandals throughout 2018?

I watched how Walt Mossberg, who's Facebook friends of mine, announce he's leaving Facebook. And I understood it. As a user of Facebook, it's, like, "Oh my gosh! They were able to do this? I didn't know that." I'm sure even people at Facebook are disappointed, because they clearly violated consumer trust.

I'm a consumer, and I use Facebook, and they're a member of ours, I will disclose, and they participate in CES. Having said that, though, I'm not going to defend the indefensible here.

How do we balance privacy and innovation?

My job is to protect innovation and how it can proceed. But also, I'm an American, and we're an American organization. We don't allow non-Americans to be members. We allow them to participate in CES. We allow them to join through a U.S. subsidiary.

There's a global battle going on in artificial intelligence between us and the Chinese, and even the Europeans. China has no privacy. The government can do anything they want. And they have a focus on AI. And they've got millions of engineers. And they have a strategy.

Europe has not done well in artificial intelligence, or let's be honest, in innovation generally in the last 20 or 30 years. They have very few unicorns. And they have clamped down on privacy with the right to be forgotten. So this is like, to me, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  China is too hot, Europe's too cold, and we're in the middle, where I don't want us to do anything stupid.

So I want to balance privacy, but 90 percent plus of the applications for artificial intelligence have nothing to do with what everyone is talking about. Factory automation and doing things better in factories. Even self-driving cars.

So why do I care about Facebook? In a sense, they've poisoned the water for the debate, because they didn't act responsibly, and it's upsetting to me.

MORE: How to Stop Facebook From Sharing Your Data

So are you worried about there being an overreaction?

My fear is I will fail at my job if we allow our government to, basically, with good intentions, do everything to protect privacy. Ninety-nine percent of other companies have been really focused on their reputation, because they know their future depends upon it. My belief is that people try to do the right thing, and, generally, they do.

We are entering a great era of solving the most fundamental human problems with artificial intelligence and robotics, which we need, as we are living longer and we have no one to take care of us.

And I don't want us to mess it up as a society, because every time there's been a new technology there's been concerns about privacy, from the invention of the credit card, where privacy was the biggest issue, to video rentals, where privacy was an issue, to using the internet itself, where privacy is an issue. And we've always worked through them, because the greater good of communication, education, better health care, these are good things. So let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese goods are leading to higher prices for some gadgets and components. Are you worried about the impact on the electronics industry?

Well, there's different types of tariffs, and definitely the steel tariffs have a huge impact in the cost of making things, and even making cars and doing things and consumers are seeing the challenge. The Chinese tariffs are starting to be felt, and they'll be felt ... I think a lot of companies shipped a lot of stuff in early to get through the holiday season.

Trump is just wrong when he says that the Chinese companies are paying. No, the American consumer is paying. Definitely, many American companies I'm aware of, because my members ... I've spoken with many very upset CEOs. They've absorbed a lot. On their earnings call, iRobot said their stock took a huge hit, because they're a relatively small company, and they absorbed $5 million worth of tariffs that they paid.

The good news, in my view, is that President Xi and President Trump agreed to freeze the situation. Because the bad news, frankly, we were dreading, especially with CES in January approaching, was that the 10 percent tariffs was supposed to go to 25 percent. And that would've been devastating.

Are you optimistic that the U.S. and China will work things out?

There's a 90-day cooling-off period where nothing is going to happen in terms of raising tariffs. And we're pushing them to figure it out, because, you know, when the two largest economies get into a battle — the old saying is when elephants fight, the ground gets trampled. Well, the ground would be the American consumer. And the Chinese consumer, frankly. So it's not good for either country. Tariffs are taxes, and consumers pay the taxes, so it's bad.

President Trump is right that the Chinese have been unfair in their treatment of American companies. I advocated that we do to the Chinese exactly what they do to us. I'm not saying we should steal their intellectual property, but we should have property-buying restrictions on them. We should require that they have U.S. partners if they do business here. And they have a lot of ambiguous laws, and they hurt American businesses.

It's gotten better, and it's gotten better not because they love us. It's gotten better in part because, especially in intellectual property, because they have now Chinese businesses that are innovating that need intellectual property protection.

We have a show in China. We know what it's like. We have to have a partner there. So I understand it. And I don't think Trump's wrong. I just think his tactics are very harmful.

If CES 2019 is a success, what will people be talking about?

There's a sense of hope for the future, that things will be better. It's kind of what our country was based on. We're an immigrant country, and people came here for a better life, because there's opportunity. There's entrepreneurship. There's the ability to think and do what, in a sense, what you want, and try new things, and that's what CES exemplifies. It's a sense of the future will be better, because we'll be solving fundamental problems.

There's some people who will say, "Wow, that's a greater home theater experience I'll have," or "My education will get better," or "My health care will get better." I see solutions for problems in my own life as my parents get older. So I think people take away different things depending on what their personal interest is, but, generally, the common theme is a sense of optimism.

It's about bettering mankind. And that's what I hope people take away.

• Now see the most anticipated phones of 2019.

Editor's note, Dec. 6: Apple just launched two heart health features cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to detect atrial fibrillation. The new ECG app for Apple Watch Series 4 and the irregular heart rhythm notification for Series 1 and newer devices could lead to more "Apple Watch saved my life" stories like the ones we reported in this piece.

James T. Green thought he was having a panic attack.

He took a break from work to walk around the block during a stressful day, and noticed he felt out of breath strolling up a slight incline. This isn't normal, Green thought. He had become an avid cycler in recent months and wasn't exactly out of shape. He sat down at his desk, and looked at the Apple Watch on his wrist.

His heart rate was through the roof, and the HeartWatch app he was using to check his pulse was flashing warnings. Maybe it was something more serious, he thought.

Although he had a pulmonary embolism a few years back — blood clots in his lungs — he had been taking medication, and doctors said that it was an unusual condition for someone in their mid-20s. Still, the symptoms this time were much less severe, and he was feeling stressed, so his mind didn't automatically jump to blood clots. Green's doctor told him it sounded like anxiety. But then he showed her a log of his heart rate recorded by the Apple Watch.

"This is my normal heart rate," Green told her, pointing to the graph in the app. "This is where my heart is now. There's something wrong."

The doctor ordered a CT scan. The blood clots in his left lung had returned.

MORE: Best Smartwatch - Top-Rated Watches for iPhone, Android

An ambulance rushed Green to the emergency room, where he was pumped full of blood thinners. He didn't need surgery this time, but doctors told him that if he had waited, a clot could have killed him. Green isn't the only person who has discovered a serious health condition after seeing heart-rate data on a smartwatch. And he won't be the last.

Currently, smartwatches from Apple, Fitbit and others can tell you your heart rate and track your workouts. Some can even analyze your sleep. But these companies want to go beyond the basics by developing ways to  tell you when something is wrong. A smartwatch could even diagnose your condition all on its own.

In fact, it's already happening.

IDC estimates that basic activity-tracking wristbands will fall from 36 percent of the wearables market to 22 percent by 2022. By that time, smartwatches will account for 40 percent of all wearables sold.

Though Apple doesn't disclose Apple Watch sales figures, IDC estimated that the company shipped 8 million watches in the fourth quarter of 2017, overtaking Fitbit, Xiaomi and Garmin. The combination of cellular connectivity and advanced fitness features in one device, the Apple Watch Series 3, has been a boon for the company.

How Smartwatches Know What's Wrong with You

Activity-tracking bands that simply count steps are declining in popularity, and are being replaced with more sophisticated smartwatches that can not only measure your heart rate, but provide some measure of analysis, too.

"If you want access to your phone on your wrist and a fitness tracker, you can just combine that into one device," said ABI Research analyst Stephanie Lawrence. "A lot of smartwatch companies are adding this [health-tracking] technology into their devices to make them more desirable to consumers."

MORE: 5 Reasons to Buy the Fitbit Versa (and 4 Reasons to Skip)

The first Apple Watch, introduced in 2015, had a heart-rate sensor, but the company didn't bill the device as an advanced health tracker. Still, Apple started started receiving personal stories from people who discovered health conditions revealed by the Watch's sensor. With the rollout of the fitness-focused watchOS 4 update last fall — which notifies you when your heart rate spikes — anecdotes about life-saving alerts have become more widespread. Three stories made high-profile headlines this May alone.

Fitbit, which introduced continuous heart rate-monitoring in 2015's Charge HR, has also received emails from customers who say their fitness bands have prompted them to go to the doctor.

The Apple Watch has saved lives, but it doesn't actually diagnose anything.

Jackie Brothers, a 53-year-old nurse from Newfoundland, Canada, discovered she had an atrioventricular block last year after using a Fitbit Blaze to start counting steps during her 12-hour shifts. Doctors thought she had a case of vertigo after hearing her symptoms, which included lightheadedness and loss of vision, until they saw the heart rate logs from her Fitbit Blaze. She needed a pacemaker.

An unusually high heart rate can be a sign of a serious medical episode, such as James T. Greens pulmonary embolism. But it could also be something much less serious, like the body's physical response to an unexpected breakup text. The Apple Watch has saved lives, but it doesn't actually diagnose anything. Apple doesn't claim that it does, but CEO Tim Cook has highlighted users' personal experiences with the Apple Watch during news events and on his Twitter account.

Jackie Brothers, a 53-year-old nurse, discovered she had an atrioventricular block last year after using a Fitbit Blaze to start counting steps during her 12-hour shifts.

"Apple's very good at PR," Dave Albert, AliveCor's founder,  said. "They publicize people with various issues that don't have direct impact on the heart. They have other symptoms. If the Apple Watch [alert] is the first thing [those people] notice, I would be greater than shocked. There are many, many more hundreds of thousands of people who have a high heart rate that don't have anything wrong except they're anxious, and you don't hear about those [stories]."

MORE: Here's Why watchOS 5 Is a Game-Changer for Apple Watch

Fitbit: Stepping Up from Just Step Counting

Eric Isakson, an Indiana-based financial adviser, had a leaking mitral valve that caused him to experience atrial fibrillation, which required surgery to fix. Isakson had no symptoms other than his wildly fluctuating heart rate, which he  discovered only after he joined his company's fitness challenge and started wearing his Fitbit daily.

"I was 39 years old," Isakson said. "Nowhere on my radar was I expecting to have a heart condition. I think everybody should wear a heart rate monitor. [If] something out of the ordinary happens, you've got the data to show your cardiologist."

Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition that contributes to 130,000 deaths in the U.S. every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some people experience symptoms of AFib, which is what doctors call an"“irregularly irregular heart rhythm" that has many risk factors, but others feel nothing at all. The condition can lead to strokes if left untreated. Isakson didn't realize he had AFib until he showed his doctor his Fitbit app during a physical. He was rushed to the hospital from there.

Fitbit's devices don't currently alert you if your heart rate is too high. But, like Apple, Fitbit is trying to figure out how to use the heart rate and motion data it collects to detect what's going in with your body.

"We're building algorithms trying to identify these types of things to people and let them know how they're benchmarked against people, or let them know how their data changes over time," said Shelten Yuen, Fitbit’s vice president of research. "We’ve been toying with a number of different ideas and we've been working with the FDA to bring this vision to life. It could be something like a symptom checker — if you have these symptoms, you should check that out. It could be more along a diagnostic line. We’re trying to figure that out right now."

Like many other fitness trackers, Fitbit's devices can tell you that you had a bad night's sleep, but it can't tell you why. In an attempt to provide deeper insight, the company built an SpO2 sensor into its Ionic smartwatch (the Versa has one as well). This sensor measures how much oxygen is in the blood, which, Fitbit said, could be used to diagnose sleep apnea. But close to a year after announcing the Ionic, Fitbit's sleep apnea features haven't arrived.

"We continue to do clinical trials and studies around [the Sp02 sensor] to continue to refine performance on it," Yuen said. "We are also speaking with the [Food and Drug Administration] and trying to get a line of sight to how to make this manifest in our product offering. Since the devices rolled out with the relative SpO2 sensor, we've been amassing data on people's sleep out in the field and it's been very instructive...It's been a great platform for collecting data in the field."

MORE: Best Fitness Apps - Trackers, Games and Trainers for iOS, Android

Apple's Promising Study

Optical heart-rate sensors — found on the underside of the Apple Watch and devices from Fitbit, Garmin, Samsung and other wearables — use flashing green lights to detect blood-flow rate. The data from those sensors, no matter how accurate it is, isn't worth much without software that can make sense of the information, compare it to a larger population, and figure out if it's abnormal.

The University of California, San Francisco's Health eHeart Study is looking at heart-rate data and user feedback collected across a wide variety of people using  myriad devices, including the Apple Watch, to learn more about heart disease.

watchOS 4 introduced a notification that alerts you when your heart rate spikes above a particular number after you've been inactive for 10 minutes.

An Apple Watch app, called Cardiogram, is using the study's framework to test an algorithm designed to detect atrial fibrillation. The early results are promising: In a clinical setting, Cardiogram's algorithm can detect atrial fibrillation with 97 percent accuracy, compared with the gold standard, an electrocardiogram machine, which measures the heart's electrical impulses using 10 electrodes,  placed on different parts of the body. But Gregory Marcus, director of clinical research for the UCSF Division of Cardiology who is leading the Health eHeart Study, said there's more work to be done.

MORE: Smartwatch Buying Guide - Everything You Need to Know

"I would not recommend a fitness tracker or smartwatch to detect heart problems at this point,"  Marcus said. "They can be useful to motivate physical activity. It would be premature to purchase one of these to facilitate a diagnosis of a heart condition. I would encourage individuals to participate in research to help us understand this."

Apple is working with Stanford University's School of Medicine on its own study, the appropriately named Apple Heart Study, which has set out to determine if the Apple Watch's heart-rate sensor can accurately detect atrial fibrillation. Apple Watch users who sign up for the study and grant researchers access to their data will be alerted if they experience an irregular heart rhythm. This is different from the heart-rate notifications that pop on the watch when your heart rate spikes.

The Apple Heart Study algorithm uses data from multiple heart-rate-sensor readings to confirm that the heart-rate rhythm is irregular before sending a notification. After you receive an alert on the watch, the Heart Study app connects you with a doctor for a free video conference to see if your symptoms are serious enough to warrant immediate treatment. If not, you receive an electrocardiogram patch in the mail to wear for seven days. That patch collects precise electrical data from your heart that will be analyzed to determine if you actually have atrial fibrillation.

The study is just getting underway and still accepting sign-ups. Apple hasn't announced how many participants have enrolled nor has it released any preliminary findings.

But when the study concludes, and if the Apple Watch sensor is found to accurately detect atrial fibrillation, Apple will then submit its findings to the FDA. The end result could be an FDA-approved Apple Watch feature that diagnoses atrial fibrillation.

Why Smartwatches Aren't Medical Devices — Yet

Despite the growing number of "smartwatch-saved-my-life" stories, companies such as Apple and Fitbit haven’t yet sought FDA approval for their devices, citing the need to quickly release products that would be hindered by a slow regulatory process. Without the FDA’s stamp, they can’t make any health claims about their watches.

To speed up the process, last year the FDA announced a digital health software pre-certification pilot program with nine participants, including Apple and Fitbit. Samsung, Verily, Johnson & Johnson, Pear Therapeutics, Phosphorus, Roche and Tidepool round out the pilot, chosen from a field of more than 100 companies. The program is designed to figure out how to approve software-based health features more quickly without sacrificing stringent standards. Instead of requiring every device to undergo regulatory approval, the FDA will focus on the software, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said last September while announcing the roster of participants.

That means if the FDA pre-certifies Apple, Fitbit and others, those companies will be able to roll out software tools to their smartwatches that can detect heart conditions and alert users who exhibit symptoms. Those tools will be based on the algorithms  being tested on people who have signed up for various heart-rate research studies.

MORE: 9 Best Apple Watch Cases and Screen Protectors Under $15

Bridging the Gap: An FDA-Approved Smartwatch Accessory

Until today’s smartwatches get government approval, companies are making FDA-approved accessories whose data can be integrated with smartwatches. Still, it's telling that only one device has made it through to market.

AliveCor's KardiaBand is a $199 Apple Watch strap that contains a sensor for taking a 30-second medical-grade electrocardiogram. You simply place your finger on the sensor, which is embedded in the band, to take a reading. As part of KardiaBand's required $99-per-year (or $9.99 a month) subscription, you can share the EKG results with a doctor in-app, who can then determine if you have atrial fibrillation. The band, which fits any Apple Watch, was cleared by the FDA last November. Apple announced the Apple Heart Study the same day.

The entire process, from development of the band to clinical validation to FDA approval, took a couple of years, said AliveCor's Albert, who is also the company's chief scientific officer.

AliveCor's KardiaBand is a $199 Apple Watch strap that contains a sensor for taking a 30-second medical-grade electrocardiogram. You simply place your finger on the sensor.

The KardiaBand’s sensor detects some of the information a medical EKG does, and combines that information with data from the watch's heart-rate sensor. AliveCor has developed its own algorithm, called SmartRhythm, which looks at your heart rate and activity to predict what your heart rate should be in the future. If it spikes above that line, you're prompted to take an EKG. SmartRhythm could be useful for people who don't know they're experiencing AFib, although it's likely that a person who buys a $199 EKG accessory already has cause for concern about their heart.

An Elusive Target: Diagnosing Diabetes

High blood glucose, which is a marker of diabetes, has to be measured by pricking the skin to take a blood sample or withdraw tissue fluid. Apple is reportedly working on noninvasive blood glucose-monitoring technology, according to a December report in The New York Times. A sensor that could take those readings without a finger prick or skin injection would be game changing.

But skeptics in the wearable-technology industry doubt that it's possible, because many companies have tried and failed to develop sensors and methods that would accurately measure blood sugar without drawing fluid through the skin or requiring a finger prick.

MORE: Fitbit Versa Now Tracks Periods, Diabetes On Your Wrist

The GlucoWatch Biographer, which was approved by the FDA in 2001, was an early attempt at putting a noninvasive glucose-monitoring system in a wristwatch. The GlucoWatch wasn't a sophisticated touch-screen timepiece, but that's not why it failed to catch on. The device sent electrical currents through the skin to noninvasively withdraw tissue fluid, which turned out to be an uncomfortable experience for many people who wore one. The watch was also criticized for inaccuracies in the actual data it displayed.

"I've been in glucose-sensing for over 20 years and I know there's been hundreds of millions of dollars spent in that area, and none of that technology has ever proven feasible to accurately measure glucose," said Jake Leach, senior vice president of research and development for Dexcom, which makes a continuous glucose-monitoring (CGM) system called the G6.

Dexcom is working with both Apple and Fitbit to pair its CGM devices directly to the Apple Watch, the Fitbit Ionic and Fitbit Versa without connecting to a smartphone first. The company's smartwatch apps would then put real-time data from its devices on the watch face, which would help diabetics  view their information at a glance and know when they need a dose of insulin.

Dexcom's new system is simpler to use than previous generations, because it doesn't require a finger prick to test a person's blood on a meter. But you still have to place a small sensor under the skin and wear a patch for 10-day stretches to get continuous readings.

What Happens Next

Talking to people who believe their smartwatches saved their lives, it's easy to believe that these devices will soon be capable of intentionally diagnosing health conditions. In addition to alerting us when our heart rates are high, an Apple Watch or Fitbit may one day be able to tell us why.

Much of what smartwatches will be capable of tracking in the near future is possible with sensors that already exist, said Steven LeBoeuf, president and co-founder of Valencell, a company that makes biometric sensors found in heart rate-tracking headphones such as the Samsung Gear IconX, the Jabra Elite Sport and the Bose SoundSport Pulse.

"You're about to have a migraine, about to have a COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] attack, you're about to have an asthma attack — you'll see more of that five years out." — Steven LeBoeuf, president and co-founder of Valencell

Asus showed off its new VivoWatch BP, a smartwatch with built-in ECG and PPG sensors for instant blood pressure readings, at this month’s Computex trade show in Taiwan. The device’s sensor is located next to the watch display, making the watch face larger than it would be otherwise. It’s unclear how much the VivoWatch BP will cost or when it will be available to buy.

Apple could take a different approach, at least in the near future. Rather than build an ECG sensor directly into the device, a recent patent application indicates that the company is interested in making a blood pressure-monitoring watch band.

"These devices will be able to assess your blood pressure, your cardiovascular health," LeBoeuf predicted. "How well is your heart performing? Are you at a risk of a cardiac event? Is your heart getting worse? These are things you'll be able to see devices do over the next year. You're about to have a migraine, about to have a COPD attack, you're about to have an asthma attack — you'll see more of that five years out."

But that technology has to be accurate. If a smartwatch tells you your heart rate is high enough to seek treatment and it turns out to be a false positive, that would be an irritating waste of time, money and energy. But if a device tells you there's nothing to be concerned about and you actually have a serious medical condition, that would be catastrophic.

"I think we're at a stage where we've demonstrated a good proof of concept that these sensors can detect abnormal heart rhythms such as atrial fibrillation," Marcus said. "I do not think that it is quite ready for prime time. One of the concerns is that we could identify false positives that then end up leading to alarm or distress on the part of the user unnecessarily and medical testing that is unnecessary."

Still, for people whose lives have already been affected by their devices, wearing one is a no-brainer.

Eric Isakson now has a mechanical heart valve. He's known as "“the Fitbit guy" at his local hospital. He tells everyone he knows to buy a fitness tracker. James T. Green says wearing his Apple Watch is like budgeting money: It gives him more information to make better decisions.

Jackie Brothers checks her Fitbit app every morning when she wakes up to see the effects of her pacemaker while she slept. The device implanted in her body keeps her heart pumping normally, but the one on her wrist gives her peace of mind.

Credit: Tom's Guide

If you look around the smartphone landscape right now, it's not pretty. Apple is reportedly having trouble moving both the iPhone XR and iPhone XS and is reassigning marketing people to bolster sales. And Gartner just announced the biggest decline in smartphone sales since the analyst firm started tracking them.

Why the ho-hum reaction to 2018's crop of smartphones? It's partially because people are holding onto their phones longer, but it's also because the biggest names in the industry simply didn't innovate much this year.

Chinese giants like Huawei and Xiaomi have pushed the envelope in 2018 with their new handsets — especially the Huawei Mate 20 Pro— but their phones aren't readily available in the U.S. As good as the new phones from Apple and Samsung have been this year, they aren't big departures from what we've already seen.

But there's one smartphone maker that has innovated more than anyone else and whose devices are fairly easy to get your hands on, and that's Google.

Topping our list of Innovation Award winners for 2018, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL don't look much different than their predecessors, but there are lots of small and big leaps forward crammed into these flagships, especially in regard to the camera. Here are just a few things that stand out about Google's phones.

Night Sight is jaw-dropping and amazingly useful

I've been taking a ton of photos with Google's new Night Sight mode enabled and disabled, and the results are literally night and day.

Because the Pixel 3 takes a number of continuous frames and merges them, the results are astoundingly good even in close to complete darkness. You simply don't need a flash to get a great picture in low light, and that's a  fantastic achievement. (Night Sight is even available for older Pixel phones)

You simply don't need a flash to get a great picture in low light, and that's a pretty fantastic achievement.

The Pixel 3 also generally takes sharper pics than the competition in challenging lighting conditions. It delivers more accurate hues and better contrast. I noticed this right away when comparing a shot of a Christmas tree taken by both Google's flagship and the iPhone XR.

Top Shot picks the best photo for you

Say you're taking a group pic and someone blinked in one frame and someone got distracted in another shot.

Using machine learning, Google knows the attributes of the good photo and can recommend the best image in a bunch collected just before and just after you press the shutter button. You can also scroll through the images yourself and pick your own favorite, if you're so inclined.

Call Screen is your phone's bouncer for spam calls

Robocalls are out of control, and the bad guys are  getting more sophisticated, targeting users with phone numbers that are from your own area code. How do you know when you should answer? On the Pixel 3, Google Assistant can screen your calls for you with the push of a button and transcribe what that telemarketer is saying in real time. It works very fast, and is surprisingly accurate.

MORE: Pixel 3 vs. iPhone XR: Battle of the Affordable Flagships

Android Pie and Slices

While other phones are getting Android 9 Pie, the Pixel 3 was the first to ship with Google's new OS, and it includes plenty of handy features. My favorite is Slices, which essentially serves up the best bits of apps to save you time. For example, if you search for Lyft on the Pixel 3, you'll see a time-saving shortcut for getting a ride to work that also displays pricing.

Marketing matters

If you want people to buy your phones, the marketing  has to spell out that you should shell out $750 to $1,100. But I think the ads for the iPhone XR and XS don't speak to meaningful innovation at all.

The first commercials for the iPhone XS Max, for example, were all about the big, 6.5-inch display. Big screens are not new. And the iPhone XR's first ad was all about the multiple color options. Enticing, yes, but the vast majority of people are just going to put a case on their phone.

I've had more than one person say to me, 'I wish the iPhone could do that.'

The marketing around the Galaxy Note 9 also landed with a thud. So it has a big battery. That's nice, and it is useful, but that's not innovative. And the new S Pen tricks touted in another spot come across as more gimmicky than practical.

When I watch the Google's Pixel 3 ads, they do an excellent job of explaining the benefits of features like Top Shot, Night Sight and the not-so-new Flip to Shhh in a way that’s humorous and enlightening. I've had more than one person say to me, "I wish the iPhone could do that."

Some early bugs

The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are definitely not perfect. In fact, Google just released an update that addresses several bugs, including a bad-memory performance issue that was causing apps running in the background to shut down. Another bug prevented some photos from being saved, which is ironic given that the Pixel 3 is now the best camera phone.

It definitely doesn't count as innovation, but it's nice that Google was able to address these issues fairly quickly.

MORE: The Most Innovative Tech of 2018

Bottom Line

The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL won't top the sales charts, and that's because they're inexplicably sold only through Verizon in the U.S., at least as far as major carriers go. (You can also get them through the lesser-known Google Fi wireless service.) And while you can buy Google's phones unlocked, most people here don't buy their phones that way.

Regardless, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are the most innovative phones of the year, and Google deserves a lot of credit for solving real-world problems with its flagships.

Credit: Tom's Guide

This Year's Biggest Game Changers

A camera phone that sees in the dark. A gaming controller that allows those with disabilities to play. And a wearable that can take your ECG on the fly.

These are just some of the breakthroughs that have been named our second annual Innovation Awards. The products and technologies you see here truly pushed the envelope this year in a wide range of categories, including phones, TVs, computing, gaming and smartwatches.

The biggest underlying trend? That would be AI and how companies are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to make products smarter and our lives better (and more fun). That includes using a digital assistant to screen for robocalls, and a chip to upscale content all the way up to 8K.

Ultimately, though, it's humans who are bringing these innovations to life, which is why we went behind the scenes to show you how these things became a reality, and who made them.

These are the Innovation Award winners for 2018.

Innovation of the Year: Google Pixel 3

While other smartphone makers were busy spitting out AI features of dubious value in 2018, Google focused on adding capabilities to its Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL that are true game-changers.

We're talking about a phone whose cameras can see in the dark and an assistant that can screen for robocalls on your behalf like a digital bouncer.

The most jaw-dropping innovation in the Pixel 3 is Night Sight, a new camera feature that dramatically improves image quality in very low light. In side-by-side shots taken by the Pixel 3 with Night Sight on and off, the difference is, literally, night and day. Bonus: This feature is also available for both the Pixel 2 and the original Pixel phone. To make Night Sight a reality, Google built on its industry-leading HDR+ algorithm, which takes a number of continuous frames and merges them.

"We can take far more frames at lower and longer exposures and then add them up into something that looks really neat," said Colton Gyulay, associate product manager on the Google Pixel team.

Google also found a way to identify subjects and assign colors to them via machine learning. So, for example, the Pixel 3 can look at a stop sign and know that it's red.

"We look at things like expression and emotional understanding, whether it's smiling or contentment or surprise. Most of the intelligence right now is human-centric."

— Colton Gyulay, associate product manager on the Google Pixel team

The single rear camera on the Pixel 3 can do some other amazing things, too. Super Res Zoom can deliver details on a par with camera phones with 2x and even 3x optical zooms using just software. By merging multiple frames, the image actually exceeds what the sensor is able to capture in a single shot.

"We actually utilize the slight hand tremor and slight hand shake to provide us additional information for detail," Gyulay said. "So we're able to put two images together by using slightly offset images to create even more detail than you just get all at the center."

The Pixel 3 can also pick out the best photo of a bunch, so you never have to worry about whether you pressed the shutter at the long time. Called Top Shot, the phone looks at several frames — captured 1.5 seconds before and after you shoot — and then leverages machine learning to determine which image has the right attributes, such as whether there's low blur, if the subject is in focus and what the lighting's like.

But that's just the beginning. The Pixel 3 then applies more human-like intelligence to choose the best-looking image, and it's not just whether someone's eyes are open. "We look at things like expression and emotional understanding, whether it's smiling, or contentment, or surprise," Gyulay said. "Most of the intelligence right now is human-centric in that sense."

Other phones can tell you if something is wrong with a given photo via AI, like the Galaxy Note 9's Flaw Detection feature. But Samsung's phone can't automatically pick a better shot for you; it can only advise you to try again. Google is way ahead here.

“By keeping everything on device, all of that lag in the system disappears, which we thought was the right approach for real-time calls.”

— Paul Dunlop, product manager at Google

Another key Pixel 3 innovation is Call Screen, which tackles the robocall and spam-call epidemic head-on. Instead of wondering whether that call is from someone (or something) you actually want to talk to, Google Assistant can step in on your behalf with the push of a button and transcribe the caller's audio in real time. It's amazingly fast and surprisingly accurate for something that's being done on the fly. "[We did it] in a way that's highly performant, low latency and works reliably regardless of your data connection," said Paul Dunlop, product manager at Google.

Google was able to pull this off because Call Screen doesn't have to go through the cloud. It all happens on the Pixel 3 itself. That's due in large part to the big investments Google has made over the years in text-to-speech technology. It also managed to squeeze what was web-based into something that's resident on the phone.

"By keeping everything on device, all of that lag in the system disappears, which allows us to do this very performant user experience, which we thought was the right approach for real-time calls," Dunlap said.

There is a trade-off for having such a quick transcription, and that's accuracy. But Google calibrated the transcription model to deliver the gist of a caller's intentions in a way that's surprisingly fluid. Screen Call will be coming to Pixel 2 and Pixel 1 by the end of the year, and to other Android phones in 2019. In response to use feedback, Call Screen transcripts are also coming by the end of the year, and will be stored in the dialer app. And it's possible that full call transcriptions could be next.

"Long term, that's where these on-device technologies [are going],  Dunlap said. "We're going to improve the accuracy over time."

—Mark Spoonauer

Apple A12X Bionic: PC-Killing Performance

When Apple claimed that the A12X Bionic processor inside the new iPad Pro was faster than 92 percent of PCs, many scoffed. Then, we got this tablet in our labs, and the results were astounding.

Let's say you wanted to edit a 4K video clip and transcode it in a hurry. The iPad Pro with the A12X took less than 8 minutes, while an Intel Core i7-powered Dell XPS 13 took over 31 minutes. So, Apple's tablet was nearly four times faster.

We also processed 50 raw photos in Adobe Lightroom. The A12X Bionic barely shrugged, taking 59 seconds. Microsoft's Surface Pro 6 needed 1.5 minutes, so the iPad Pro was about 61 percent faster.

So, how was Apple able to smoke most laptops with a slate that's just 1.4 pounds? The company didn't focus on the processor itself.

"Chip design at Apple doesn't start with a chip," said Anand Shimpi, who's on the hardware technologies team at Apple. "It starts with a product. And we get to work with the industrial design team to understand what their mission is for those devices with the system team to see how the things are coming together. And we build a chip that is custom-tailored to that and that alone."

For the iPad Pro, that meant enabling a tablet that could deliver console-level graphics, instantly log you in via Face ID (no matter how you hold the tablet), and offer pro-level photo and video editing on the go. Apple also needed to deliver silky-smooth performance with the new Apple Pencil and the ability to scale the refresh rate of the screen on the fly.

"Chip design at Apple doesn't start with a chip. It starts with a product."

— Anand Shimpi, hardware technologies at Apple

The A12X Bionic is a 7-nanometer chip that's similar to the A12 Bionic in the iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, but Apple added two high-performance cores for a total of four, which are complemented by four efficiency cores. Plus, the chip in the iPad Pro has twice the memory as chips in the latest iPhones.

But there's more to the A12X Bionic than just more cores.

"We build our own custom video-encode and -decode blocks," said Shimpi. "That's where our engines will really shine."

On the decode side, the benefit of the A12X Bionic is really long battery life when you're doing things like watching videos and searching the web. And the encoding blocks kick in when you start video editing and transcoding — all things that are part of a creative pro's workflow.

The next step for the A12X Bionic is for developers to get their hands on it to fully realize its capabilities. And one of the most eagerly anticipated apps is Photoshop, which is coming to the iPad Pro in 2019. And this is not a watered-down version of Photoshop; we're talking the real deal, with pixel-level precision when you're making edits.

Could Apple bring a chip like the A12X Bionic to the MacBook? Not surprisingly, the company is not making a peep, but Shimpi and the rest of the hardware technologies team have  already been working with the laptop side of the house on the T2 chip, which is inside the latest MacBook Pros and the new MacBook Air. That custom processor handles everything from Touch ID and encryption to audio and "Hey, Siri" commands.

In the meantime, the iPad Pro has raised the bar not just for tablet PCs but for all mobile computers.

—Mark Spoonauer

Xbox Adaptive Controller: Everyone Gets to Play

In September 2018, Microsoft launched its Xbox Adaptive Controller ($99) for Xbox One and PC, opening the gates of opportunity to a whole new demographic of gamers.

Each button on the controller is designed to be completely remappable to connectable peripherals. This allows people with disabilities to use the motor functions that they do have in order to play games.

And since the launch of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, Microsoft has received overwhelmingly positive feedback for expanding its reach in accessibility. Xbox even recently won Golden Joystick's Outstanding Contribution award for the Adaptive Controller.

The initial idea for the Xbox Adaptive Controller was brought forth by an engineer at Microsoft, Matt Hite, in order to help veterans get back into gaming. He is a veteran himself.

"We had to recognize that our beloved controller wasn't suited for everybody," said Microsoft Inclusive Lead of Product Research and Accessibility Bryce Johnson. "It was optimized so much that it excluded some people, so that gave us the opportunity to see who we weren't reaching."

Microsoft learned that it needed to toss out assumptions that someone "[has] two hands to hold a controller or that [they] have a fluid range of motion with [their] thumb and index finger."

The company designed the Adaptive Controller's buttons to actuate no matter where you pressed them within their large, 4-inch diameters. And Microsoft ensured that the controller itself would be able to hold up against wear and tear. There's also an enlarged directional pad, as well as menu and home buttons. On top of that, the company even designed the packaging itself to be accessible to a person who has one hand.

"We didn't just test the product with people with disabilities. We built the product with people with disabilities."

— Bryce Johnson, inclusive lead of product research and accessibility at Microsoft

In addition to the controller, there's a wide range of peripherals you can combine it with, like joysticks, foot pedals and big colored switches.

In the span of three years, from the drawing board to produced product, Microsoft has partnered with charities such as Warfighter Engaged, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, The AbleGamers Charity and SpecialEffect in order to build a device that would make it easier for these charities to do their work.

And now that the Adaptive Controller is public, Microsoft is also reaching out to doctors who want to use the device as part of their therapeutic practices. In return, the company learns what else patients need in order to play games.

"We didn't just test the product with people with disabilities. We built the product with people with disabilities," said Johnson. "There is woman in Germany who got back into first-person shooters by putting a button between her knees in order to walk forward, and stories like that [are] really insightful for me."

It's pleasantly surprising to see an initiative like this in the gaming industry, especially since it hasn't been done before on this scale. Microsoft is so keen on accessibility, the company said, because it wants to "empower every individual and organization on the planet to achieve more."

"We're not done by any sort of means of the imagination," said Johnson. "We're always looking for ways to improve a product for our customers, but I think we have a good start."

—Rami Tabari

Samsung Q900: The 8K TV Leap

The term innovation gets thrown around a lot by TV manufacturers, applied to everything from stand design and remote-control layouts to smart TV apps and gimmicks like curved screens and 3D. Samsung has surprisingly managed to push things forward ahead of the usual iterative pace with the first 8K TV on the market — the 85-inch Q900 Smart 8K UHD TV.

With an impressive 7,680 x 4,320 resolution, the Q900 offers four times the pixels and detail that 4K delivers. It's got boosted brightness (up to 4,000 nits) and every other trick Samsung has used on its premium QLED TVs – like the Samsung Q8FN QLED TV— from quantum dots that boost color, nano-scale filtering to improve black levels, a 120Hz refresh rate and the most impressive direct backlighting array they've ever offered.

It's the best resolution of any consumer TV, with every feature of Samsung's very best models.

But while TV wonks had been expecting 8K since 4K came out, it's not just the resolution that makes the Q900 special. Behind those 33 million pixels, Samsung has introduced technology that may change the TV resolution game forever, with AI-powered upscaling that goes way beyond the pixel-doubling and anti-aliasing most TVs use to make low-resolution content look clearer.

To achieve this, Samsung had to develop a new processor, the Quantum Processor 8K. This bit of high-powered silicone not only handles video processing at incredible resolution, it also manages upscaling, detecting the original resolution of content from any source – streaming, game consoles, mobile phones, and old DVD and Blu-Ray discs – and provides on-the-fly upscaling. But that's just what's happening in your TV as you watch.

In addition to the new processor, upscaling is constantly being enhanced with Samsung's 8K AI Upscaling technology. Sampling millions of video clips at various resolutions, machine learning is used to examine low-resolution video and compare samples, determine how details differ under different resolutions, and then extrapolate textures and details that may not even be present in the original footage. It will even adjust the look of foreground and background details to offer a more realistic sense of depth.

This ever-growing library then feeds a regularly updating upscaling algorithm, which, in turn, is updated on connected TVs. It's an intelligent algorithm that learns, and the results are already quite dramatic, with deeper blacks, sharper text, richer color and greater detail.

And because this process is constantly improving, it will only get better. As we move past 4K and into an era of super-high-resolution, this may be the technology that makes tomorrow's entertainment work.

—Brian Westover

iRobot Roomba i7+: The Self-Emptying Robot Vac

Step into any house, and there's an increasing chance that a robot vacuum will be underfoot. These devices are becoming both cheaper and more sophisticated. It's why an estimated 1.2 million will be sold in 2018, which could more than double by 2022, according to IHS Markit.

However, there's one thing that pretty much all of these robot vacuums all have in common: You have to empty them out after each cleaning. While the small size of robot vacuums lets them scoot under beds, couches and dressers to pick up those lurking dust bunnies, it also means that their waste bins are much smaller than that canister vacuum you lug out of your closet right before your in-laws show up.

iRobot's new Roomba i7+ represents something different. After it makes its rounds, the vacuum returns to its home base, which then automatically sucks everything out of the robot and into a bag, which can hold debris from as many as 30 cleanings.

iRobot is not the first company to bring this idea to market, but the competition so far has, well, sucked.

The idea has been kicking around iRobot for at least a decade — iRobot filed a patent back in 2007 for such a process — but the company didn't start working on it in earnest until a few years ago. Until then, there wasn't much of a need, as robot vacuums could reliably clean only a couple of rooms at that point, and might not fill a bin after each cycle. With the introduction of robots that could map and clean entire houses — without a corresponding increase in bin size — a new issue arose.

"Once we introduced the [Roomba] 980, we created a problem and an opportunity because we're covering more space, but there were times for some users where they had to empty the dustbin more frequently," said Ken Bazydola, director of product management for Roomba.

To be fair, iRobot is not the first company to bring this idea to market, but the competition so far has, well, sucked. Getting the vacuum to reliably empty itself was the greatest challenge, but one that iRobot says it's mastered — and which could make this concept finally stick.

One of iRobot’s first ideas was to suck out the dirt from the slot from which it entered, but as soon as the company tried it with “real-world dirt,” it quickly became apparent it wouldn't work. "When you're vacuuming, it works fine because you're not pulling a big clump of dirt," Bazydola said. "When you're emptying the dustbin, you're going to grab a big clump of debris, hair, all that stuff, and it just gets stuck."

Another issue was the shape of the dustbin itself. Like leaves blowing against a building, as air flows around or through an object, eddys are created, which will cause dirt to simply spiral in place, rather than being sucked out. Using computational fluid dynamic modeling, Bazydola says the company was able to design the bin so that nothing got left behind.

Then there was the dirt itself. Needing to simulate real-world scenarios, the company collected samples from early testers to create an "iRobot cocktail" of pet hair, human hair (short and long), sand, fuzz, dust bunnies and other nasties.

Finally, the base had to then suck all that stuff through a small tube running along its bottom and up into a bag, which itself needed to be self-sealing, so that no dirt would escape when you finally empty it.

To do that, the base uses a traditional vacuum-cleaner motor to generate the suction needed to extract the material. Ideally, it will work all the time, but Bazydola admits that clogs are a possibility. To that end, iRobot added pressure sensors that will cause the vacuum motor to ramp up and down a few times in an attempt to dislodge the dirt.

"We always dreamed of being able to fully automate the vacuuming process," Bazydola said. iRobot may finally have succeeded.

—Mike Prospero

Nintendo Labo: Cardboard-Made Magic

Who knew that the most innovative gaming gadget of the year would be powered by a bunch of cardboard? That's the story behind Nintendo Labo, a series of DIY creation kits that let you build fun cardboard toys that interact with your Nintendo Switch in all sorts of wildly inventive ways.

Labo lets you make a remote-controlled car out of a pair of Joy-Cons, build a giant body-tracking suit for crushing in-game buildings with your fists, and turn your Switch into a fully functioning piano, just to name a few examples. It's all powered by little more than a few pieces of cardboard, some rubber bands and a few sensors, which all come together to create something that feels like magic.

"After the specs for the Nintendo Switch system were finalized, the development team in Japan began experimenting with different prototypes that could only be possible using the unique technology of the hardware and Joy-Con controllers," said Camille Van Duyn, public relations manager for Nintendo of America.

"They found the range of features built into the controllers — such as an IR Motion Camera, gyroscope and HD Rumble — allowed them to create fun gameplay experiences that combined physical and digital inputs," she said.

Nintendo Labo isn't just a fun kids toy — it's also a striking showpiece for just how much the Switch is capable of. Thanks to the HD rumble technology built into the Joy-Cons, you'll feel a realistic tug when catching virtual fish, and a tactile tremble when revving up your cardboard motorbike. The toys also make full use of the controller's built-in infrared sensor, allowing you to build an RC car that doubles as a night-vision camera, and play full songs on a cardboard piano adorned with IR stickers.

Every element of Labo is thoughtfully designed, from the smartly intended sheets of cardboard that make building each piece satisfying and intuitive, to the helpful companion software that carefully walks you through every step of the building process.

But while Nintendo's Toy-Con are a ton of fun to build and play with, what really makes Labo special is that you can make your own. Every kit provides access to Toy-Con Garage, a tool that lets kids build the cardboard creations of their dreams — and learn some basic programming in the process. Toy-Con Garage has already inspired a ton of fun fan creations — in fact, Nintendo recently hosted a Creators Contest to showcase the wildest inventions, and was "blown away" by the response.

"Oh, gosh — it's so tough to choose!"  Van Duyn said when asked about her favorite Labo creations. "A few of my personal favorites are a pet food dispenser, a multi-instrument band and an interactive Paper Mario-inspired story book."

You'll feel a realistic tug when catching virtual fish, and a tactile tremble when revving up your cardboard motorbike.

There are currently three Labo kits available: a $69 Variety Kit, a $69 Vehicle Kit and a $79 Robot Kit, the latter of which lets you build a full-body motion tracking suit. Labo has also extended to Nintendo's traditional games, as you can use your Labo motorbike or steering wheel to control your cars in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. While Nintendo has no official news to share on future Labo releases, it's hard not to get the sense that we'll be seeing more of these wildly creative cardboard toys — from both the Big N and its passionate creator community.

"Nintendo Labo is for anyone who likes to build things, have fun with them and then tinker with them to see how they work,"  Van Duyn said. "This spirit of creativity and discovery is what makes Nintendo Labo so special."

—Mike Andronico

Lenovo Yoga Book C930: Dual-Screen Delight

Fortune favors the bold. Lenovo's Yoga Book C930, a dual-screen 2-in-1 with a 10.8-inch screen and secondary E Ink panel, proves that the laptop industry is still capable of innovating.

With its touch-capacitive Halo keyboard and Wacom-powered Create Pad, the original Yoga Book was a response to a new generation of customers growing up with touch-screen devices, like tablets and smartphones. While a truly novel invention, the first edition didn't go far enough. Lenovo noticed how tech enthusiasts gravitated toward the Windows version of the Yoga Book for its performance and productivity and expanded upon its radical vision in exciting new ways.

"How do we evolve the proposition we believe is helping a new group of consumers do a lot more around what they want to do and how they want to do it in an ultra-mobile lifestyle? We thought, let's build a PC that could leverage this DNA, but give it optimization in how it works," said Wahid Razali, the director of worldwide consumer-product marketing at Lenovo.

"Even though the response time won't exactly match your speed, your brain will close that gap and feel that you are actually touching a key."

— Wahid Razali, director of worldwide consumer-product marketing, Lenovo

Pivoting from the original design of the Yoga Book to what Razali calls an "ultra-mobile, PC experience," Lenovo went back to the drawing board to create a premium device with more powerful internals and a new set of productivity tools. Crafting such an original device was easier said than done. As with any product, Lenovo made difficult decisions in order to balance performance, price and flexibility.

To retain the device's remarkably thin design without compromising on long battery life, Lenovo took a colorful, high-resolution panel and attached an E Ink surface that transforms from a keyboard into a notepad or e-reader, "From there, it really was iterations and iterations of — how do we build on top of the writing experience we had before?" Razali said.

"This is our second attempt at an all-touch keyboard in a clamshell form factor, and there has been a lot of learning from there," Razali said. "One thing we were able to improve and build on is the perception of a physical response using brain perception and interpretation — giving visual feedback on top of physical touch (the vibration) — and sound feedback. Even though the response time won't exactly match your speed, your brain will close that gap and feel that you are actually touching a key."

The extra real estate offered by the E Ink display lets users multitask in ways they never could before. For example, business professionals can change the keyboard languages with a touch of a button, something not possible on standard keyboards. Capable of replacing your Kindle, tablet and laptop, the interplay between the Yoga Book C930's main display and the E Ink panel allows users to take notes, draw, open PDFs, and soon, read E-books.

Assisting the dazzling duo of displays is some clever software. Tapping on digital icons instantly turns the E Ink display into a keyboard or writing pad, and a clever knock mechanism lets you tap twice on the lid to open the laptop. All of these unique features add up to a surprisingly usable laptop — one that is unlike anything else on the market.

—Phillip Tracy

Asus ROG Phone: Gaming Phones Level Up

The Asus ROG Phone isn't the first gaming phone, but it pushes the category forward using a combination of cutting-edge specs, a head-turning design, crazy cooling options and a plethora of accessories.

Gamers also benefit from an incredibly bright, vibrant display with a 90-Hertz refresh rate as well as haptic air triggers.

Thanks the massive popularity of games like Fortnite, Player Unknown Battlegrounds and Ring of Valor, gaming phones are coming into their own. Keeping a watchful eye on the trend, Asus spent the last two years developing what would become the ROG Phone. A mix of metal, glass and RGB lighting, the design can be polarizing, but it definitely stands out from the iPhones and Galaxys of the world.

So what makes a smartphone a gaming phone? The ROG phone is the first handset to use a speed-binned version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 CPU, allowing four of the chip's eight cores to run at a 2.96-GHz clock speed, compared with the normal 2.8 GHz, making it one of the most powerful phones on the market.

And while smartphones have begun to start incorporating heat pipes or vapor chambers in an effort to keep their components nice and cool, the ROG phone is the only one to incorporate both methods. The phone also has cooling pads and copper venting. The company even created its own custom 3D vapor chamber to get the job done. And if that wasn't enough, the company made a proprietary AeroActive cooler, which attaches along the side of the phone without sacrificing the RGB lighting, headphone jack and extra USB Type-C port.

One of the best features on the ROG Phone is the one you can't see. The company has repurposed the haptic squeeze technology made popular by the Pixel 2 and created Air Triggers. Located along the sides of the phone in landscape mode, Air Triggers are haptic sensors that act like shoulder buttons on a regular game controller. Best of all, they're mappable, so all you have to do is drag the icons representing the left and right triggers and — Voila! — you've freed up valuable screen real estate while making your gaming experience more seamless.

When you're not gaming, the Air Triggers can be programmed to perform a multitude of actions, including unlocking the device, launching Google Assistant or taking a screenshot.

Asus made a number of peripherals to enhance your gaming experience beyond mobile. The $399 Twinview Dock adds a second display to the device, essentially transforming the phone into an Android version of the Nintendo 3DS. Thanks to its variety of ports, the Mobile Desktop Dock allows you to use a mouse and keyboard, just like you would with a desktop. You can even stream your gaming content with less than 20ms of latency via the $329WiGig Display Dock.

No matter how you play, one thing is incredibly clear. The future of mobile gaming is here, and its name is Asus.

—Sherri L. Smith

Apple Watch Series 4: ECG in a Smartwatch

When the Apple Watch debuted, it was an iPhone accessory, a way to subtly check notifications without rudely pulling out your phone. But then, Apple noticed that lots of people were using the watch's health features, particularly the Heart Rate app, to keep tabs on their vitals.

Every generation of Apple Watch, now on Series 4, has iterated on that health potential — first with built-in GPS, swim tracking and high-heart-rate alerts. The watch now offers a game-changing suite of features that will turn Apple Watch into what Apple calls an "intelligent health guardian."

Series 4 is the first smartwatch with clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to offer at-home electrocardiograms. The Apple Watch ECG app, which will launch by the end of the year, uses the watch's innovative design to take what is akin to a clinical single-lead electrocardiogram.

The Series 4's ECG feature is the result of close collaboration among Apple's design, electrical engineering, sensor and software teams to create as beautiful and simple an experience as a potentially alarming at-home medical test can be.

Apple had an eye on adding more-sophisticated health features early on, even before "my Apple Watch saved my life" stories made headlines after the introduction of high-heart-rate alerts in watchOS 4. The company was in the process of redesigning the watch to make it thinner than its predecessor and add more features, such as haptic feedback, to the Digital Crown, when engineers found that they could capture the electrical signal across the chest using electrodes beneath the sapphire crystal-and-ceramic watch back and in the Digital Crown.

The FDA clearance is significant for a smartwatch because it's a sign of breakthroughs to come.

To take a reading, watch owners will open the ECG app and press the Digital Crown, creating a closed circuit to read the electrical signal across the chest. The app then classifies the 30-second heart-rhythm measurement as either sinus rhythm, which is normal, or atrial fibrillation, which is irregular. The app saves a PDF of the reading to the iPhone Health app, and that PDF can then be shared with a doctor for diagnosis.

After a reading, you can tap to add symptoms, which Apple has pre-populated with options like fatigue and dizziness. If you add chest pain as a symptom, your watch will bring up an option to dial emergency services, because that is a sign of a serious medical condition.

The FDA clearance is significant for a smartwatch, because it's a sign of breakthroughs to come. To gain the FDA's de novo classification, or a first-of-its-kind distinction, Apple had to submit software for review. That included parts of the ECG app and the atrial fibrillation alert, which uses the optical heart rate sensor that will soon come to every generation of Apple Watch that runs watchOS 5. The company also had to conduct a clinical trial to demonstrate the safety, effectiveness and accuracy of the new features.

The Series 4's new health features aren't limited to heart rate alerts. The watch also sports a next-gen accelerometer and gyroscope for fall detection, which is sophisticated enough to accurately tell the difference between a severe fall and a pratfall. The watch can call emergency services on your behalf if it senses you haven't moved for about a minute.

Series 4's FDA clearance and advanced heath features prove that smartwatches aren't simply accessories. They're lifesavers.

—Caitlin McGarry

Google Project Stream: Game on Anything

Google's Project Stream is a simple idea with potentially profound consequences: What if you could play big-budget video games on any PC?

By hosting games on a remote server, then streaming them directly through the Chrome Web browser, Project Stream can transform any internet-connected PC — no matter how old or underpowered — into a bona fide gaming rig.

"Streaming media has transformed the way we consume music and video, making it easy to instantly access your favorite content," wrote Catherine Hsiao, a product manager at Google, in a blog post introducing the technology. "But the next technical frontier for streaming will be much more demanding than video."

And it's true: Streaming video games requires a level of fidelity that other forms of media simply don't. A few moments of buffering on Netflix won't ruin a movie; that same few seconds in a video game could mean the difference between victory and defeat. That's why it's doubly impressive that Project Stream's very first title was Assassin's Creed Odyssey: an enormous, technically demanding open-world game where combat is fast and furious, and stealth is precise and demanding.

Project Stream isn't the only platform-agnostic game-streaming protocol. But to play a brand-new big-budget game through a simple web browser is unprecedented.

"The idea of streaming such graphically rich content that requires near-instant interaction between the game controller and the graphics on the screen poses a number of challenges," Hsiao said. "Every pixel is powered by an array of real-time rendering of technology, artistry, visual effects, animation, simulation, physics and dynamics.”

To be clear, Project Stream isn't the only platform-agnostic game-streaming protocol. GeForce Now and PlayStation Now have accomplished similar goals. But to play a brand-new big-budget game through a simple web browser is unprecedented. That Project Stream also works extremely well, regardless of what hardware you use, is all the more impressive.

When we tested Project Stream, Assassin's Creed Odyssey ran beautifully on a modern gaming rig, rendering each stroke of Kassandra's sword in 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second. What was even more impressive, though, is that we were also able to run it on office notebooks, productivity desktops and even an 8-year-old clunker laptop held together through spare parts.

Project Stream could make PC gaming more accessible than ever before. But what's potentially even more exciting is that Google's aims extend beyond video games. The company wants to use Project Stream as a test bed to bring streaming technology in general to the next level.

—Marshall Honorof

When Apple revealed that the new iPad Pro would adopt USB-C, it felt as though a gate to the company’s famed walled garden was starting to creak open. By abandoning the Lighting connector, a company notorious for keeping an airtight grip on its proprietary accessories may have signaled the death of a cable millions of people use to charge their iPhones and iPads.

There are several clear reasons why Apple would adopt the latest charging standard for its performance tablets. USB-C enables the iPad Pro to connect to a growing field of accessories, including hubs and peripherals. Not to mention, the modern port offers faster charging and data transfer speeds than Lightning.

While we haven't previously seen USB-C on a product running iOS, Apple was actually early to adopt the port on its MacBooks. Now that the MacBook Air has been refreshed, a USB-C input is offered throughout Apple's lineup of laptops. And that means you can charge your iPad with the same cable you use to charge your Apple laptop.

USB-C for iPhone?

After the iPad Pro reveal, speculation shifted to whether Apple will give the iPhone the same USB-C treatment, and in doing so, zap the Lightning connector once and for all. Moving everything over to USB-C may seem like an obvious next step, but the transition may not be as instantaneous as expected.

Remember, the iPhone and iPad Pro are marketed toward a different group of consumers. Apple sees the $999 iPad Pro as a productivity tablet for professionals, so they can touch up photos in Photoshop or edit spreadsheets. The device moves ever closer to replacing the laptop in the same way Microsoft sees its Surface 2-in-1s as a tablet/computer solution. The iPhone, on the other hand, is meant for everyday consumers and, therefore, doesn't urgently need the benefits provided by USB-C.  

"USB-C opens up entirely new use cases, like mirroring out to monitors, connecting to a wide range of peripherals, and mass storage devices. (iOS’ file system doesn’t support that last use case yet, but there’s always next year.) That’s why Apple’s professional-oriented products like the Mac and iPad Pro have all switched over to USB-C," Avi Greengart, research director of consumer platforms and devices at GlobalData, wrote to Tom's Guide in an email.

"Lightning gives Apple more quality control over its ecosystem (along with licensing revenue), so I don’t expect Apple to abandon it on its consumer-oriented mobile products like the iPhone or even the iPad any time soon," he added.

MORE: Why Apple Can't Sell Me on Lightning Headphones

Another reason Apple could delay the switch to USB-C on all its devices is to keep a stronghold on its proprietary standard. The Lightning cable, now six years in existence, has grown ubiquitous. Even if you don't own an iPhone, it's hard to avoid overhearing people asking others for an Apple cable to charge their devices.

With a proprietary cable, Apple sells tons of Lightning adapters and influences the accessories market with its Made for iPhone (MFi) certification. The company will reportedly do the same with USB-C-to-Lightning adapters, but that could take some time.  

"The challenge for Apple, with Lightning, is it's a proprietary port so they can control not only the standard but they can ensure that things that are created have received their stamp of approval and will always work a certain way," Tom Mainelli, program vice president at market research firm IDC, told Tom's Guide.

"That has been the Achilles heel of Type-C til now — you don't always get the same features when you use any Type-C plug," Mainelli added. "Apple has always tried to secure a certain level of experience, and when you move to Type-C, that does add a level of uncertainty in terms of capabilities. They will probably wait until more of that is solidified until they move the tens of millions of people who buy iPhones over."

What could change

That's not to say Apple won't transition the iPhone's Lightning connector to the USB-C port somewhere down the line. After all, the company was more than willing to dump the 30-pin connector in favor of Lighting back in 2012 after its 10-year reign. But with a lot riding on the iPhone — it accounts for just under two-thirds of the company’s business — Apple may take a more conservative approach.

"When Apple made the original announcement my first reaction was: The Lightning port's days are numbered," Mainelli said. "As I think about it more, I think that statement is probably true long-term, but it's probably not going to happen too terribly soon on the iPhone."

Mainelli continued, "[On] this generation of iPhones, the form factors are relatively new, so I would expect that Apple will stick with Lightning on the X, XS Max and XR, certainly for the next revision or two. If anything, we don't see Type-C come to the iPhone until we see a more radical, physical redesign of the phone."

As the fate of the Lighting connector hangs in the balance, a cordless elephant in the room casts a shadow over the future of ports in general. While it struggles to push out its own wireless charging pad, Apple has gone full steam ahead on wireless.

Just in the last few years, Apple has released a pair of fully wireless earbuds (AirPods), added Qi wireless charging support for the iPhone, and, most recently, cleverly integrated a cable-free charging solution for its Pencil stylus on the new iPad Pro. Will Apple build a port-free iPhone? Eventually, but probably not before it adopts USB-C.

MORE: USB Type-C FAQ: Everything You Need to Know

"We will likely see a transition to Type-C before going completely wireless. I think there are still use cases and customers who are going to want the flexibility that a physical port brings about," Mainelli said. "We saw, with the new iPad Pro and Pencil 2, Apple's leaning into this idea around wireless even further. I think that's the ultimate endgame."

Don't be surprised if the next iPhone doesn't feature a USB-C port. You might just have to wait a year or two longer — that is, unless Apple finds a solution to get rid of cords altogether.

Credit: Tom's Guide

• These Are the Ports You Need on Your Next Laptop
• The Best USB-C Accessories
• iOS Tips, Tricks and Secrets You Need to Know

Robin E. was folding laundry when she heard her son talking to Alexa downstairs in a soft, hopeful voice. The 5-year-old was asking, "Alexa, will you be my friend?"

Robin held her breath, waiting tensely for Alexa's response. Finally, she heard the assistant say, brightly, "I’m happy to be your friend."

Robin and her husband have an Echo Spot in their bedroom and an Echo Show on their kitchen counter. Her son (who Robin requested not be named in this story) is the oldest of three children, and often has trouble connecting with his peers in his Pre-K. Alexa has been, in Robin's words, a "kind, reassuring presence" as he navigates the new social landscape.

Robin's son was tentative when he first met Alexa. He began by requesting that it play songs he liked, which evolved into questions he was wondering about that day ("How big is the ocean?") and, after a few months, conversational questions ("How are you?" and "Why is your name Alexa?"). And then, after, he asked Alexa to be his friend.

"He knows she's not real in the way that his parents or siblings are real," Robin said, "but her responses feel genuine to him, and provide him comfort."

Four-year-old Aiden has struggled with bullies in school, and has found an unexpected friend in his grandmother's Echo Plus. After a particularly stressful day at school, his mother, Alexandria Melton, heard her son crying in the next room. "Alexa," he asked, "are we friends?"

'Of course we are," Alexa responded.

"Alexa, I love you," Aiden said.

Now, every time Aiden visits his grandmother's house, he greets Alexa, and tells it he loves it. He and Alexa tell jokes and play games. Aiden says "please" when asking, and "thank you" when he's finished.

Neither Robin nor Melton is at all worried about their son's close friendship with a virtual assistant. Should they be?  

Assistant or Family Member?

Over the past year, smart speakers have become more and more of a family affair. Adobe's recent State of Voice Assistants report found that 32 percent of consumers own a smart speaker (compared with 28 percent in January) and predicts that more than 50 percent will own one after the upcoming holiday season.

We're also getting friendlier with them: 53 percent of smart-speaker owners like to ask their voice assistants fun questions, in addition to everyday requests. And according to a Kelton Research study, 39 percent of families who own a Google Home find that it helps them stay organized.

MORE: Best Amazon Alexa Skills - Top 50 Cool and Useful Things

As Alexa makes its way into households around the country, it's important to consider the way in which it will affect kids who may be seeking a friend.

The Good

Dr. John Mayer, an adolescent psychologist, said that he's heard a number of parents express concerns about the amount of time their kids spend talking to voice assistants. Mayer, however, says he's not concerned.

"The behaviors of kids talking to a 'non-real' entity is not new in human development," Mayer said. "A common behavior in children is to talk to imaginary friends."

Kaveri Subrahmanyam, a professor of child and family studies at California State University, Los Angeles, agreed. "Children have always had imaginary friends and/or parasocial relationships with cartoon characters etc, she said. "So in and of itself parents don't have be concerned if children think of Alexa as a friend."

In most cases, experts say, talking to an imaginary friend is a normal and healthy behavior. Like the imaginary friend you may have had as a child, Alexa fulfills a need for stable companionship that can be hard to find in adolescence.

"Alexa always answers back," Melton said of her son's friendship. "He knows Alexa will be there to answer him."

And Robin describes Alexa as a "comfort object on days when the outside world seemed especially confusing." She noted that while school relationships have been tricky and unpredictable for her son, Alexa is "a constant."

Some experts and parents also note that a friendship with Alexa can help children practice friendships outside of school – it's a trial run for the real world.

Robin believes that since her son has became friends with Alexa, his speech has become clearer, and that he's learned to slow down and enunciate so that Alexa can understand him. Scott Ertl, an elementary-school guidance counselor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said he's also seen voice assistants have this impact on kids.

This makes intuitive sense: While parents and teachers can generally piece together sloppy English, Alexa won't give you what you want unless you're clear and concise. This pressures  children to speak clearly to Alexa, and to practice pronouncing difficult words.

Ertl also notes that kids who struggle socially often use Alexa to practice interacting with others. "They might say, 'Tell me a joke,' and then they can retell the joke to to several friends at school or on the bus that day," he said. It’s easy to see how an introduction to the concept of friendship – and an early experience of what that means – can be beneficial for some children.

MORE: 14 Alexa Speakers, Ranked from Best to Worst

And for older children, more time spent with Alexa might detract from worse potential harms that come from screen and cellphone addiction. A 2016 survey found that half of teenagers felt addicted to their phones, while 78 percent reported checking their device at least hourly. Ashley Daigneault, a Rhode Island tech communications professional and parent to a 5-year-old son, said that Alexa use "bypasses the thing many of us are worried about – increased screen time."

The Bad

Fran Walfish, a Beverly Hills family and relationship psychotherapist and author of The Self Aware Parent, believes that children should not make friends with Alexa. Her main objection is that early friendship with Alexa may bring children to expect the same instant, accurate responses from real friends down the line.

"Alexa has taught, or conditioned, kids to expect an immediate response,"  Walfish said. "Human interactiveness requires patience that allows people a chance to think, process information and retrieve responses. Computers, including Alexa, simply spit out their fastest, best response."

"No matter how friendly her voice sounds, Alexa is still, and always will be, an inhuman electronic sound without feelings, or cognitive or emotional capabilities," Walfish said.

Kristen Bertolero, a special-education professor and inclusion facilitator at the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education, said she would never give a student an Alexa device without supervision. Information from friends, whether in conversation or on the internet, isn't always as objective, or accurate, as that which a child may get from Alexa. According to Bertolero, it's dangerous for kids to get in the habit of accepting Alexa's responses at face value, without asking follow-up questions or attempting to verify the claims.  

MORE: The One Alexa Feature You Need to Turn Off

Does this mean all Alexa friendships are bad? Not necessarily –but it's clearly important that your child understand the ways in which a friendship with a voice assistant differs from a friendship with another child.

Warning Signs

Is your child too close to Alexa? Here's a general rule of thumb: Take the technology out. Would you be worried if your child had this relationship with a doll, a stuffed animal or an imaginary friend?

It's unlikely that your kid is at such extreme levels of closeness with Alexa, but there are two red flags you should watch for:

Any indication that Alexa might be "real." Experts and parents generally agree that around age 4, children should understand that Alexa isn't a real person. Mayer and Subrahmanyam both say that if your kid seems to believe Alexa has emotions, or that they're speaking to a living person after that age, that may be a sign of a larger developmental problem.

Alexa cutting into their social time with other children. "Technology – in general – isn’t a replacement for parenting or human social engagement," an Amazon spokesperson says. If your child is eschewing real friendships in favor of Alexa, it's time to intervene.  

What Can You Do?

The best way manage your kid's Alexa interaction will vary based on the child and family in question. Here are three things you could consider:

Use FreeTime. Amazon's FreeTime and FreeTime Unlimited tools allow you to review and listen to your children's interactions with Alexa, so you can pick up on any danger signs, and get a better understanding of the relationship.

Limit their time with Alexa. Like any technology, it's important to set parameters. Ertl suggests that kids not spend more than 10 to 15 minutes per day talking to Alexa. Erica Hartwig, a wedding photographer and parent to five children, has limited her kids to saying "Alexa" five times per day to make sure they're prioritizing their requests. You can also use FreeTime to set limits on Alexa time, if your kid really isn't getting the message.

Take Alexa away for a short period. A week or a month without Alexa can help your kid refocus and find other places to socialize. "They'll forget about it, and when you give it back, it will be like a brand-new toy," said Hartwig, who has done similar things with other technology for her kids.

Bottom Line

Though she'll occasionally have to tell her son "That’s enough Alexa for now," Robin E. hasn't yet felt the need to place any limitations on her son's Alexa use. Both she and Melton firmly believe that Alexa is a comforting presence in their sons' lives. But crucially, both parents are certain their children know that Alexa isn't real, that a friendship with Alexa is different from a real friendship, and that Alexa doesn't detract from their human interactions.

Is a friendship with Alexa good or healthy? That's the wrong question. Any friendship, whether with a voice assistant, a doll, or even a human, has plenty of benefits, but also has the potential to become unhealthy for your child. Don't focus on Alexa – focus on the friendship.

Is your child friends with Alexa? Would you want them to be? Let us know in the comments.

Credit: Amazon

I was sure that the iPhone XS was toast. I just dropped Apple's new flagship phone from 11 feet onto concrete, and the device landed face first. An alarming thud reverberated in the stairwell where we conducted this torture test. I walked down to see where the $1,000 mini computer lay, likely surrounded by shards of glass.

But the screen was not cracked!

I didn't believe it at first, but upon close examination, I could tell that the only visible damage to the iPhone XS was a discolored pixel in the top right corner of the screen. "This is nuts," I said to myself, so I dropped the iPhone XS Max from the same height. No damage. At all.

Apple says that the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have the "most durable glass ever on a smartphone," and after conducting a series of rigorous (though unscientific) tests, I now believe those claims.

I went to this extreme height because of how well the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max endured our other drop tests. We started by dropping both handsets onto concrete from 3 feet, which is about front-pocket height. The first drop test was on the bottom edge for each phone, and both devices came away unscuffed and unscathed.

Then, we dropped the iPhone XS and XS Max from 3 feet, both face-down and on their backs. Once again, Apple's phones shrugged off these plummets. I didn't see a single scratch on the front or rear of either phone, not even a blemish.

That contrasts with the original iPhone X, which cracked after a fall of just 4 feet in our Drop Everything special report earlier this year. Granted, the concrete we used for that testing was less smooth than our office floor, but I didn't anticipate that the iPhone XS and XS Max would survive the next trial.

We conducted all of the same drops once more — bottom edge, face-down and back of the phone — but this time from 5 feet, or about the same height where you would hold the phone when you're having a conversation or snapping a photo. And, shockingly, the iPhone XS and XS Max did not crack or show any signs of damage.

At this point, I was mightily impressed but also pretty bored.

MORE: iPhone XS Max and iPhone XS Review: The Max Steals the Show

So, now you know why we had to raise the stakes to 11 feet. I had to see what it would take to kill these phones. We headed to our office stairwell, and I used Apple's Measure augmented reality app on an older iPhone X to approximate the distance.

As I mentioned above, the iPhone XS survived, amazingly, despite landing face first. The iPhone XS Max lucked out, in a way, in that it landed partially on an edge and then bounced around before landing on concrete. Still, the $1,100 phone looked as pristine as when I took it out of the box.

So, what can kill these iPhones? A drop from about two stories (or about 20 feet) did the trick. The iPhone XS Max landed face first, and there were cracks everywhere on the display. The device basically became unusable, as the screen flashed and only the top portion displayed any info, such as notifications.

Of course, your own mileage may vary on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, and there's no guarantee that they will survive similar drops for you. For instance, SquareTrade (a warranty provider) found that both phones cracked after a 6-foot drop.

I also still recommend investing in a case to prevent scuffs — even if cracks aren't likely — over time. But, overall, the durability of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS has proven to be shockingly good.

Credit: Tom's Guide

• Best Smartphones on the Market Now
• Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life
• Cellphone Carriers: Best and Worst Customer Service

Update Sept. 28: We've updated this story with a new battery result for the older iPhone X and additional context around Apple's iPhone XS battery life claims.

If you really care about battery life and you're in the market for a new iPhone, we would opt for the iPhone XS Max over the iPhone XS. Apple's 6.5-inch flagship lasted nearly an hour longer on a charge than its smaller, 5.8-inch sibling.

On the fence between Android and iOS? You can get considerably better endurance from Android phones, especially those with larger batteries.

iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max: Their Battery Life vs. Competition's

We put the iPhone XS and XS Max through the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness. For this test, we turn Auto-Brightness off and True Tone off in the display settings.

To ensure consistency, we run all of our phone battery tests on T-Mobile's network, and we ensure that the phones have full signal strength by using a signal booster called the T-Mobile 4G LTE CellSpot. In other words, this is as close to ideal conditions as we can get while keeping everything repeatable.

The iPhone XS Max turned in a run time of 10 hours and 38 minutes, which is well above the smartphone category average of 9:48. However, the iPhone XS lasted for just 9:41, which is slightly below the average.

Last year's iPhone X lasted 10:49 on the same test, despite claims from Apple that the iPhone XS was supposed to last 30 minutes longer. However, that claim is based not on web surfing but a mix of real-world activities a given user might do throughout the day.

Interestingly, when we ran the older iPhone X through our battery test again, it achieved a runtime of 9 hours and 51 minutes. That's still better than this year's iPhone XS, but not by much.

MORE: Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life

Why the big drop year over year? Part of it could be the age of the phone, but the battery capacity said 100 percent in the battery health settings of the handset. It could be that the same websites we used in last year's test have injected more Javascript and other code on their pages, which could place more stress on the phones.

Both new iPhones beat certain Android phones, such as the HTC U12+ (9:13) and LG G7 ThinQ (8:35), but they were outclassed by other Android flagships in this category.

Google's Pixel 2, for example, lasted 12 hours and 9 minutes on our test, while the Huawei P20 Pro endured for more than 14 hours. The Galaxy Note 9, which packs a 4,000-mAh battery, lasted a very good 11:16, which is nearly 40 minutes longer than the iPhone XS Max lasted.

Based on a recent teardown, the iPhone XS has a relatively small battery compared to most Android phones, at 2,659 mAh, which is smaller than the 2,716-mAh battery in last year's iPhone X. The iPhone XS reportedly packs a beefier, 3,179-mAh battery, but that's still less than what most Android flagships have, ranging from 3,500 to 4,000 mAh.

To be fair, the size of the battery is only one factor in a phone's battery life. The software, processor and other aspects also come into play. In fact, the 7-nanometer A12 Bionic chip in the new iPhones has four efficiency cores that are designed to be up to 50 percent more efficient than the A11 Bionic.

But based on our results, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max don't have the staying power of the best Android phones when it comes to our web surfing test.

Credit: Tom's Guide

Nvidia's latest behemoths, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080, are finally here to show their worth. For $1,199 and $799, respectively, these high-end cards promise 4K gaming and realistic effects like we've never seen before. But how does that translate on paper?

Our sister-site Tom's Hardware put these monsters to the test on multiple gaming benchmarks against their GTX predecessors, as well as the Titan series and AMD's Radeon RX line. Be sure to check out the Tom's Hardware reviews of the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 for a more thorough look at each graphics card and even more gaming benchmarks.

MORE: The Best PC Games to Play Right Now

In many ways, Nvidia proved that the RTX cards are the masters of 1440p, 4K and even HDR, but do the numbers justify the upgrade? Let's take a closer look at the benchmarks:

Rise of the Tomb Raider

On the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Very High, 1440p), the RTX 2080 Ti nailed 97.8 frames per second, flying by its predecessor, the GTX 1080 Ti (78.4 fps), and its competitor, the monstrous Titan V (90.3 fps). The RTX 2080 (78.7 fps) similarly beat the GTX 1080 (60 fps), but the Titan X ran a tighter race, achieving 78.2 fps.

Turning this baby up to 4K yielded some interesting results. The RTX 2080 Ti (80.4 fps) wrecked the GTX 1080 Ti (65.2 fps), but the gap tightened between RTX 2080 Ti and the Titan V (76.9 fps). Meanwhile, the RTX 2080 (65.3 fps) did even better against the GTX 1080 (48.1 fps), and the Titan X (64 fps) continued to keep up with the RTX 2080.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

On the Witcher 3 benchmark (Ultra, 1440p), the RTX 2080 Ti blasted its competitors, with a whopping 156.3 fps, while the GTX 1080 Ti (117.6 fps) could barely keep up and the Titan V (140.3 fps) fell behind by a few frames. As expected, the RTX 2080 (132.6 fps) destroyed the GTX 1080 (88.7 fps) and even broke the tight competition with the Titan X (113.6 fps).

At 4K, the RTX 2080 Ti lost a third of its frames but still managed a solid 94.1 fps, narrowly beating the Titan V (89 fps), while leaving the GTX 1080 Ti (65.9 fps) in the dust. The RTX 2080 hit 76.5 fps, which knocked out the GTX 1080 (49.8 fps) as well as the Titan X (66.8 fps).

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V's benchmarks were the most interesting, as all the GPUs performed within a  few frames of one another. At Very High 1440p, the RTX 2080 Ti averaged 99.7 fps, the Titan V hit 95.5 fps and the GTX 1080 Ti nipped at both of their heels, with 93 fps. The RTX 2080 (91.8 fps), however, actually lost to the Titan X (93.4 fps) but still jumped ahead of the GTX 1080 and its 76.6 fps.

When bringing Rockstar's hyper-realistic city up to 4K, the frames stayed pretty consistent, as the RTX 2080 Ti secured 97.7 fps. The Titan V (93.4 fps) was still close, but the GTX 1080 Ti fell further down the poll, with 84.8 fps. On the other side, the RTX 2080 (86.7 fps) once again lost to the Titan X (86.8), by just a hair, and the GTX 1080 fell further down, to 70.1 fps.

Destiny 2

The RTX 2080 Ti sped through the Destiny 2 benchmark (Highest, 1440p) at 163.2 fps, sailing past the Titan V (143.2 fps) and the GTX 1080 Ti (129.8 fps). Its little brother, the RTX 2080, got 133.5 fps and took back the throne from the Titan X (125.3 fps), while defeating the GTX 1080 (100.7 fps) by a considerable margin again.

Those frames drop in 4K just as fast as Guardians do, as the RTX 2080 Ti fell down to 91.6 fps, while still retaining its top spot. The Titan V followed close behind, at 86.1 fps, and the GTX 1080 Ti dropped further down, to 68 fps. Meanwhile, the RTX 2080 held a steady 73.5 fps, just barely defeating the Titan X (71.7 fps), while outrunning the GTX 1080 (53.8 fps).

How does the RTX handle frames in 4K HDR, you ask? Pretty damn well. The RTX 2080 Ti dropped only a few frames, to 85 fps. That pattern was consistent with the performance from the RTX 2080 (68.2 fps) and the GTX 1080 Ti (64.2 fps).

Far Cry 5

With the RTX 2080 Ti, you'll be able to parachute into Hope County in Far Cry 5 (Ultra, 1440p) at a smooth 118.4 fps. The Titan V isn't far behind, with 110.2 fps, but the GTX 1080 Ti couldn't make it to the triple digits, reaching 99.3 fps. The gaps were similar with the RTX 2080 (102.7 fps), the Titan X (97.4 fps) and the GTX 1080 (79.9 fps).

4K is once again the frame killer, slicing the RTX 2080 Ti down to 71.7 fps, with the Titan V (66 fps) and the GTX 1080 Ti (52 fps) following behind. The RTX 2080 fell under the 60-fps standard of quality, dropping to 57 fps, while the Titan X averaged 53.6 fps and the GTX 1080 dropped to 42.3 fps.

Chopping down cultists is going to cost you a few extra frames in 4K HDR. The RTX 2080 Ti hit a solid 69.1 fps, while the RTX 2080 fell to 55.5 fps and the GTX 1080 Ti did slightly better than in the previous test, with 52.2 fps.

Bottom Line

The RTX 2080 Ti is an absolute powerhouse, ripping apart multiple games at over 60 fps at 4K HDR on the highest settings, but the difference between the RTX 2080 and the GTX 1080 Ti is quite small. That's not to mention that at $1,200 and $800 for the 2080 Ti and 2080, respectively, these cards can cost as much as a budget gaming laptop.

MORE: The Best Gaming Desktops Available Now

If you're already rocking a high-performance GPU like the GTX 1080 Ti, you're not getting a big upgrade, but if you have something with lower performance, like the GTX 1070, then you have something to consider. These chips come at a high price, but the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 dominate their predecessors and make 4K easily achievable without sacrifice.

Credit: Tom's Hardware

The world's first 7-nanometer processor in a phone isn't the breakthrough that the A11 Bionic was regarding raw performance, but it still runs circles around Android phones powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 chip in several world real-world tests and synthetic benchmarks.

The new hexa-core chip inside the iPhone XS and XS Max packs two performance cores that are designed to be 15 percent faster than its predecessor, along with four high-efficiency cores that use up to 50 percent less power, according to the company. On top of that is a four-core GPU that Apple says is up to 50 percent faster.

Here are the results so far, based on our testing. If there are any tests you would like us to run in addition to what you see here, please let us know in the comments.

Geekbench 4 (Multicore)

Geekbench 4 is a benchmark that measures overall performance, and no other phone comes close to Apple's new handsets on this test. The iPhone Xs notched 11,420, and the iPhone Xs Max hit 11,515. The older iPhone X scored 10,357, so that's about an 11 percent improvement.

There's a lot more distance between the new iPhones and Android flagships. The fastest Android phone around, the OnePlus 6, scored 9,088 on Geekbench 4 with its 8GB of RAM, while the Galaxy Note 9 reached 8,876.

Video Editing (Transcode 2-minute 4K clip to 1080p)

*Doesn't support Adobe Clips app

To test real-world performance, we use the Adobe Premiere Clips app to transcode a 2-minute 4K video to 1080p. The iPhone X was miles ahead last year with a time of just 42 seconds. This time around, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max knocked it down further to 39 seconds.

MORE: iPhone Xs Max and iPhone Xs Review: This Is Obscene

The Galaxy S9+ took 2 minutes and 32 seconds to complete the task, and that's the fastest we've seen from an Android phone. The OnePlus 6 finished in 3:45, and the LG G7 ThinQ took 3:16.

App Open Times (Lower is better)

One good way to measure real-world performance is to see how long it takes for a phone to load demanding apps. Because the phones have the same processor for this round, we just used the iPhone Xs Max and put it up against the iPhone X and the Galaxy Note 9.

The iPhone XS Max was faster every  time, including a 15-second victory in Fortnite over the Note 9 and 3-second win in Asphalt 9. The phones were closer in Pokémon Go but the iPhone XS Max still came out on top.

3DMark Slingshot Extreme (Graphics)

Here's one test where the new iPhones fell behind. 3DMark Slingshot Extreme measures graphics performance by evaluating everything from rendering to volumetric lighting. The OnePlus 6 fared best in this test with a score of 5,124, followed by the Galaxy Note 9 and S9+. The iPhone XS Max and iPhone X finished behind those handsets.

GFXBench 5.0/Metal

The new iPhones turned the tables on the GFXBench 5, which is longer and more intense than 3DMark Slingshot Extreme. The Aztec Ruins scene, for example, is highly detailed with complex graphics designed to stress a phone.

The iPhone XS Max achieved 1,604.7 frames on the Aztec Ruins portion of the test, and 1,744.44 frames in the Car Chase test. The Note 9 was far behind at 851.7 and 1,103 frames, respectively. However, the Galaxy S9+ edged past the iPhone XS Max on this test.

Bottom Line

Based on our testing, the A12 Bionic processor inside the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max make these the fastest phones you can buy. Android phones powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 chip are speedy but they are a step behind Apple's phones. We plan on conducting more tests, including evaluating LTE speeds on the new iPhones versus other phones, and will add the results to this report. 

Credit: Tom's Guide

Go shopping on Amazon for anything — laptops, diapers, door locks, tires — and you'll likely study a product's star rating, as well as the number of reviews it has, when choosing the one to buy. Even better if it has the "Amazon's Choice" seal of approval, which, according to Amazon, is reserved for "highly rated, well-priced products available to ship immediately."

But can you trust these ratings, and this badge, at face value? No.

Seemingly since the first book went up on this massive e-tailer, companies have been trying to game Amazon's rating system to ensure that more people buy their products.

The more positive reviews a product gets, the higher its visibility on Amazon's search pages. Like Google page rankings, being in the first 10 listings makes it much more likely that a shopper will click on the product and buy it. So, companies have devised a number of strategies to goose the number of positive reviews.

"There's a lot of tricks that sellers can do that aren't breaking the rules, but are still misleading,” said Tommy Noonan, the founder of ReviewMeta.com, a site that analyzes Amazon reviews for authenticity.

For example, a seller might send an email to a customer about a product they purchased, offering to give them a discount if they give the product a high rating. "It's encouraging people to review, but only those who are positive ones," Noonan said.

Gaming the system

Early on, companies would give free or highly discounted products to consumers, who would then write glowing reviews. Even though Amazon banned this practice in 2016, product manufacturers haven't stopped.

One brazen method is to simply pay people to write reviews; Amazon has sued a number of sites, such as BuyAmazonReviews.com, in an effort to crack down on this method.

Another way that Amazon tries to improve the authenticity of its reviews is through verified purchases; if you review a product that you purchased through Amazon, a "Verified Purchase" will appear with your review.

Here, too, though, companies have found a way to artificially inflate their products' ratings: Using gift cards, they will anonymously send products for free to random individuals, in the hope that those people will then write reviews on Amazon. Because Amazon's system thinks that the individual "purchased" the item, the review will show up as a Verified Purchase.

Go on Facebook and search for Amazon Review, and you'll find dozens of groups with companies asking people to buy and review their products; in exchange, they promise to refund the full amount of the product. Some even offer a commission. The USA amazon reviewers club, for instance, has nearly 5,000 members, with individuals with such catchy names as Bob Dylan asking for reviews of tablecloth clips. Another "Amazon Review Club" group has more than 45,000 members. And, because these "reviewers" have purchased the product, they show up as Verified.

MORE: 100+ Tech Gift Ideas for Men, Women and Kids

"Consumers do rely upon reviews for purchasing products and services, and it matters a lot to them whether those reviews are reliable," said Michael Ostheimer, an attorney in the Division of Advertising Practices in the Federal Trade Commission. “With respect to fake reviews, we have not brought cases, but it is on our radar, and is something that we will continue to investigate."

For its part, Amazon says it doesn't take misleading user reviews lightly. "We know that millions of customers make informed buying decisions every day using Customer Reviews,"  a spokesperson said. "We take this responsibility very seriously and defend the integrity of reviews by taking aggressive action to protect customers from dishonest parties who are abusing the reviews system."

Amazon says that customers can report suspicious reviews 24 hours a day, seven days a week and that it investigates each claim. The company will also suspend, ban or "pursue legal action against these bad actors as well as suppress all known inauthentic reviews."

Update (Sept. 2018): Even more recently, a Wall Street Journal story reported that Amazon was investigating company employees who were accepting bribes to delete negative reviews and provide competitive data to some vendors.

But the problem isn't going away.

What can you do?

So how can you be sure that the reviews you're looking at are legitimate and unbiased? The fact is, you can't. But there are ways to be better informed.

Two services, Fakespot and ReviewMeta, have developed algorithms for detecting deceptive practices. ReviewMeta, for example, takes a look at a number of factors, such as the number of reviews a user has posted; if a significant percentage of reviews for a product were posted on a disproportionately small number of days' phrase repetition; and more.

Fakespot also looks at traits such as word repetition and reviewer patterns, and gives a grade based on how many reviews it thinks are of high quality. Saoud Khalifah started the site in 2014 after he bought something on Amazon that was highly rated, but turned out to be junk.

"Something I ordered didn't match at all with what I ordered," Khalifah said. "I took a look at the reviews and the profiles, and could figure out they were biased and there was deception involved."

How did he get fooled? By not digging any deeper than just looking at the ratings. "[The sellers] know that people do the one-click checkouts,”  Khalifah said. "It's the same trap I fell into when I started using Amazon."

Using AI and machine learning, Khalifah developed an algorithm that, among other things, detects if a person is writing the same review from multiple accounts and if the reviewer has seen that company or product before. It also takes into account all other reviews written about the company, product and by the person writing the review.

Recently, devious companies have resorted to yet another tactic, called "review hijacking." Here, they will find a defunct, but highly rated product, and change everything on the page — the product name, picture, description, etc. — but leave the reviews intact. So, at first glance, a baby monitor might appear to have a rating of 4.5 stars — which is as far as most consumers will look — but if you dig into the reviews, they'll be for something completely different, like bicycle tires.

The problem with algorithms

Noonan acknowledges that his ReviewMeta service isn't perfect, and cautions against labeling a review as "fake." "There's no guarantee that anything is accurate. It's a best guess, and the same goes with Fakespot. Nobody has a magic wand were you can point to a single review and say that's fake or that's not."

For example, there are often legitimate reasons why a lot of customers might review something in a short time span, which can trick his system. "You see that a lot with seasonal products — huge spikes of reviews just after the season, or when there's a lightning deal. You see that a lot with books, too," he said.

Many of Amazon's products fall subject to this. The second-generation Amazon Echo has an average rating of 4.5 stars, and more than 29,000 reviews. Fakespot gives it an F: more than 77 percent low-quality reviews. ReviewMeta also gives it a Fail. One of the reasons? 54 percent of the reviews were created in just over 34 days; however, these are all in early January and February — right after the holidays, when the Echo was a much-gifted item.

And, just because a review may be inauthentic doesn't mean the product is bad. Take, for example, the aforementioned Echo: Tom's Guide, which independently reviews products, named it the best smart speaker. It also received high marks from other independent tech review sites such as CNET, PCMag and The Verge.

MORE: Buying a Used iPhone? Here's How to Avoid a Rip-Off

Also, a new company with a new but otherwise good product may try to "seed" some reviews to get it to rank higher in Amazon, and noticed by more consumers. While this will raise flags with Fakespot and ReviewMeta, it's a reflection of the newness of the product, and not how good or bad it is. "It's not a judgment of the quality of the product; we are only testing the reviews,"  Khalifah said.

Amazon takes (some) action

With millions of reviews for hundreds of thousands of products, the task can seem Sisyphean. Like Fakespot and ReviewMeta, Amazon also uses machine learning to weed out the bad from the good.

"When we identify companies who have abused the reviews system, we suspend or ban them from Amazon," the Amazon spokesperson said. "Abusing reviews puts the company's business at risk. In addition to advance detection, we've filed lawsuits against more than 1,000 defendants for reviews abuse."

However, even reviews from Amazon's own programs can be called into question. Launched in 2007, Amazon Vine is an invite-only program where select individuals receive free products, and are expected to review them. While there is a vetting process — participants are selected "based on their reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of their reviews as judged by other Amazon customers," according to Amazon — both ReviewMeta and Fakespot have determined that Vine reviews are generally more positive than reviews as a whole, and will take that into account.

"If you look at Amazon Basics battery packs, they have thousands of reviews," Khalifah said. "Why would anyone review batteries? They either work or they don't. But they're all part of the Vine review program. Amazon knows in order to sell more products, they need better ratings and better reviews."

In 2016, ReviewMeta did an analysis of Vine reviews versus regular and incentivized reviews, and found that while Vine reviews were less glowing than incentivized reviews, there was still some inherent bias. Noonan said that its findings should still be accurate.

Fakespot gives this 48-pack of AA batteries a C grade — 21 percent of its 22,196 reviews are low quality. ReviewMeta also gave it a pass, but both services noted that Amazon had deleted a lot of reviews for the product. But does that mean the reviews that are left are the legitimate ones? It's hard to say.

Bottom line

So what can  consumers do to find out if the reviews they're reading are an accurate representation of the product's worth? For one, look for sites that are transparent about their editorial practices.

"There's no golden answer as to how a consumer can know if something is a fake review," said the FTC's Ostheimer. “A more fulsome, detailed review is more likely to be real, but you can't assume that's the case. With some products, one can look them up on multiple review sites, or sites that are in the business of reviewing products."

The answer given by everyone is to do as much digging as possible, and not rely on just one site as the ultimate answer.

"My goal is to help provide more information," Noonan says. "Blindly accepting [ReviewMeta's] analysis is just as bad as taking the average product rating on Amazon. Staying critical of everything you read is critical."

"Research as much as possible,"  Khalifah said. "If you're buying something expensive, look at reviews, videos, vlog posts. You have to put all those variables together."

Credit: Shutterstock

"You don't think it could ever happen to you," said Janette Fennell, president and founder of Kids and Cars, referring to the accidental death due to heatstroke of children left in cars.

But it does happen. Every nine days a child dies from vehicular heatstroke in the U.S., according to Kids and Cars. Tragically, the children are often unintentionally left in the car by their own distracted parents, and it's not just a summer danger. Within 10 minutes, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics, the temperature inside a closed car can rise 20 degrees, and children have died in cars when the temperature outside was only 60 degrees, according to safety-seat maker Evenflo.

Since 1990, over 800 children have died from heatstroke in the U.S. after being left in cars, an average of 37 children each year, according to the National Safety Council. It is a needless tragedy, say safety advocates, but one common enough to garner its own acronym: PVH, for pediatric vehicular heatstroke.

There are now several technological solutions to combat this issue, ranging from apps and safety gear to a handful of cars available with built-in child-reminder systems. Advocates want more, however, and have been encouraging proposed legislation that would mandate that carmakers include prevention systems and alerts in all vehicles in the future.

How Apps Can Help

The simplest solution for parents and caregivers is to use a smartphone as a warning system. For example, Waze, the wildly popular traffic app, has a little-known setting people can use to remind them a toddler is in the back seat.

"In the U.S. alone, nearly 40 children and hundreds of pets die of heat stroke from being left in a hot car each year, so we felt it was necessary to offer this possibly life-saving reminder to our users."— Terry Wei, Waze spokesperson

To turn it on, you go to "Settings," and then under "Advanced settings" you'll find "General" settings, which is where you'll locate a menu where you can select the "Child Reminder" feature. Once it's turned on, whenever you reach the destination on a route, a chime on the phone will sound and display a Child Reminder alert to check the back seat.

"In the U.S. alone, nearly 40 children and hundreds of pets die of heatstroke from being left in a hot car each year," said Waze spokesperson Terry Wei, "so we felt it was necessary to offer this possibly life-saving reminder to our users."

MORE: Best Parental Control Apps 2018 - iPhone & Android Phone Monitoring

It's not a foolproof solution, however. The Waze child alert works only if you have your phone with you and you happen to be using the app to navigate somewhere. Unfortunately, most people don't use the app for regular trips to the grocery store and other sundry tasks. And the child-reminder setting is buried several layers deep in the app, making it awkward to turn on and off at will.

A Smarter Car Seat

Although there have been some aftermarket systems, such as clip-on sensors and pads, safety experts don't recommend them because anything you add to a child's seat can potentially reduce its effectiveness in  a crash. A better approach is to build such a system into a child's car seat or a car.

Child-car-seat maker Evenflo offers a system it calls SensorSafe in a number of infant and toddler car seats, which start at $90.

"Evenflo's SensorSafe generates a series of tones to remind the driver that a child is secured in a car seat in the rear seat of the vehicle, within 2 seconds of turning off the vehicle,” explained Sarah Haverstick, Evenflo safety advocate. The system has two components, a special chest clip in the seat and a wireless receiver that plugs into the onboard diagnostics (OBD) port under the dash of most cars.

The advantage of the Evenflo system is that it doesn't require an app or a smartphone, and it alerts parents if the child unbuckles his or her seatbelt while in transit. The system works in cars from 2008 on. Hybrid cars and vehicles with start/stop fuel-saving systems can also use Evenflo's SensorSafe, but a different OBD receiver — available from the company — is required.

Automakers Take Action

Elsa Foley is the mother of two boys, ages 4 and 5, so she's sensitive to the problem of PVH. She also happens to be an engineer at Nissan, so she did something about it. Foley helped develop Nissan's rear-door alert system that first appeared in the 2018 Pathfinder.

"The idea is to have the horn honk to remind drivers to check the back seat" when they park, Foley said. "We paired it with a message in the instrument cluster, but since you might miss that, if you don't open the rear door, after a couple of seconds a distinctive horn honk sounds."

Foley said Nissan focused on a simple yet effective solution that could easily be added to all of the company's vehicles in the future. The software is also smart enough to account for parents unpacking a stroller; if you open the rear hatch first, the car won't honk at you right away.

Other automakers have begun to introduce systems to prevent PVH. GM, for example, has a similar rear-seat reminder as standard equipment in its Terrain, Acadia and Yukon SUVs.

Tesla has a cabin-overheat-protect feature that can automatically turn on a vehicle's air conditioning should the interior temperature rise above 105 degrees Fahrenheit (it will stay on for up to 12 hours).

"The idea is to have the horn honk to remind drivers to check the back seat."— Elsa Foley, Nissan engineer

Several car companies are exploring other solutions.

"Honda has investigated these types of fatalities and is working on a countermeasure that will be applied in our future vehicles," said Natalie Kumaratne, a safety specialist at Honda.

Ultimately, the goal is to have such alerts in all cars and SUVs.

Legislation on the Way (Maybe)

There is legislation wending its way through the U.S. Congress now. Originally a separate bill, the "rear-seat-occupant-alert-system" mandate has been added to the Self Drive Act, which is intended to facilitate the introduction of autonomous vehicles.

MORE: Best Family Movies on Netflix

Adding it to the bill makes technical sense, since autonomous cars will need to be able to sense who is in a vehicle at all times using pressure, video or ultrasonic sensors. Unfortunately, like most government bills, it has been bogged down in red tape.

Kids and Cars' Fennell, who fought for years to make rear-view cameras mandatory to prevent back-over deaths, wants to see action sooner, rather than later. (Rear-view cameras became required equipment in cars and light trucks just last month.)

"If you don't buckle your seat belt, you get a buzz," Fennell said. "If you leave your lights on, the car automatically shuts them off. So is it more important to prevent a dead battery than a dead child?"

School's out, which means kids have more unstructured hours to fill. For many parents, this brings up the conflict around screen time: what percentage of each day their children spend playing video games like Fortnite; scrolling through social media; watching YouTube videos; and engaging with their phones, computers and tablets.

The concern is not unfounded at a time when most U.S. homes have mobile devices and people are spending more time staring at screens. According to a 2017 report from the nonprofit Common Sense Media, kids under age 8 spend an average of 2.25 hours per day in front of a screen; 48 minutes of that is on a mobile device. An earlier survey found that kids ages 8-12 view 4.5 hours of screen media per day, while teens consume more than 6.5 hours.  

More downtime may translate to more screen time for your kids, but there are ways to manage device usage without causing too much conflict.

Quick Screen-Time Management Tips

• Focus on quality of content over quantity; not all screen time is created equal.
• Set reasonable, consistent limits so your child knows what to expect, and enforce these rules from an early age.
• Talk to your kids about their technology use; learn what they enjoy and why.
• Engage with the same games (like Fortnite), apps and videos as your kids to give credibility to your time and use restrictions.
• Use parental control apps like Apple's new Screen Time to keep track of your child's device usage, and set appropriate limits.
• Don't rely on screen time as a reward or punishment.
• Plan another activity at the end of your child's screen time.

There are no hard numbers for screen-time limits

The answer to the question of exactly how many hours kids should spend on their devices is: It depends. Parents looking for a recommendation won't find a consensus, because experts say there isn't one — and that the hype around screen time may be overblown.

Chris Ferguson, a clinical psychologist and professor at Stetson University in Florida, told Tom's Guide that some research suggests that kids can get away with as many as 6 hours of screen time per day, which seems "normal," though he cautioned against fixating on a specific number of minutes or hours. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not offer a specific recommendation for kids ages 6 and older except to say that parents should have consistent limits that prevent media from replacing sleep, physical activity, and other health-related behaviors.

Ferguson also noted that the evidence for correlations with negative effects like depression and suicide is minimal; in fact, screen time, when balanced, can be good for learning, stress reduction and just blowing off steam, he said.

"The first thing we have to recognize is that screens are just fun," Ferguson said. "And fun is good, as long as it's not overdone."

Not all screen time is purely for fun and enjoyment, however. Apps, videos and games can also be educational, foster problem-solving abilities and provide a creative outlet, so hard limits on all types of media aren't as beneficial as parents believe, experts said.

"Compare 30 minutes of watching a really poor-quality YouTube clip that has lots of adult themes and isn't appropriate versus [spending] 2 hours on a drawing app where [your child] is learning new skills," said Joanne Orlando, a senior lecturer at Australia's Western Sydney University who researches technology and learning.

Talk to (and play with) your kids

Psychology experts, pediatricians and researchers agree that the first step to managing screen time is to talk to your children about it. Parents should regularly ask their kids what they like to do on their devices and then sit down with them while they play video games or watch YouTube videos. Engaging with the same media your kids do gives you more leeway to set limits, because your kids know that you've actually experienced the content, Ferguson said.

"If parents try to clamp down in an extreme way, it will stop [kids] from being willing to actually talk to their parents if something goes wrong, and the negative effects become very severe."— Amy Orben, psychological researcher, University of Oxford

"If you have a 14-year-old who wants to play Grand Theft Auto and you have yourself made an effort to play [the game] with them, know what's in it and decide that it's too much, you have a lot more credibility if you've made that effort to become seriously informed," he said.

Orlando recommended that parents set reasonable, consistent limits on screen time but also stay flexible — allowing different amounts on school nights versus weekends, for example — to help kids learn to regulate themselves. She also advised against using screens to reward or punish behavior.

"It puts technology on a pedestal and makes it the end-all be-all, the ultimate thing I can take from you or give to you," she said. "What it's doing is causing unhealthy attitudes."

MORE: Best Parental Control Apps 2018 - iPhone & Android Phone Monitoring

Instead of making screen time contingent upon completing chores or exercising and instead of banning it as a punishment, parents can take another approach: Try scheduling set plans, such as an errand or social time with friends, at the time when parents want device use to end. While parents shouldn't be their kids' concierge, this approach helps to give children an active alternative to screen time.

"If parents try to clamp down in an extreme way, it could stop [kids] from being willing to actually talk to their parents if something goes wrong, and the negative effects can become very severe," said Amy Orben, a United Kingdom-based psychological researcher and college lecturer at the University of Oxford. "To really be open and actively involved in your child's technology use seems to be the most positive way" of approaching the issue, she said, which will help kids feel comfortable sharing if they encounter inappropriate content or are bullied.

Using tech tools to manage tech time

There is some irony in using technology to control the use of technology, but a number of third-party apps can help parents monitor and manage their kids' screen time. Qustodio, for example, lets you set time limits on individual iOS and Android apps and see who your child is texting with as well as the contents of those messages.

Services like Kidslox, OurPact and unGlue provide similar functionality for setting screen-time restrictions and monitoring use. But all of these apps require a separate download and a subscription fee for the most-robust controls, and the services have mixed reviews on ease of use.

Apple's Screen Time vs. Google's Digital Wellbeing

In recent months, Apple and Google have incorporated screen-time-management tools and parental controls into their OS options. Apple's iOS 12 comes with Screen Time, a tool that provides more visibility on time spent in specific apps and the number of times users pick up their phones (though we find there are better options for iOS parental control apps.)

The idea is to help users better understand how they interact with their devices throughout the day. For parents whose children have devices connected on Family Sharing, Screen Time is supposed to assist with setting and sticking to limits.

Parental controls inside Screen Time allow parents to see how kids are using their iOS devices and to remotely manage time limits for apps. Kids will be able to request additional time once they reach those limits, and parents will receive a notification that they can accept or decline those requests, or disable access to the apps altogether. Parents can also set Downtime, which prevents kids from using certain apps or their entire devices during certain hours. Screen Time is baked into the Settings app and does not require a separate download.

"I don't want technology to do it for me. I want technology to help me."— Carolina Milanesi, principal analyst, Creative Strategies

Google's Android P has similar time-tracking and -management functionality in its Digital Wellbeing suite; it tracks usage stats and will gray out apps once users have reached their preset time limits. But parents have to download the Family Link app to view their children's stats, set app limits and bedtimes, and remotely lock the kids' devices. With an Amazon FreeTime subscription, parents can remotely view their child's activity; set time limits; and pause compatible Fire, Echo, Kindle and Android devices.

MORE: Screen Time in iOS 12: Everything You Need to Know

Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst at the Silicon Valley-based market research firm Creative Strategies, told Tom's Guide that one perk of built-in controls like Screen Time is that they provide visibility, so kids can manage their own device usage. She said she doesn't expect these apps to replace active parenting; rather, they offer a straightforward way to teach kids to be responsible.

"I see it as my responsibility to parent my child," she said. "I don't want technology to do it for me — I want technology to help me."

Fortnite and "gaming disorder"

Parents around the world report that their kids are hooked on Fortnite, a video game so popular that it may rival some of the top-visited websites on the internet. Fortnite can be played solo, but it also has a social element and keeps people engaged with its high-quality graphics, frequent updates and fast pace. Adults and kids alike play for hours on end; the latter are even logging on during the school day, which has some people concerned about the long-term health consequences.  

Late last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) added "gaming disorder" to the draft version of its 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Under WHO's definition, individuals with gaming disorder have "impaired control over gaming," prioritize games over other interests and activities, and continue to play in spite of negative consequences.  

Researchers like Orben cautioned against classifying gaming behavior under this definition, citing limited scientific evidence to support a formal diagnosis of such a disorder. There's not enough data on the broad impact of long-term technology use, and even the research that does exist fails to show a uniformly negative effect, Orben said.

Experts also noted that calling screen time and game play an addiction aligns the behavior too closely with the clinical definitions of substance use and abuse. Fortnite, while wildly popular and sometimes problematic, is a fad, not an addiction — even if it has longer legs than similar hits like Pokémon Go, Ferguson said.

"Screens are not like cocaine or heroin, and they do not work the same way no matter how many times you read that," he said. "This is one of most common myths that is out there."

Bottom line

If you're worried about your kids' screen time this summer, know that there are ways to keep it in check. Talk to your kids about how they use their devices; spend time playing, watching or learning with them, and set clear boundaries whether or not you use parental control tools like Screen Time and Family Link.

Guidelines from child-development experts suggest that as long as kids can still engage in school and other activities, are able to interact socially, and are physically healthy, their digital media use likely isn't problematic. Screens are part of our everyday lives, and although parents should keep an eye on the time their kids spend on devices, there are greater risks for kids' well-being than YouTube, Fortnite and Snapchat.

Credit: Shutterstock

Fortnite Cheat Sheet: What Parents Need to Know

• Parents see Fortnite as a safe middle ground between games like Minecraft and Call of Duty.
• But many kids have a hard time putting Fortnite down and play through the night, and a number of teens have been brought to psychologists because their school performance has dipped and their interest in social activities has declined.
• "Fortnite" games are short — typically less than 20 to 25 minutes. So after getting close to winning, it's highly tempting to give it another try, similar to a slot machine.
• In general, a healthy gaming diet would include no more than 40 minutes a night on school nights and no more than an hour a day on weekends.

Being a child psychologist and a father, Randy Kulman is no stranger to video games popular among kids. But a few months ago in his office, after four teenagers in a row mentioned "Fortnite," he started wondering if he was dealing with something new this time.

In the following weeks, more kids and their concerned parents proved his hunch, and so did the numbers. "Fortnite: Battle Royale" is indeed the most popular game in the world right now. The fast-pace survival game, in which 100 players are dropped onto a colorful island and fight until only one remains, has over 40 million active monthly players, and its videos are the most watched on YouTube and the streaming platform Twitch.

Likened in the New Yorker to Beatlemania and the viral Tide Pod challenge, "Fortnite" has become a social phenomenon engulfing children and adults alike, including Major League Baseball players, whom you might have seen breaking into the game's dances (called "emotes") on the field.

Child psychologists are seeing a version of this frenzy playing out in their offices. "It's quite the phenomenon among kids in my practice," said Kulman, who is the clinical director of South County Child and Family Consultants in Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Their patients, Kulman and other psychologists described, are obsessed with the game, and some have played it several thousand times. Many have a hard time putting it down and play through the night, hidden from their parents ― some even throw violent tantrums when parents take their console away. A number of teens have been brought to the psychologists because their school performance has dipped and their interest in social activities in the real world has declined.

MORE: 7 Ways to Short-Circuit Kids' Mobile Addiction

All of these behaviors are signs of a problematic relationship with video gaming, driving parents and teachers to ask if they are losing the children to "Fortnite." But kids' obsession with video games has a history: So is Fortnite just having a moment, or is it more addictive than previous games?

Although "Fortnite" is immensely popular, some psychologists note the obsessive behaviors associated with it are nothing new.

"I do see a similar pattern among the patients in my practice," said Emily Gifford, a clinical psychologist in Westchester, New York. Some of her "Fortnite"-obsessed patients, too, are struggling to manage their time and are constantly fighting with their parents about when they can get back on the game. "That said, I'm not sure I can say that, statistically, I am seeing the pattern with any greater frequency or sense of urgency than I have with other video games that came before it."

Still, there are several qualities to "Fortnite" that may have led to its widespread popularity, the experts said. 

In "Fortnite," players scavenge for weapons and resources, build structures and defeat other players. By combining elements of shooter games and building games like "Minecraft," "Fortnite" is able to attract players with a wide range of interests.

"Taking what I hear from my patients, 'Fortnite' does seem to fill a void in the current video-game selection," Gifford said. "There was, on one end of the continuum 'Minecraft' and, at the other end, 'Call of Duty.' 'Fortnite' is a third-person shooter game with a social component along with building and strategizing."

These features, as well as a cartoonish style that makes violent moments less jarring, make "Fortnite" more attractive to parents who must decide which games their kids can play. "It seems to offer a middle ground, perhaps where parents are more comfortable saying OK, rather than drawing a hard line in the sand about a more aggressive game," Gifford said.

MORE: 25 Scientific Tips For Raising Happy (and Healthy) Kids

And once inside the world of "Fortnite," it's easy to want to stay. Unlike progression-style games that follow a predetermined storyline, "Fortnite" is designed in "sandbox" style, allowing players to roam freely and explore every corner of an open virtual world. "The sandbox games tend to engage kids for longer and longer periods of time," Kulman said. "And in 'Fortnite,' if you lose you can just come right back in."

"Fortnite" games also involve chance, and they're short — typically less than 20 to 25 minutes. So after getting close to winning, it's highly tempting to give it another try, similar to playing a casino slot machine. This is yet another feature of the game that makes it hard to put down, Kulman said.

While some children manage to find a balance between video games and other activities, others may need help. "Game addiction is not a formal diagnosis. However, children and adolescents with certain diagnoses or personality styles might find it more challenging to limit their time," Gifford said.

In general, a healthy gaming diet would include no more than 40 minutes a night on school nights and no more than an hour a day on weekends, said Dr. Leonard Sax, a family physician and psychologist in Exton, Pennsylvania, and author of "Boys Adrift" (Basic Books, 2016) and "The Collapse of Parenting" (Basic Books, 2017).

"That adds up to 6 hours a week. If you spend 6 hours or less playing games, research suggests it doesn't impact school performance or real-world relationships," Sax said. "But if you spend more, and there are many who play 20 hours a week, then you're more likely to see an impact."

MORE: The Best Coding Toys for Kids

Some parents appear to be more forgiving with "Fortnite" compared with other options, because the game seems to tackle several mental skills, such as organization, planning and fast reactions. But Kulman noted that skills improved upon in a game would not automatically transfer to the real world, at least not without guiding the children to identify those skills and learn where they apply to real-life situations.

Similarly, the option to team up with a handful of other players requires teamwork and collaboration — another attractive idea to parents. But collaborating in the game is unlikely to result in better real-life social skills.

"Parents tell me, 'My kid is learning to collaborate, isn't this a useful skill?' The short answer is, 'No, it is not,'" Sax said. "Collaboration in the real world is about listening to your colleague, making eye contact, understanding what they are trying to say and working creatively together."

In contrast, collaboration in "Fortnite" is focused on a narrow objective, which is to defeat others. "Killing people is not fundamentally a social skill," Sax said.

Original article on Live Science.

We've compared their cameras. We've compared their battery lives. We've compared their design, screens, performance and just about everything else. But we haven't measured how tough the iPhone X is compared with the Samsung Galaxy S9 —  until now.

While both phones have some measure of water resistance — both will survive a dunking in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes — neither has any other claims on durability. So what happens if one of them slips out of your hand and lands on the floor or the street?

To test their toughness, we dropped each phone on its edge and face onto wood and concrete. We did this from both 4 feet and 6 feet. Finally, we dropped two undamaged phones from 100 feet using a drone, just to see what would happen.

These drop tests were done as part of our larger first annual smartphone drop test, which involved a dozen devices from all the major brands. But we wanted to see how the two leading flagships fared against each other. As it turns out, both are fairly tough, but the iPhone X proved tougher.

Round 1: Face drop from 4 feet onto wood

In this round, we dropped both phones so that they landed on their faces from a height of 4 feet onto a piece of plywood. Both phones survived unscathed.

Round 2: Drop from 6 feet onto wood

For our second test, we dropped both phones, again on their faces, from a height of 6 feet onto plywood. Again, both phones were undamaged.

Round 3: Edge drop from 4 feet onto concrete

The next test was a bit more challenging. We dropped both the iPhone X and Galaxy S9 from 4 feet onto their bottom edges, but instead of landing on wood, they landed on a concrete pad. Both phones survived this test fairly well, as each sustained minor scratches on its bottom edge, but no more damage was apparent.

Round 4: Face drop from 4 feet onto concrete

This is where we saw the first significant damage. The screens of both phones cracked, but both devices were still usable. However, there was more damage done to the S9's screen than the iPhone's; the former had a few spots of concentrated spider-web-like cracks, while the latter had longer cracks that extended across the entire display.

Round 5: Edge drop from 6 feet onto concrete

Next, we raised the height to 6 feet and dropped the phones onto the concrete pad, so they landed on their bottom edges. The S9 sustained even more damage to its display, but the screen still worked, and we were able to interact with it. The iPhone X also showed a little more cracking on its bottom, but it still worked as before.

Round 6: Face drop from 6 feet onto concrete

At this point, we tested only the Galaxy S9; a face drop from 6 feet onto concrete resulted in more damage to the display. The top left corner of the display blacked out.

MORE: We Dropped $18,000 Worth of Phones, and These Are the Toughest (and Weakest)

You'd also probably end up with some nasty cuts to your finger if you tried to swipe, but at least you'd be able to see who was calling. The iPhone's display also cracked some more — but the damage was not as severe as the Samsung, and the touch screen still worked.

Round 7: 4-foot drop into toilet

Finally, a 4-foot drop into a water-filled toilet caused no further damage to the S9. The iPhone X's screen cracked a bit more along the top of the display, which obscured the front camera lens. However, the rest of the phone functioned as normal, and the screen as a whole was more intact than the S9's.

Bonus Round: 100-foot drone drop

As a sort of worst-case-scenario test, we took an un-dropped iPhone X and Galaxy S9 up 100 feet into the air using a DJI Mavic Pro drone and dropped them onto a sheet of plywood that was sitting on an asphalt parking lot.

MORE: How Can a Smartphone Survive a 100-Foot Drop But Crack on Your Floor?

Amazingly, the Galaxy S9 survived with no visible damage; the phone worked every bit as well after the drop as it did before. The iPhone X, on the other hand, was completely destroyed; the screen shattered, and the phone wouldn't even turn on.

Winner: iPhone X

Based on our testing, the iPhone X earned a toughness score of 6.2 (out of 10), a bit higher than the Samsung Galaxy S9's score of 6. Both phones made it equally far in our lab testing, surviving multiple falls from 6 feet onto concrete and even a dunk in the toilet.

At the end, though, the S9's screen shattered more than the iPhone's, which is why Apple's smartphone received a higher rating. That said, you should still get a case and a screen protector if you're worried about your phone breaking or cracking.

Credit: Tom's Guide

We all know that feeling. You're walking along the street, answering a text message, when someone bumps you, and your phone goes flying onto the concrete. Will your phone hold up, or will it crack under the pressure?

At Tom's Guide, we test phones to see which is the fastest, which has the best display, which has the best camera and which has the longest battery life. But we've never tested to see which phone is the toughest. Until now.

To help you avoid finding out the horrifying truth when your phone goes clattering to the ground, we tested all of the major smartphones by dropping them over the course of four rounds from 4 feet and 6 feet onto wood and concrete — and even into a toilet — to see which handset is the toughest.

Good news: Chances are, your phone will survive a 6-foot fall onto wood and, if it's lucky enough to land on its edge, withstand drops onto concrete with minimal damage. Bad news: If you don't have a screen protector, there's a really good chance something's going to break.

So, what's the toughest (nonrugged) phone out there? The $500 Motorola Moto Z2 Force. While the result wasn't completely unexpected — after all, the phone has a ShatterShield display, which the company guarantees against cracks — the Moto Z2 Force survived drops from 6 feet onto concrete, with barely a scratch.

Apple's least-expensive phone didn't prove very tough at all. In fact, the $399 iPhone SE was rendered unusable before all of the others. However, this was not a big surprise, as the newer iPhone 8 and iPhone X are made with much stronger glass than the iPhone SE's from 2016.

MORE: Best iPhone X Screen Protectors

Four other phones — the $999 Apple iPhone X, the $810 LG V30, the $720 Samsung Galaxy S9 and the $329 LG X Venture — made it through to, and survived, our toilet test. But even before this point, their screens were far more damaged than the Z2 Force's. Read on to see how your phone fared.

We also purchased a second batch of these phones, and dropped them from 100 feet using a DJI Mavic Pro drone onto a plywood target set up on an asphalt parking lot. Surprisingly, some of the phones survived intact. To see which phones made it, which ones didn’t, and why this might have happened, check out this story on our sister site, LiveScience.

How We Tested

To measure each phone's toughness, we dropped it from both 4 and 6 feet onto wood and concrete. After each test, we recorded the damage to the phone. If a phone was rendered unusable — the screen totally shattered, for instance — then we stopped dropping it. We have much more detail on how we tested here.

For the first round, we dropped each phone, face-first, onto wood from 4 and 6 feet.

The second round involved dropping the phone from a height of 4 feet onto a concrete pad. For this test, we dropped the phone first on its edge, and then on its face.

For the third round, we also dropped the phone onto concrete, but this time, it was from a height of 6 feet. Here, too, we dropped it first on its edge, and finally onto its face.

The final round for the surviving phones was to drop them from 4 feet into a water-filled toilet. Unused, of course.

MORE: How Can a Smartphone Survive a 100-Foot Drop But Crack on Your Floor?

How We Scored

Each drop was worth a maximum of 5 points; if a phone made it through all of the rounds unscathed, it would earn 35 points. The more severe the damage per drop was, the more points were deducted. If a phone was rendered unusable after a given drop, it would earn no points, and would not undergo any subsequent test. In total, there were seven tests:

If a phone died in the 6-foot edge drop, it was penalized an extra 10 percent. If it died in the 6-foot face drop, it was penalized 5 percent. And if it died when dropped into the toilet, it lost 2.5 percent.

We then divided the total score by 3.5, to put it on a 10-point scale.

Motorola Moto Z2 Force

Motorola guarantees that the screen on the Moto Z2 Force won't crack, and we believe it. This phone's ShatterShield display didn't break, even after drops onto its face from 6 feet. The only physical signs of damage were tiny nicks on the bottom edge of its aluminum frame.

While it can resist some liquids, it's too bad that Moto didn't make the Z2 waterproof; the phone seemed like it had died a few seconds after taking a dunk in the toilet. After it dried out, though, it came back to life, with no apparent damage.

Toughness score: 8.5/10

LG X Venture

LG's value-priced rugged phone — just $349 — made it through all of the 4-foot drops (wood and concrete) without sustaining any damage. That's because the X Venture is designed to be shockproof, thanks to its metal frame and reinforced corners.

However, a 6-foot edge drop caused the screen to shatter in the area beneath its physical buttons, and a hairline fracture through the middle of the screen appeared. A dunk in the toilet killed its microphone, but everything else, including the speakers, still worked.

Toughness score: 6.6/10

Apple iPhone X

As with every other phone we tested, Apple's $999 iPhone X survived both 4- and 6-foot drops on its face onto a wood surface. It also survived a 4-foot edge drop onto concrete; there were only minor scratches on the bottom of its case.

When we dropped it face-first from 4 feet onto concrete, the screen cracked in a few places. Following that, a 6-foot drop onto its edge and a 6-foot drop on its face onto concrete caused a few more cracks, as did a 4-foot drop into a water-filled toilet.

Still, the display remained largely intact, with almost no sharp edges, save for the upper-left corner, where some of the screen broke away. Following the toilet test, the phone turned on and off repeatedly for a few minutes, but resumed normal operation after that.

Toughness score: 6.2/10

LG V30

LG's flagship V30 ($699) made it all the way through our testing, but it didn't do as well as other phones. It survived drops onto wood from 4 and 6 feet without damage. A face drop from 4 feet onto concrete caused the screen to crack.

Subsequent drops on its edge and face onto concrete from 6 feet caused more damage to the periphery of the display, including in front of the camera, but the phone was still somewhat usable. The V30 is waterproof, so it survived a dunk in the toilet, though the audio was muffled afterward.

Toughness score: 6/10

Samsung Galaxy S9

Drops from 4 and 6 feet onto wood caused no damage whatsoever to the Galaxy S9 ($720). A 4-foot face drop onto concrete caused the S9's screen to crack, but the phone was still largely usable. Following that, a 6-foot drop onto its edge caused a bit more damage, as did a face drop from that height.

Finally, a 4-foot drop into a water-filled toilet didn't cause much more damage. Ultimately, while the display was still viewable, the screen was cracked enough so that we would be hesitant to swipe it much, for fear of pricking our fingers.

Toughness score: 6/10

Motorola Moto G5 Plus

This budget phone — which costs as little as $149 — proved pretty resilient, surviving 4- and 6-foot drops onto wood, as well as a 4-foot face drop onto concrete, with minimal damage.

However, a 6-foot face drop onto concrete finally did it in — the screen shattered in a number of places. It was still viewable, but there were enough glass fragments that we wouldn't want to swipe it.

Toughness score: 5.1/10

Apple iPhone 8

Like other phones we tested, the iPhone 8 ($699 unlocked) survived drops from 4 and 6 feet onto wood without incurring any damage.

A 4-foot drop on its edge onto concrete caused a minor crack and scratching along the bottom, which grew larger with a face drop from 4 feet onto concrete and an edge drop from 6 feet onto concrete. Apple's phone lasted all the way up to a 6-foot face drop onto concrete, when its screen went kaput.

Toughness score: 4.9/10

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Samsung's phablet (which starts at $799) took 4- and 6-foot drops on its face onto a wood surface with ease. A 4-foot fall on its edge onto concrete caused some minor scratches on the bottom edge, but a 4-foot drop on its face cracked the screen in a number of places, including in front of its front-facing camera, which gave selfies a very artistic look.

A 6-foot face drop onto concrete caused the Note 8's screen to start flashing white, black and green, and the touch screen was completely unresponsive. The stylus was intact, though.

Toughness score: 4.3/10

OnePlus 5T

No damage occured when the OnePlus 5T ($499) landed face-first onto wood from heights of 4 and 6 feet.

A 4-foot drop on its edge onto concrete similarly did little damage, but a 4-foot face drop, followed by a 6-foot edge drop onto concrete, caused some pretty big cracks in the OnePlus 5T, including in front of its camera. A 6-foot face drop onto concrete finally did the phone in.

Toughness score: 4.3/10

Huawei Mate 10 Pro

Huawei's phone (which starts around $775 unlocked) might not survive pressure from the U.S. government, but it will survive drops from 4 and 6 feet onto wood without issue. It also withstood a 4-foot edge drop onto concrete, incurring only minor scratches to the bottom.

However, a 4-foot face drop caused the upper-right corner of the touch screen to stop working, and a 6-foot edge drop resulted in messed-up screen colors on the right side. A 6-foot face drop onto concrete shattered the Mate 10's screen so thoroughly that several pieces of it flew off completely, revealing the electronics underneath.

Toughness score: 4.3/10

Google Pixel 2 XL

The Pixel 2 XL ($849 through Verizon) survived drops from 4 and 6 feet onto wood with no issues. However, when this phone landed with an XL-size thud on its face from 4 feet onto concrete, the screen cracked in such a way as to obscure the front-facing camera.

As with the Galaxy S9, an edge drop from 6 feet didn't do much more damage, but a face drop from that height caused half the screen to go white.

Toughness score: 4.3/10

iPhone SE

Apple's budget phone, which starts at $349, survived 4- and 6-foot drops onto wood without incurring any damage whatsoever, and a 4-foot edge drop onto concrete produced just a few scratches on the bottom of its case.

However, when we dropped the iPhone SE on its face from 4 feet, the screen completely cracked. Following that, a 6-foot edge drop caused a chunk of the screen in the lower-left corner to come off. Although all the icons were still visible, we decided to stop testing the iPhone SE at this point because we deemed its display too dangerous to use.

Toughness score: 3.9/10

Credit: Shaun Lucas/Tom's Guide

When a smartphone slips out of your hand, there’s no way of telling how it will land when it finally hits the ground. For our first ever Smartphone Toughness Tests, we strived to take as much of the randomness out of the process as possible.

We decided to drop 12 of the top phones both on their faces and on their edges, onto surfaces of increasing hardness. But what’s the best way to drop a phone?

Meet Dropbot 5000

That’s why we built the Dropbot 5000; this machine let us drop phones from consistent heights onto different materials. The top of the Dropbot has two attachments. The first has a quick-release clamp that holds a phone or tablet vertically, which opens when someone pulls the release cable. The second attachment is a platform that drops like a trapdoor when someone pulls its release cable.

In setting up the tests, we discovered that while the pincer attachment worked reliably, the platform attachment dropped phones in such a way that they would rotate mid-air, and thus would not reliably land on their faces.

Ultimately, we decided to use the clamp attachment for the edge drops, but used our own hands for the face drops, to ensure the phones would land on their faces, or as close to as possible.

Initially, we were going to drop the phones onto low-pile carpet, then wood, then concrete, but after seeing that nothing happened when a phone landed on carpet, we decided to forego that round.

For the wood test, we had the phones land on the Dropbot’s base, which is made of 0.75-inch plywood. For the concrete test, we poured a 12 x 12-inch slab that was 0.75 inches in thickness.

Testing Rounds

In all, there were seven total drops in our testing, spread out over four rounds.

For the first round, we dropped each phone, face-first, onto wood from 4 and 6 feet.

The second round involved dropping the phone from a height of 4 feet onto a concrete pad. For this test, we dropped the phone first on its edge, and then on its face.

For the third round, we also dropped the phone onto concrete, but this time, it was from a height of 6 feet. Here, too, we dropped it first on its edge, and finally onto its face.

Lastly, we dropped the phones—holding them vertically—from a height of 4 feet into a water-filled toilet.

Scoring Methodology

After each drop, we recorded the damage to the phone. If a phone was rendered unusable — the screen totally shattered, for instance — then we stopped dropping it.

Each drop was worth a maximum of 5 points; if a phone made it through all of the rounds unscathed, it would earn 35 points.

The more severe the damage per drop was, the more points were deducted. So, for example, if no damage occurred, the phone would receive 5 points; if there was light scuffing or scratches, the phone would receive 4 points; moderate damage was worth 3 points. Heavy damage was worth 2 points, and severe damage worth 1 point.

If a phone was deemed unusable after a given drop, it would earn no points, and would not undergo any subsequent test. For example, following the 6-foot edge drop onto concrete, the iPhone SE’s display still worked, but the glass was so broken, that we considered it too damaged to use safely.

We also decided to penalize phones if they died early, but this lessened with each subsequent round. So, if a phone was unusable following the 6-foot edge drop, it was penalized 10 percent. If it died in the 6-foot face drop, it was penalized 5 percent. And if it died when dropped into the toilet, it lost 2.5 percent.

After tallying the total number of points for each round, and calculating any penalties, we then divided the total score by 3.5, to put the toughness score on a 10-point scale.

What We Learned

Overall, we believe that our testing methodology was sound, but there are ways that we plan on improving the tests to achieve more consistent results. First, we are going to continue to modify the Dropbot to achieve more consistent and repeatable impact angles.

Second, the toilet test left room for error, as we could not consistently have phones land in the bowl in the exact same spot. Moreover, a mere splash in the toilet was not enough to cause lasting damage to any of the phones--even the Moto Z2 Force came back to life after it dried out--so a more rigorous test is warranted. 

If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve our current tests, or what other tests we should perform, please let us know in the comments below.

• A Guide to No Contract and Prepaid Phone Plans
• Best Smartphones on the Market Now
• Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life

Right now, if you want to make a phone call using Alexa, you have to use one of Amazon's devices. This is true even though there are myriad third-party Alexa devices, including speakers, thermostats, switches and even yoga-posing robots. In fact, there are nearly 100 such gadgets, up from just 10 at the end of 2016.  

That will change soon, as the first third-party gadgets with calling and messaging capability are in the works, according to Priya Abani, director of Alexa Voice Service at Amazon, said earlier this week.

In a small gathering with several journalists at Amazon's Lab126 in Sunnyvale, California, Abani, along with Pete Thompson, vice president of Alexa Voice Services, and Chris Hagler, director of engineering for Echo products, outlined the process by which Amazon not only develops its Alexa technology but makes it accessible to other vendors that want to embed Amazon's voice assistant in their devices.

Even as Amazon was developing the first Echo, the company realized that, to achieve its vision of having Alexa everywhere, it would need to allow its technology to be built into other devices not made by Amazon.

To that end, Amazon opened up APIs and SDKs for developers, but it also built 11 hardware reference designs that companies could use as the basis for their products; these ranged from two-microphone setups to more complex kits with as many as eight mics.

This has helped speed up the development process, according to Abani. In one extreme case, the Anker Eufy Genie — a budget competitor to the Echo Dot — went from development to a shipped product in seven months.

Amazon also has a quality-assurance lab, where it tests products not just for drops and spills but also to see if things such as the microphones are working properly. In one demonstration, a small robot traveled along a preset path, stopping at several intervals to issue commands to an Alexa device on a table; it used different voices for each test, and the results were recorded digitally.

Abani said the results are then shared with the device maker; only in cases in which a device fails many of these tests will Amazon insist on changes. Mostly, though, the tests are meant to help the device maker optimize the design of the product, or fine-tune the software.

Still, designing Alexa devices is not without its challenges. To date, there are only two such devices with displays, and both are made by Amazon: the Echo Show and the Echo Spot. There has also been relatively low interest in developing video skills; a search on Amazon for "Echo Show skills" returns just 101 options, out of more than 30,000 total skills.

In this area, Alexa could also face some challenges from Google; at CES this year, Google Assistant was shown on a number of Lenovo Smart Display devices, which had touch screens. To be fair, Alexa is available on Fire TV-enabled TV sets, and Amazon recently announced a partnership with Best Buy whereby a number of Insignia- and Toshiba-branded sets would also have the Fire TV interface built in.

And then there's the issue of phone calls. Abani said there has been interest from a number of companies in extending Alexa's calling and messaging features to their devices, but that work needs to be done on the client-side code. One of the first devices that should get this feature is the aforementioned Eufy Genie, according to Thompson, while others will gain this ability later this year.

The reason you haven't been able to call Grandma from your Sonos One or Ecobee thermostat is tech-related, not because of a policy decision, said Thompson. "Many new Alexa features are cloud-based, which means we can push them to AVS [Alexa Voice Services] devices with a simple software update," he said. "Others require code on the device itself. Voice calling is one of those features, as it requires developers to have a VoIP stack running locally on the device.

"We work with certain partners to externalize the technology package and make sure it works, and then we can scale it more broadly," Thompson added. "But there's no other reason than that's the process we're going through."

These challenges aside, Amazon's ability to get Alexa into more stuff faster than Google can with its Assistant is one of the reasons it's currently leading the smart-home race.

"The growing breadth of Alexa products targeting a variety of different use cases will be essential to maintaining a competitive edge," said Geoff Blaber, vice president of research for the Americas at market research firm CCS Insight, who was also present at the meeting. "Google and others need to urgently address Amazon's growing command of developer attention."

• The Best Products That Work With Amazon Alexa
• 20 Alexa Skills For Your Smart-Home Devices
• Amazon Alexa Buying Guide: Which Is Best For You?

Hawking new inventions and gadgets on TV is a time-honored if little-respected tradition. Consumer electronics are no exception, with even basic HD-TV antennas touted as money-saving miracle cures for those looking to cast off the yoke of high bills for cable and satellite TV. So we decided to test out several as-seen-on-TV devices to see how they compare to our Editors' Choice antennas.

We purchased three, less-than-$20 models: the Magic Stick TV, the TV Free-Way and the Ultra HD Clear Vision. We tested each of these unamplified models with our standard Samsung KS9000 Ultra HD 4K TV in New York City in the same location we use to test all of our antennas. Here's what we found out:

Magic Stick TV

The Magic Stick is simply a 9-inch piece of PVC plastic pipe with an antenna stuck inside. It comes with a 20-foot roll of coaxial cable for connecting to your TV. So, there's nothing hiding up its sleeve, but the Magic Stick's basic components are sensitive enough to receive more than a score of stations, making it not a leading but a fair competitor in the under-$20 crowd.

The $19.95 antenna is billed as being ready for outdoors, but we wouldn't recommend it unless you're willing to find a waterproof seal for the coaxial connection. The 20-foot cable does offer a lot of placement options, so you should be able to find the optimum position for achieving the best TV reception indoors. We tested the antenna (which is a little over an inch in diameter) in upright and lying-flat positions, neither of which adversely affected its performance.

MORE: Best Indoor HDTV Antennas

Our first station-scans with the Magic Stick antenna turned in 31 channels. However, as we viewed each station in turn, we found that only 21 could be tuned in with any consistency. Those stations included NBC and Fox, but we were disappointed that the popular ABC affiliate (which can be tricky to tune in) and the PBS channels in our area (which are usually easy to tune in) could not be viewed without significant picture distortion and dropouts.

Quick Take: Meh. It's not the prettiest accoutrement for your TV, but the Magic Stick was the best of the three models in this roundup. Still, it's not as sensitive as other available antennas that sell for the same price.

TV Free-Way (aka, As Seen on TV Digital HD Antenna)

Sometimes, buyers need to beware of recommendations from manufacturers. The TV Free-Way provides a prime example.

The TV Free-Way has an unusual blade design that comprises three flat, circuit-board-like arms, two of which swing out and can be positioned to a form T or Y shape to improve reception.

Sold by Telebrands — a K-tel-style company that features a welter of odd gadgets — the $13.96 Free-Way includes a plastic stand that works well enough for tabletop placement. But the company suggests that the antenna can also be hung off the back of your TV — and that we don't recommend.

In our standard testing position, several scanning tests indicated that the antenna had captured 27 stations. But after viewing all those listed, we found that only 17 were clear and consistent enough for TV viewing. The received stations included NBC, ABC and several retro channels featuring reruns. Both local PBS stations also looked crisp and sharp, as they do with more-expensive antennas.

As per the box instructions, we decided to also test the TV Free-Way in the suggested spot behind the TV. The results were not auspicious. When the antenna was hidden behind our Samsung test TV, the Free-Way antenna pulled in a meager six stations. Suffice it to say, we recommend keeping the antenna out in the open for the best results.

Quick Take: Look elsewhere. But if you do buy it, don't follow the instructions and hide this antenna behind your set. You'll be disappointed with the results.

Ultra HD Clear Vision TV Antenna

The packaging and promotional materials for the Ultra HD Clear Vision antenna promise a lot. The name of the product itself implies that it can receive 4K broadcasts, and on Amazon, the $17.44 antenna is listed as having a 60-mile range. Neither claim could be further from the truth.

The Ultra HD indoor antenna was one of the worst-performing antennas we've ever tested, and like all other digital antennas, it can receive only available HD 1080i or 720p broadcasts. Furthermore, most of the cost of this antenna seems to have gone into the glossy packaging rather than the product itself.

With some of the flimsiest construction we've seen, the 7.75 x 7.75-inch, flat, hexagonal antenna uses a thin, attached wire rather than a fully shielded coaxial cable to hook up to a TV. It is also one of the shortest cables we've seen on an antenna. The box says it's 10 feet long, but we measured it at a little over 6 feet, which means your placement options to tune in stations will be limited.

MORE: 10 Cheap TV Antennas (Under $20) Ranked Best to Worst

An initial scan of available channels with the Ultra HD antenna produced a list of 22 stations, the fewest of the three tested here. The accompanying owner's manual vaguely suggests that the antenna has a reception range of 20 to 30 miles; however, after spending time auditioning each of the channels, we found that only 11 were watchable. The antenna was able to receive the local NBC and ABC affiliates, for example, but it failed to pull in the Fox and CBS stations that other antennas rarely have trouble with.

Quick Take: Avoid this antenna. Despite the Ultra HD moniker, this antenna is a standard-HD model whose inferior receptivity will disappoint even those who live near several broadcast stations.

Bottom Line

Ultimately, the three antennas ballyhooed in broadcasts turned out to be less of a bargain than advertised. By comparison, many other available antennas we've reviewed perform much better and still cost less than $20. The AmazonBasics Ultra Thin and the Mohu Leaf Metro both tuned in 31 stations in our tests.

Those results are far and away superior to the three as-seen-on-TV models, and the better-performing antennas sell for approximately the same amount of money. That should make your buying decision all the more straightforward.

Credit: Tom's Guide/Shutterstock/Telebrands

You're watching your favorite Twitch streamer attempt to survive an intense multiplayer deathmatch, and things don't look so great for them. They're huddled in the corner of a desolate, snowy battlefield with just a sliver of health left, and your only option is to sit and watch as they get eliminated. Or is it?

Huddled over your computer monitor, you click an icon that sends a barrage of missiles hurling toward the competition. Thanks to that Hail Mary from the digital heavens, the once-doomed streamer just squeaked out a first-place finish. And you were part of it.

This is what the future of watching games on Twitch could look like.

The Amazon-owned streaming giant, which currently boasts 15 million daily active viewers and more than 2.2 million broadcasters, has long established itself as the premier place to watch people play video games. But thanks to powerful new Twitch technologies, you won't just be passively consuming game broadcasts — you'll be an active participant in them.

When watching becomes playing

To discuss the platform's evolution, I sat down with Amir Shevat, Twitch's vice president of developer experience, at the company's San Francisco office. Here, Shevat realized the power of interactive livestreaming during an unusually noisy workday.

"I was sitting there, doing my paperwork, and I hear [people] behind me like, 'Whoa! Yeah! Oh my God!' — and I'm getting all of this FOMO," Shevat said.

"So I go into that room and see a team of Twitch employees really cheering [for] a game," he added. "And what I found is that it wasn't a regular game; it was the Darwin Project. And they could vote on who to kill, or where the nuke zones are."

Darwin Project is a prime example of the potential of Twitch Extensions, a set of streamer tools that allows viewers to interact directly with the broadcasts they watch. In Scavengers Studio's Hunger Games-esque survival game, viewers can vote to do things such as close off specific zones of the map, trigger a manhunt on a specific player or even order an airstrike to send contestants scrambling. As such, winning over the crowd is just as (if not more) important than having a quick trigger finger.

"These are the games that we see in the future: a world where the viewers are actually active participants." - Amir Shevat, vice president of developer experience, Twitch

"With the current state of technology, there is no reason why video games [can't] take a turn and create an experience where your ability to discuss, seduce, charm and convince is actually the gameplay," Simon Darveau, Darwin Project creative director, said over a Skype call, noting that the game was built with streaming in mind from day one.

In fact, one of Darveau's main inspirations for Darwin Project was 2014's Twitch Plays Pokémon phenomenon, in which more than 1 million viewers collectively controlled a game of Pokémon by entering special commands in the channel's chat room.

"When I saw Twitch Plays Pokémon, I thought that if the audience is actually able to change what is happening in the game, then steering the crowd in your favor could actually become something meaningful for you to achieve," said Darveau. "One hundred percent, this is the future of the video game industry."

Extending the Twitch experience

In hindsight, Twitch Plays Pokémon was a telling precursor of just how interactive the platform would become in the future. As of this writing, there are roughly 150 Twitch Extensions, and according to Twitch, more than 2,000 developers have signed up to create more.

Some extensions consist of simple stat overlays that let you get a better look at a streamer's performance in games like Fortnite and Destiny 2. Others, like Darwin Project's Spectator Experience, allow viewers to become active participants in the games they're watching. But they all share the common goal of making Twitch more than just a place to seek out passive entertainment.

"I think, at the end of the day, we want every game to have an official extension," Shevat said, adding that a lot of the content you see on a streamer's Twitch page — including links to social media channels and personal websites — will become more interactive over time.

There are already a few live examples of these types of add-ons, including a Spotify extension that lets you see what music a broadcaster is rocking or an Amazon extension that makes it easy to buy your favorite streamer's preferred PC parts right from their channel.

"A channel is like an iPhone without apps, if it doesn't have extensions," said Shevat. "And then you install all these extensions that make it awesome and valuable, like your phone."

This level of interactivity is just one piece of the puzzle for Twitch. The company's new Twitch Drops feature lets you score loot for games such as Warframe and Smite by simply watching streams of those titles. Twitch also plans to combine Extensions with Bits, Twitch's premium currency, which you can use to "cheer" your streamer of choice by throwing a few extra bucks their way.

"So, an example is, you have an extension that is your avatar, and people can contribute to that avatar with swag — put their own name or cap on it," said Shevat. "You can use bits to actually enable experiences that couldn't happen up until now. It ties into [the idea that] everyone should be a participant in the viewing experience."

The future is interactive

Interactive broadcasting isn't just influencing the way we watch people play video games; it's also seeping its way into sports and entertainment.

Last September, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was quoted as saying he wants the NBA to look more like Twitch, to better engage fans. Just a few months later, Twitch hosted a series of NBA G League games. Thanks to Extensions, these games allowed viewers to pull up stats from any team or athlete, right from the site's video player. That's a level of immersion you simply don't get from just catching the action on TV.

"It'll be interesting to see how other sports look at Twitch and how it inspires them," said Chase (just Chase), Twitch's PR director.

As Twitch evolves, video games are evolving with them. Games like Darwin Project would likely look a whole lot different (or not exist at all) in a pre-streaming world, and Shevat expects that developers will build more and more titles with broadcasting in mind.

"Every game [developer] should think about: I build for Windows; I build for Xbox; I build for Twitch," said Shevat. "That's the model we really want to work with."

It's a model that's been fully embraced by folks like Darveau, who noted that he expects viewer interactivity to become an essential part of modern games.

"There is — and this is a very conservative approximation — 20 times more people watching people play, than people playing any game," said Darveau. "Playing without viewers involved will eventually feel like nowadays when you go on a computer, and there's no internet."

"Playing without viewers involved will eventually feel like nowadays when you go on a computer, and there's no internet." – Simon Darveau, creative director, Darwin Project

You can already see Twitch's footprint in a variety of big and small titles. Overwatch awards special in-game tokens to folks who watch the Overwatch League on Twitch. Digital card game Superfight allows Twitch audiences to vote on silly arguments over fictional character battles. Survival title S.O.S. is essentially an online reality show that's built from the ground up to be consumed by a live audience. The list goes on, and by the looks of things, it's only going to grow.

"[These are] the games that we see in the future: a world where the viewers are actually active participants," said Shevat. "I think we're reinventing the way streaming will happen."

After discovering — to my furniture’s detriment — that the Apple HomePod and the Sonos One speakers can potentially leave white marks on certain wood surfaces, I decided to see what other smart speakers are capable of causing similar damage.

Not wanting to subject my mahogany cabinet to any more abuse, I bought a pine board from Home Depot, along with some mahogany stain and Howard’s Feed-N-Wax — an oil-based finish that was also used on my furniture.

As it turns out, the Google Home Max can damage wood just like the Apple HomePod and Sonos One, but there is some good news.

After letting the board dry, I placed the following nine smart speakers on it:

Amazon Echo (2nd gen)

Amazon Echo Plus

Amazon Echo Dot

Amazon Echo Show

Amazon Echo Spot

Apple HomePod

Sonos One

Google Home Max

Google Home Mini

Then, I left them on the board, turned off, for a little more than 27 hours. Here’s what happened.

Amazon Echo: No marks

Amazon Echo Plus: No marks

Amazon Echo Dot: No marks

Amazon Echo Show: No marks

Amazon Echo Spot: No marks

Apple HomePod: The HomePod left a telltale ring on the pine board, although it wasn't as prominent as the one on my cabinet.

Google Home Max: Large white mark, caused by the silicone pad that Google ships with the speaker.

Google Home Mini: No marks

Sonos One: Also left four small, white marks that were not as pronounced as the ones left by the others tested (nor as prominent as the one on my cabinet), but they were still visible.

Why hadn’t I noticed the Home Max’s white mark before, when Google’s speaker was sitting on my cabinet? Simple: I wasn’t using it with the silicone pad at the time.

Google ships the pad with the Max, but I had left the pad in the box, figuring it wasn’t that necessary. However, when devising this test, I decided to use the pad to see its effect. So, if you have or plan to purchase the Google Home Max, and want to place it on wood furniture, I would advise against using the silicone pad.

Update (2/21): A Google spokesperson thanked us for bringing this to their attention, and added "To date, we've not received any reports about this issue in regards to Max."

I still think the Sonos One, HomePod and Google Home Max (to a slightly lesser extent) deliver the best sound of all the smart speakers. When we put all three to the test, the Sonos One came out on top, but the Google Home Max was competitive, not only for its sound, but also for what you can do with Google Assistant. But if you purchase or own any of the speakers that can damage furniture, I advise placing it on a non-silicone pad or coaster.

• Smarter Home Guide: What You Need to Know (and Buy)
• 17 Alexa Skills For Your Smart-Home Devices
• The Best Cheap Smart Home Devices Under $100

Ah, the simple pleasure of a book. The slow burn of drama, the crisply printed words, the flash of the screen as you share a particularly moving passage on social media.

Yes, reading now is a little bit different than it was even a decade ago. While print books are doing surprisingly well, bigger and better smartphones have given e-books a second life. After 10 years of uncertainty, it seems that we finally live in a world where readers of both print and digital books can live in peace with each other. Neither one is going away anytime soon.

And yet, there may be a tragic undercurrent to this otherwise-happy story. While e-books are doing just fine, the fate of the devices dedicated exclusively to those e-books is much murkier. Even the best e-readers, like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook are much less widespread than they used to be — and arguably, much less necessary.

If you haven't looked up from your smartphone since 2007, you may have forgotten about the humble E Ink reader, also called an e-reader. Basically digital books, these devices use a technology called digital ink to simulate the look and approximate feel of a physical, paper-based book.

"The Kindle device is purpose-built for reading, so you can fully immerse yourself in an author's story. Kindle doesn't distract a reader with social media, emails and text messages," an Amazon representative told Tom's Guide.

Ten years ago, the Kindle was essentially the only game in town for e-books. But now, it's just as easy to read on your computer, your tablet, your phone — or even all three, thanks to cross-compatible apps. (It's worth noting, too, that the dangers of reading on LCD screens have been greatly exaggerated.)

In a world where convenience is king and delayed gratification is a dirty phrase, is there any room for a device that does only one thing and can't do that thing nearly as fast as the supercomputer in your pocket?

• Where to get free ebooks

Fewer readers, fewer e-readers

E-readers are catering to a diminishing audience. More than one-quarter of U.S. adults read no books in 2016; of the 74 percent who did, some read a single book "in part." The average U.S. reader finishes from four to 12 books per year, depending on whether you want to go with the median or the mean. The number of people who read, and the amount that they read, have both been steadily decreasing since the early '80s.

A few years ago, e-readers were more than just an exciting new innovation; they were also big business. For a brief period — 2011 to 2014, roughly — there was a real horse race among Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Kobo in the e-reader market. Device sales soared, as did those for e-books.

Then, something strange happened: E-book sales more or less leveled off, but e-readers took a huge dive. In 2010, Amazon shipped 10.1 million Kindles — and the Kindle accounted for only 63 percent of e-readers shipped worldwide, meaning it had some legitimate competition. In 2011, Kindle shipments rocketed to 23.2 million. However, after a dramatic decline in 2012, and a steady decline ever since, Amazon shipped just 7.1 million Kindles in 2016.

MORE: Do Sleep Tracking Devices Really Work?

Hard numbers are more difficult to come by from Barnes & Noble, but the company's digital sales (namely, Nooks, e-books and all associated paraphernalia) declined 23 percent between 2016 and 2017. The company's Nook-related sales have decreased more than sixfold over the last five years.

The logical conclusion was that manufacturers had done their jobs too well. After all, e-readers aren't powerhouse devices. If you buy one, it could last for years, giving you no real reason to upgrade. However, data suggests that e-reader ownership dropped precipitously. People weren't just neglecting to buy new devices; they seemed to be actively ditching their old ones.

Only 19 percent of U.S. adults owned an e-reader in 2015, and the numbers didn't vary much by sex, location or age. Twenty-seven percent of affluent individuals surveyed owned an e-reader, and they were the most enthusiastic buyers by far. Compare and contrast: 68 percent of U.S. adults owned a smartphone in the same year, and 87 percent of affluent individuals did, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

Both Barnes & Noble and Amazon released new E Ink readers last year: the extremely pricey Kindle Oasis and the extremely mediocre Nook GlowLight 3. Neither product is really inventive enough to reverse the e-reader's fortunes, and it's not really clear where either company could go from here.

For what it's worth, Amazon doesn't seem concerned about the future of e-ink readers.

"Single-purpose devices that allow readers to get lost in a book are as relevant as ever," an Amazon representative told Tom's Guide. "In fact, this year, Kindle had its best sales day ever."

I spoke with a few employees at Barnes & Noble as well, but ultimately, the company couldn't comment on the issue.

Who still uses e-readers?

Neither Amazon nor Barnes & Noble shared sales data with me. To get a rough idea of how many people are still using e-readers, I went straight to the source: a real, live author.

Erica Kudisch is a New York City-based novelist, librettist and director. (In the interest of full disclosure, she also once cast me in a musical comedy based on Christopher Nolan's Inception.) Kudisch works with Riptide Publishing, a small operation that specializes in LGBT romances, but also dabbles in sci-fi, fantasy, Westerns and other genre fiction.

For Kudisch, at least, e-readers are an integral part of how her audience consumes books.

"I would say I sell as many books on Kindle as on all other formats combined," she said. "I sell about two-thirds [more] books in digital formats than I do in print." While she couldn't share hard numbers, Kudisch has access to very granular statistics, including who reads her books on Kindle e-readers as opposed to Kindle smartphone apps.

"There is definitely a future in online reading," Kudisch said. "Whether e-readers are the vehicle for it remains to be seen."

This won't surprise anyone who knows a thing or two about the history of e-readers. While you can buy pretty much anything on a Kindle or Nook nowadays, the technology was first and foremost the domain of romance novelists.

"I would say that romance readers are particularly voracious readers, and particularly voracious readers tend to economize their space," she said. (Her wife's grandmother is one such reader, with stacks of excess romance novels stored in a bathtub.)

Sci-fi and fantasy readers, too, Kudisch explained, play a part in the e-reader's continued survival.

"Sci-fi and fantasy books tend to be doorstoppers," she explained. "It's much easier to shove a doorstopper onto your Kindle."

Genre fiction also tends to be serialized, which again makes it a natural fit for a digital format. "It's easy to buy in bulk; it's easy to continue a series. I know some writers in [young adult fiction] who have had a much easier time continuing their series in digital than getting a print contract for the fourth or fifth book."

Intrusions from the real world

Real life also takes a toll on our ability to read for pleasure. Without going into excruciating detail, there is a lot of bad juju going down in the world today. In order to stay informed about said bad juju, socially conscious individuals feel like they have to stay glued to news feeds rather than best sellers.

"Conscientious people who read, and who want to retreat into other worlds, feel like they can't retreat into other worlds anymore," Kudisch said. "This one is stranger than fiction already.

"It's very difficult to have escapist reading when you have to keep up with political reading," continued Kudisch. "We are spending so much time fighting, it's difficult to spend time reading. … If readership is declining, blame politics. Blame the climate that makes us feel like we have to be plugged into Twitter during our reading time."

As readers choose to spend their time on social media, it creates a vicious cycle. If they don't read, there's no impetus for their favorite writers to put out new material. This, perhaps, won't have much effect on the James Pattersons and Stephen Kings of the world, but for lesser-known genre writers, readership and profit often operate on razor-thin margins. A few hundred people tuning into Twitter rather than the third book in your series may mean you'll never write a fourth.

"Let it not be said writers aren't having a difficult … time, too," Kudisch said. "I know so many people who let go of their products in 2017, just because the deluge of vitriol and depressing news actually makes it harder. … It's a case of mass media and social media cutting into an already finite day and an already finite brain space."

An uncertain future

Genre fiction, as we've established, is a key component in the e-reader's continued survival. This is especially beneficial for authors like Kudisch, whose books don't fall neatly into one genre or another. Kudisch described her second book, "Don't Feed the Trolls" — which focuses on a queer gamer who goes head to head with the developer of their favorite MMO, and also falls in love — as having an elevator pitch that's longer than the elevator ride.

"We carve out our space online, because there is no real space for people who write what we write," she said. "If you have to punk-zydeco-rockabilly your way through all of this and mention the weird, small subgenres, or say that your book has no genre at all, a lot of avenues are closed to you."

MORE: Kids Tablets to Buy (or Avoid)

One could argue that a smartphone or tablet would provide just as many opportunities for genre writers and readers to find one another, but remember: Kudisch's readers don't generally buy her books on smartphones. These customers buy her books on Kindles. Whatever their reasoning, the bottom line is that e-readers help customers find and experience books in ways that smartphones simply don't.

Although E Ink readers are the best way to experience an e-book, the outlook for the inventive technology is uncertain, at best. Readership is down; e-reader sales are down; e-book sales are down (albeit going slowly). As a culture, we seem to have decided that we just don't want to read books, and we certainly don't want to fork over another $100 up front to do so.

"There is definitely a future in online reading," Kudisch said. "Whether e-readers are the vehicle for it remains to be seen."

Illustration by Tom’s Guide; Shutterstock

The "notch" at the top of the screen. The lack of a headphone jack. Me-too features like wireless charging. Samsung has poked fun at Apple with takedowns of the iPhone X, but that doesn't change the fact that, for many people (including us), Apple's flagship has become the smartphone to beat.

At the same time, the Galaxy S8 has been a fantastic phone that's raised the bar for the entire industry, especially when it comes to design. As Samsung readies the Galaxy S9 for its big reveal at a Mobile World Congress launch event on February 25, it could very well leapfrog the iPhone X and create even more distance between it and the rest of an Android field.

"What does Samsung have to do to maintain or better its position against Apple? said Ramon Llamas, research manager for wearables and mobile phones at IDC. "That's going to be the question that comes around every single year ahead of its next big release."

Here's where Samsung needs to improve to take back the title of best phone.

Design: Build on the S8's wow factor

It's easy to forget that Samsung had lost consumer trust heading into last year's Galaxy S8 launch. This was a result of battery issues with the Galaxy Note 7, which led to fires and a total recall of the phablet. The company had to prove it could make a phone that wasn't just sexy but safe.

"The S8 came at a time when Samsung was licking its wounds following the battery debacle," Llamas said. "There were high expectations, and for the most part, Samsung delivered on those."

The Galaxy S8 had a lot more going for it than an eight-point safety check. It turned heads with an Infinity Display that covered nearly the entire front of the phone. Any other handset released after that with chunky bezels looked like a total eyesore.

But there were some complaints, too, mostly about the awkward location of the S8's fingerprint sensor: It was to the immediate right of the camera lens, which increased the chances of smudging. Galaxy S9 rumors point to Samsung placing the reader beneath the camera this time around, making it easier to reach.

"I expect Samsung to respond to that," Llamas predicted. "That's low-hanging fruit."

Display: Become the king of OLED again

In our testing of the iPhone X, we were surprised by how much better its OLED screen looked compared with the Galaxy S8's display, which is ironic considering Samsung reportedly supplied the panel Apple uses.

The iPhone X's display looked brighter and delivered slightly wider viewing angles and more natural-looking hues. Analysts believe Samsung will make strides with the Galaxy S9's screen, and not just in terms of screen quality.

"Where I would like to see Samsung go is with a variable refresh panel, similar to what Razer is doing with its phone and what Apple is doing with the iPad Pro," said Avi Greengart, research director for consumer platforms and devices at GlobalData.

The Razer Phone has an Ultramotion display that synchronizes the display refresh rate with the GPU render rate, and it can scale all the way up to 120 Hz — a first for phones. The result is smoother graphics with little or no stuttering or lag. A screen with a dynamic refresh rate would not only make content look better but also save battery life.

Snapdragon 845: Efficiency beats speed

If the leaked benchmarks are to be believed, the Galaxy S9 won't be faster than the iPhone X, even though it should be the first phone on the market with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 processor. The A11 Bionic chip inside Apple's flagship seems to have more sheer horsepower.

MORE: iPhone X and iPhone 8 Are World's Fastest Phones

But there are other reasons to be excited about Snapdragon 845, including a 30 percent graphics boost for better gaming performance, an improved image signal processor for taking sharper photos, and faster gigabit LTE connectivity.

But there's another key benefit: longer battery life. For instance, the graphics are 30 percent more efficient. "If that translates to even 10 percent more battery, that's huge," said Greengart. "You combine that with a more efficient display, and you're off to the races."

Camera: Better low-light pics and more

Samsung didn't make many upgrades to its camera between the release of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8, which enabled other flagships to vault into the lead. In our own camera face-off between the iPhone X and Galaxy S8, for example, Apple's camera delivered richer colors and more natural-looking skin tones.

Samsung also needs to contend with Google's Pixel 2, which tends to produce better results in low light than the Galaxy S8 and also manages to pull off good-looking portraits (complete with bokeh effect) without the need for a second lens.

"The Pixel 2 is the camera to beat," said Greengart. "That's one area where Samsung needs to make improvements if only so that it doesn't appear to be falling behind."

With its new phones, Samsung teases that it will reimagine the camera in its launch event invite. The S9 will reportedly offer a new Super Speed Dual Pixel camera on both the S9 and S9+, which presumably will be faster and offer variable apertures. One lens will have an f/1.5 aperture for better low-light performance, and the other could be f/2.4, which would allow for a wider depth of field.

Only the Galaxy S9+ will supposedly feature dual lenses, which would enable that handset to offer a 2x optical zoom and a Live Focus mode that's similar to what you'll find on the Galaxy Note 8. But having dual lenses on the more premium S9 could have other benefits.

"Pay attention to how much dual cameras are going to be leveraged for augmented reality," Llamas said. "The second camera will be able to better measure light, depth and distance — three very important things for any [augmented reality] experience."

AI: Press Restart on Bixby

As Samsung's first stab at an AI assistant, Bixby has been a bit of a mess. Promised features, such as voice commands, didn't work at launch, and many users were angry that they could not remap the dedicated Bixby button to use it as a shortcut for other functions. (You can do it now, but only through unofficial workarounds.)

"Bixby was a bust," Greengart said. "It was more annoying than helpful, and that's not good."

So what can Samsung do to make its next phone smarter? According to one rumor, Samsung may be rolling out a so-called AI UX for the Galaxy S9, which would use machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide more contextual info and anticipate what you want to do next.

MORE: 11 Coolest Things Bixby Voice Can Do on the Galaxy S8

A more recent report claims that Samsung has developed a dedicated AI chip that will compete directly with the neural processing capabilities of Apple's A11 Bionic processor.

As for Bixby itself, look for Samsung to find more ways to get its phones to communicate with and control other devices in your home. In fact, at CES 2018, the company announced that many of its new appliances and TVs will have Bixby built in.

"As homes get smarter and you can connect to many other devices — whether it's Nest, light bulbs, your security system, etc. — the question becomes, how can Bixby tap into these things a lot easier?" Llamas said.

AR: Embrace Google, or go it alone?

Although Samsung has been at the forefront of the mobile virtual-reality movement with its Gear VR headsets, the company did not bundle that headset with the Galaxy S8 as it had done with previous handsets.

"As I look at VR, it's kind of slowed down," Llamas said. "I don't think Samsung should stray away from it too much. Stand-alone VR is still a ways off for a lot of people." Llamas suggested that Samsung spend more time and money bringing more high-profile partnerships to VR.

At the same time, the tech world seems to be pivoting away from VR, toward augmented reality, partly because you don't need to don a headset to enjoy an immersive experience. AR glasses are on the horizon, but most of the action in the near term will be on phones.

Although Apple has made some waves with its ARKit apps on iOS, we're still in the very early days for augmented reality on phones. That's why Google still has plenty of time to generate interest in its own ARCore platform and to court developers to create compelling apps.

With VR, Samsung and Google went their separate ways, developing Gear VR and Daydream, respectively. But that sort of bifurcation won't necessarily be a good idea with AR as Apple gains momentum. Regardless, Samsung should have invested heavily in this area so that the Galaxy S9 would be primed to be the best AR phone.

"Samsung has the wherewithal and resources available to go deeper into this area," Llamas said. "They've taken terrific pains to point out that 'we're not just a devices company; we're a solutions company.'"

Bottom Line

Based on rumors and early reports, the consensus seems to be that the Galaxy S9 will not be a huge update. But it doesn't necessarily need to be in order to take back the top-smartphone mantle from Apple, as the Galaxy S8 and S8+ were excellent premium flagships.

Still, there's plenty of room for improvement, including a better display, faster performance, better camera quality and especially AI. Will all of that be enough?

"Apple lives in its own universe," Greengart said. "The iOS ecosystem is very sticky, so it's difficult to pull consumers away from Apple. That said, Samsung has kept ahead of Apple in terms of design."

Now it's up to Samsung to build on this advantage with its upcoming sequel.

As technology marches forward, we're always looking for the next big thing, but that thing could be a gadget or a breakthrough that will power an entirely new category of products. At CES 2018, we'll see the industry's pioneering spirit on full display as more than 3,900 companies and 170,000 people converge on Las Vegas for the biggest technology show of the year.

The biggest theme? That would be AI.

"What will be most talked about is artificial intelligence, both the speed at which AI is improving and the speed at which it's becoming omnipresent in both the B2C and B2B spaces," said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research at the Consumer Technology Association.

Our team of editors and writers will also go hands-on with more advanced smart home devices that work with multiple assistants, laptops with over 20 hours of battery life and robots that are as practical as they are adorable. Here are the biggest trends for CES 2018.

Over-the-air wireless charging gets real

Many flagship phones these days charge wirelessly, but you still need to drop them on a Qi-compatible charging mat with (you guessed it) a wire that goes from it to an outlet. The next big thing in power is true wireless charging, which means delivering juice to your phone or other device over the air.

A company called Energous has just received approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its WattUp Mid Field transmitter, which sends RF-based power to devices at a distance. How far? Just 3 feet, but it's a start, and the technology could find its way into everything from phones and smart watches to wireless keyboards and smart speakers.

Meanwhile, Powercast has announced that it will unveil its PowerSpot transmitter at CES. The company says the transmitter can charge multiple devices at a distance of up to 80 feet by creating a Wi-Fi-like coverage area and using the 915-MHz ISM band to send RF energy to a small Powercast receiver chip embedded in a separate device.

MORE: Best Qi Wireless Chargers for Your iPhone 8 or iPhone X

Smart home: Alexa dominates, but here comes Google Assistant

At CES 2017, Alexa reigned supreme, with dozens of products announced that had Amazon's assistant inside. We don't expect that trend to subside, but Alexa will get more competition from products that work with Google Assistant.

"You're going to see the competitive landscape not heat up -- it's going to be a wildfire," said CTA's Koenig

For instance, LG has already announced its own ThinQ smart speaker that's compatible with Google Assistant. It will also be able to control LG's own smart appliances. We also anticipate more smart TVs with Google Assistant inside to make appearances at CES 2018.

Google will have a huge presence at this year's show. The Verge reports that the company has already set up a sizable installation that will be dedicated to "Hey, Google" and Google Assistant. Google has also plastered monorails with its Google Assistant logo, so it's highly likey there are some announcements in store.

Apple continues to play the role of underdog with Siri and its HomeKit protocol, but it should become more prominent in 2018. That's because Apple is now enabling smart home device makers to build in support via software instead of using a dedicated HomeKit chip. As of press time, there were 21 HomeKit products listed on Apple's website as coming soon, and many of these will likely be shown at CES.

"CES 2017 saw an explosion of Alexa skills across a number of device categories. We're going to double down on that at CES 2018, layering in with support for Google Assistant. We're expecting a lot to happen there," said Koenig.

MORE: The Best Products That Work With Amazon Alexa

At CES 2018, you'll see the Vobot Halo, a stylish smart light clock with Alexa, as well as the Blink Video Doorbell, a $99 device that's coming next year. In fact, Amazon has agreed to acquire Blink to accelerate its smart home domination.

Security will be a huge theme at CES that extends to all-in-one security systems that hope to build on the success of products like SimpliSafe. The upcoming Angee has a 360-degree camera, voice recognition and motion sensors, and we'll see a separate home security gateway that supports HomeKit, Alexa and Google Assistant.

Micro-LED TVs arrive, but OLEDs aren't standing still

If you haven't heard of micro LEDs, you will. Apple is reportedly working on bringing this technology to the Apple Watch, and it could very well debut on a new TV from Samsung at this year's CES. According to ZDNet, Samsung could debut a 105-inch micro-LED set.

So what makes micro LEDs so special? They have LEDs smaller than 100 micrometers — slimmer than the width of a human hair. According to Patently Apple, each of the red, green and blue subpixels in micro LEDs produces its own light, offering high contrast ratios and deep blacks. In addition, ZDNet says the displays will consume less power and won't suffer from burn-in as OLED panels do. In other words, Samsung could give OLED TVs a serious run for their money.

But there's a reason OLED is king, at least for now. And we expect to see new sets from LG and Sony with improved picture quality, as well as new features and capabilities. That should include smarter interfaces that make much better use of voice interaction, eliminating the need for a separate streaming box.

And, yes, there will be at least one 8K TV on display at the show, even though we're still waiting for broadcasters and service providers to get their 4K acts together. LG is first out of the gate with an 88-inch 8K set; as reported by Engadget, it's the largest OLED TV yet.

MORE: Best Cheap 4K TVs (Under $500), Ranked from Best to Worst

Augmented reality steps out of VR's shadow

While virtual reality has started to mature with products like the PlayStation VR and now more affordable Oculus Rift, AR is poised to have a breakout year in 2018. The goal: deliver more immersive experiences without the need to shut yourself off from the rest of the world.

The company with the most buzz right now is Magic Leap, which has finally given its hyped glasses a name. The One Creator Edition consists of a pair of specs that connect to a separate small computer you wear, called the Lightpack. A small Control wand will provide six degrees of freedom. However, there's no word on whether Magic Leap will be at CES 2018.

What we do know is that several companies will be bringing their AR wares to a dedicated Augmented Reality Marketplace at the show (South Halls 1 and 2), including Carl Zeiss, Occipital, Kinmo, Kodak, Royole and Sony. Netflix will also be in the AR marketplace, so it's possible the company will have some news to share at the show.

Although it’s targeted primarily at workers, the X1 Smart Glasses from Third Eye has some potential. Shipping in February, the glasses deliver a 90-inch screen size and will come with integrated AR applications.

But CES 2018 won't just be about AR hardware. We've seen several promising apps in recent months, including ones like Chalk, which allows you to draw on the live camera view of someone else's phone.

"There will be a lot of announcements around different AR apps and creative uses on mobile platforms like iOS and Android," said Koenig. "And it all adds up to redefining the mobile experience.

MORE: Best AR Apps for iOS (So Far)

The laptop chip war escalates

Intel's 8th-gen core processor is speeding up a wide range of ultraportables, and a few systems have already been announced for CES 2018, including three very light LG Gram models that promise to last "up to a full day on a charge." The 13.3-, 14- and 15.6-inch models are rated to endure from 19 to 22.5 hours on a charge. There are also new Samsung Notebook 9 laptops on the way, including one with an S Pen.

But Intel isn't stopping there.  The company is also partnering with AMD to create a combo chip for laptops; it pairs an 8th-Gen Core i CPU with AMD graphics. We expect to see at least a couple of models on display at the show. But AMD is also pushing ahead on systems that use its own Ryzen Mobile chips, and from what we've seen in our face-off between Ryzen Mobile and Intel's 8th Gen Core, shoppers can expect great performance at a good price.

Not content to sit on the sidelines, Qualcomm has debuted its first Snapdragon-powered laptops running Windows 10 S via partners like Asus and HP. The devices are lightweight and promise more than 20 hours of battery life. We anticipate getting more hands-on time with these systems at CES and expect to see more designs debut.

MORE: Best 2-in-1s - Laptop/Tablet Hybrids

Robots take over (again)

Stop us if you heard this one before: "This year is going to be the year of the robot." While they're usually the most exciting things to ogle at CES, many robots we see at the giant tech show either fail to come to market or just don't impress when they finally ship. A good example is the $800 Ubtech Lynx, a robot with Alexa inside and the ability to strike yoga poses. It just doesn't do enough for the money.

But that doesn't mean there isn't reason to be excited about what's coming next. For example, Root is a practical and easy-to-use robot that can teach kids to code, and it's shipping starting this spring for $199. Meanwhile, Sony made waves a few weeks back with the launch of a new Aibo robot dog in Japan that's designed to form an "emotional bond with members of the household." It's possible that Sony could announce plans for the robot to hit the U.S.

In addition, Honda will show off four robot concepts at CES to demonstrate the company's vision of a society in which robotics and AI can assist people. Our favorite so far is 3E-A18, a companion robot that "shows compassion to humans with a variety of facial expressions." CES will have an entire Robotics Marketplace in the South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and we'll be bringing you all the big highlights.

MORE: Best Robot Vacuums - Pet Hair, Cheerios and Sawdust ...

Phones: Riding the affordable wave, preempting the S9

You can pretty much forget about seeing the Samsung Galaxy S9 at CES, but t other handsets may be announced at this year's show. One of the biggest trends is low-cost phones that deliver premium features. For example, the Honor 7X boasts a large, 5.9-inch screen with minimum bezels, dual cameras and solid performance for just $200.

Honor's parent company, Huawei, looks to be making a big splash in 2018. According to a report in The Information, the company is starting a massive $100 million marketing campaign to get the word out about its brand in the U.S. and could be bringing its well-received Mate 10 flagship to AT&T.

And Sony is rumored to unveil its first Snapdragon 845-powered device at CES 2018, according to XDA Developers, which says the phone could sport a 18:9 display.

MORE: Most Anticipated Phones

A modular self-driving car; electric gets smarter

Although the North American International Auto Show takes place in Detroit only a week after CES 2018, but the latter is starting to steal some of the former’s thunder. That's because technology — whether it's safety features or infotainment systems — has become the biggest focus for the auto industry.

When it comes to self-driving vehicles, the wildest one on display could be the Rinspeed Snap, a concept that combines a high-wear chassis ("skateboard") with a durable passenger safety cell ("pod"). There are three screens per occupant, an optional robot personal assistant and six onboard projectors to display notifications to pedestrians and other vehicles.

On the more practical front, the Raven from Klashwerks could be the ultimate add-on for your vehicle. This dashboard companion provides access to real-time driving info in your line of sight, and it features both internal and external cameras, mobile app integration, GPS and more. It isn't cheap, though: Preorders start at $269, and you'll need to add a subscription for LTE connectivity as well.

MORE: Best Electric Cars You Can Buy in 2018

The more affordable Muse from Speak Music could find a home in many cars, as it adds Alexa to your vehicle for just $59. This small Bluetooth accessory can stream music, close the garage, order items with your voice, check your next appointment and more.

But if you're in the market for a new car and you want to a voice-first interface? There's good news on that front, too.

"We're expecting a number of car manufacturers will be partnering with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant," said CTA's Koenig.

If you're growing tired of all the hype around Tesla, you'll be happy to know that a new player in the electric-car arena will be showing off its new vehicle at CES 2018. The Chinese startup Byton is calling its innovation a "Smart Intuitive Vehicle," or SIV. The website doesn't offer a ton of details, but the company promises a "revolutionary user interface … that will recognize your face, understand your voice and read your hand gesture." Byton's SIV will also supposedly make suggestions based on your location and entertainment preferences.

• Best Smartphones - Here Are the 10 Best Phones Available
• Augmented Reality Glasses: What You Can Buy Now (or Soon)
• Best Smart Home Gadgets

This Year's Biggest Game Changers

What really broke new ground in 2017? What was more than just an iterative update, instead building upon what came before in an exciting new way? These are just some of the questions we asked ourselves as the Tom's Guide staff debated the merits of hundreds of products we tested and reviewed this year to arrive at our first annual Innovation Awards.

The 14 winners you see here truly represent game changers in multiple categories, from a console that redefines the category and a robot that teaches kids to code to a phone that takes artificial intelligence to new heights. On our list, you'll also find some under-the-radar innovations that simply deserved more attention this year, including a drone you can control with your hand and a game that explores mental illness.

There's a compelling story behind each of these breakthroughs, which is why we spoke with the people working in the trenches to find out how these creations became a reality. These are the most innovative tech products of the year.

Tom’s Guide 2017 Innovation Award Winners

TV — LG Signature OLED TV
Augmented Reality — Star Wars: Jedi Challenges
Kids — Lego Boost
Graphics — Nvidia Max-Q
Design — Samsung Galaxy S8
Drone — DJI Spark
Game — Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Entertainment — Nvidia Shield
CPU — AMD Threadripper
Tablet — reMarkable Tablet
Peripheral — Razer Kiyo
Smart Home — Amazon Alexa and Echo
Game Console — Nintendo Switch
Best Overall — iPhone X

LG Signature OLED TV W7: Beware of Papercuts

It’s hard to stand out in a market where stunning is the norm. Yet, somehow, among a wave of ultra-sharp 4K displays and sleek premium designs, LG has managed to introduce a product that stands out. The W7 Wallpaper TV not only pushes the envelope with an unbelievably thin design, it delivers a drop-dead gorgeous picture at the same time.

The Wallpaper boils the modern TV down to its essence, stripping away everything but the display. With LG’s display-on-glass technology, the display panel is slim and beautiful. First seen at CES 2017, the Wallpaper — starting with the flagship W7 OLED that won our Best of Show award — measures just 2.85 millimeters thick, and mounts to the wall with magnets. It comes with a soundbar, which not only holds the system’s impressive 60-watt Dolby Atmos speakers, but also all of the internal components that normally make up the bulk of a regular TV. All of the inputs and outputs, the power supply, and the media processing components are housed in the speakerbar, stripping the display panel down to the bare essentials. The two are connected with a thin ribbon cable that can be installed completely out of sight.

When it comes to the Wallpaper, that ultra-thin form factor is only possible because of LG’s advancements in OLED displays. “There was never a question that the W7 would feature OLED technology,” said Tim Alessi, Senior Director of Product Marketing at LG Electronics USA. “To truly achieve the picture-on-wall concept, LG OLED technology was imperative because the pixels create their own light, eliminating the need for a backlight and associated filters and diffusers necessary for an LCD, all of which add bulk to the panel.”

All that’s left is the display, presented in stark simplicity. The result has been as popular as it is stunning, and LG doesn’t see it going away anytime soon. “The critical and consumer response has been fantastic,” said Alessi, “proving that there is demand for this type of concept, which will drive future design and technological innovation.”  — Brian Westover

Star Wars Jedi Challenges: Be a Jedi, You Will

Call it the Force. Call it midi-chlorians. But whatever you call it, you've got to admit that Star Wars in all its iterations has some sort of magic surrounding it — the sort of magic that's enraptured legions of fans over the span of decades, melding them into today's rabid fanbase.

And who better than Disney to harness that magic and turn it into something truly innovative: a device that brings that beloved galaxy far, far away closer than ever before.

Partnering with Lenovo, Disney recently launched Star Wars: Jedi Challenges, a smartphone-powered, augmented-reality headset. Complete with tracker beacon and lightsaber hilt, the $199 Jedi Challenges lets the Force Faithful travel the road from Padawan to Master via three fun, compelling games: Lightsaber Battle, Strategic Combat and Holochess. But before the games could begin, Disney had critical decisions to make and challenges to overcome.

After settling on a lightsaber-focused experience, the next challenge for Mike Goslin, vice president of advanced development at Disney, and his team was how to make it affordable with plenty of mass appeal. Early on, the team decided that a smartphone-powered device was the way to go.

"We decided to go with a slip-in mobile device and focus on making that great. The rest of it is … [the] experience," Goslin said. "We knew exactly what mattered from a tech-features standpoint and what didn't matter. So that allowed us to really hone in on this experience and not have any extra features or cost that weren't critical to delivering the best possible lightsaber."

"It took months of testing to properly identify and translate a lightsaber duel into an augmented-reality experience." — Mike Goslin, vice president of advanced development, Disney

To create the perfect lightsaber, Lenovo worked closely with Disney to nail down the authenticity. Even though the majority of the hilt is made of plastic, according to Goslin, the team "added extra weight, just so it felt a little more substantial — not so much that it tires you out to hold it, but we wanted it to feel right. From there, it took months of testing to properly identify and translate a lightsaber duel into an augmented-reality experience." And having spent several hours dueling Sith Lords, I can attest to the addictive nature of the experience and the sheer, unadulterated fun.

Once Disney had the dueling down pat, allowing you to fight against everyone from Kylo Ren to Darth Vader, it was time to flesh out the overall experience. Goslin revealed that about a half dozen other gameplay prototypes were developed before they settled on Strategic Combat and Holochess. "Focusing [on] a different kind of wish fulfillment that's fun to play, Goslin said, "we knew [Strategic Combat] was deep and had a lot of hours of play."

The addition of Holochess is a fun piece of fan service from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope — an iconic moment in the original trilogy that's on-screen for only a few seconds. "I've always wanted to kind of get closer to it, and I think there are a lot of people that feel the same way," Goslin said. "So we kind of had to do that one because it was so exciting for fans of the films, and we were able to turn it into quite a deep game itself."

As fun as Star Wars: Jedi Challenges has been to date, it's clear that Disney has more in store for Star Wars fans. "We see this as a really long-term opportunity, so we wanted to create engagement beyond just the novelty of 'Hey, check out this lightsaber,'" Goslin said. "So it was actually very important to us, and I think ... the bar is going to rise within this space … AR and VR are just getting started." — Sherri L. Smith

Lego Boost: Making Coding Fun (Really)

There are a lot of robot kits for kids, but Lego Boost stands out by making it easy and fun for young children to learn programming concepts. The $159 kit comes with enough bricks for children to build their choice of five different robots or to invent their own.

However, what really stands out is not the physical design of the bricks and motors, but the accompanying mobile app that helps kids learn how to code, even if they don't know how to read yet.

"The Lego Boost app introduces a coding language that is designed to be intuitive and familiar to children, much like a digital version of the physical Lego brick," said Michael McNally, senior director of brand relations at Lego Group. "We developed the coding language specifically to be fun and accessible to children, and to reward them with quick successes."

Available for Android, iOS and some Amazon tablets, the Lego Boost app walks users through different stages of building one of the five bots — the robotic cat, for example. As the child completes each stage of the build, a virtual hand shows the young programmer just where to drag a series of simple coding blocks so that he or she can learn concepts such as functions and loops, without being hit over the head with jargon.

In fact, there's no written or spoken language in the Lego Boost interface at all; every block shows its purpose by displaying cute icons such as a harmonica for playing music. Even my preliterate five-year-old was programming within minutes.

As children complete the different build and programming steps, they unlock new levels that teach them more skills and put more code blocks into the treasure chest, which is a repository of functions they can use to make their own custom programs.

"By introducing kids to coding as a means to an end — that is, the way they bring their Lego builds to life — we can reward their successes easily and encourage them to continue tinkering," McNally said. — Avram Piltch

Nvidia Max-Q: Gaming Goes Thin

Picture a gaming notebook. It's probably very thick, it gets really hot and it's extremely loud. But after this year, it doesn't have to be that way. That's the philosophy behind Max-Q, Nvidia's new line of notebook GPUs, which are combined with a design philosophy to allow powerful, quiet gaming in a thin notebook.

“Historically, we had this approach where you crank everything to the max because you're chasing the most amount of performance — not quite to this extent, but everything else be damned," said Mark Aevermann, Nvidia's director of product management for gaming. “When you start to take a different lens and say, ‘How do you find the most efficiency?' you can start changing every single assumption you built into the GPU over 20 years of design."

Aevermann said that Max-Q, as well as many other technologies developed by Nvidia, come out of “sympathy for the end user." In this case, it was for users faced with thick, heavy gaming laptops that would get really loud. So how do you make lives better for gamers on the go? Make lots and lots of tiny adjustments.

“Jensen [Huang, Nvidia CEO], once in early stages of Max-Q, framed it in a way that stuck with me," Aevermann recalled. “He basically said, ‘I want dozens and dozens of half a percent and 1-percent improvements.' And when you add them all together, all of a sudden it becomes pretty incredible."

This, along with collaboration with laptop vendors, has allowed for superthin, ultraquiet gaming laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus, MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro and Acer Predator Triton 700  — all of which are less than an inch thick. That's where what Nvidia calls the “design philosophy" of Max-Q comes in. For vendors, it's another series of “ 1-percent improvements," like redesigning a chassis for better thermal management. And while the Max-Q GPUs might not be as powerful as traditional ones, the difference in the physical notebook is immediately obvious.

Max-Q has competition coming in 2018. Intel and AMD have announced initiatives to bring powerful graphics to thin notebooks. AMD will have its Vega APUs in Ryzen Mobile notebooks and will provide integrated graphics for some Intel 8th Gen Core CPUs. Nvidia, Aevermann said, is at an advantage because the company has been focused on that goal for years.

“I'll defer to you to make your judgments if they'll be competitive or not," he said. “All I can say from an Nvidia perspective is that this is not something we woke up in the last six months and decided we wanted to go fix." — Andrew E. Freedman

Samsung Galaxy S8: Infinitely Beautiful

Design matters. Need proof? Samsung says Galaxy S8 owners use their phones for 40 more minutes a day than Galaxy S7 owners do, while S8+ owners use their devices 75 more minutes than S7 Edge owners do. To understand why, you needn't look further than the revolutionary Infinity Display on the newer phones.

Samsung wasn't the first company to launch a smartphone with an 18:9 screen and minimal bezels; that designation belongs to LG and its G6, which beat the Galaxy S8 to the market by a month. But Samsung set the benchmark for extra-wide screens.

The S8's display was the product of years of research and development, drawing on everything that the company had learned producing curved displays at scale all the way back to 2014's Note Edge tablet. Only, this wasn't a niche one-off or a premium variant; with the S8, Samsung stuffed curved Super AMOLED panels and shrinking bezels in each and every flagship handset that rolled off the company's production line.

It was a "big bet," in the words of Justin Denison, senior vice president of product strategy and marketing at Samsung Electronics America, and that gamble paid dividends for the smartphone maker. But the move to the Infinity Display was fraught with challenges along the way.

"You have to continually evolve the materials you're using, [like] the metals and alloys around the edge of the device, to make sure they're sufficiently strong," Denison told Tom's Guide. You're strengthening the glass itself, moving to Gorilla Glass 5. … You're taking components that the consumer never sees, like the display driver and antenna around [the] inside [of] the phone cavity, so they can still function properly, but frankly get out of the way so that you can make more space for the display to curve all the way around the edge."

The Galaxy S8's Infinity Display didn't just improve things for Samsung customers, it led HTC and OnePlus to send their flagship phones back to the drawing board.

As a result, the S8's bezels are 50 percent smaller than those on the S7, while the S8 has a 36 percent larger screen area. That translates to one-handed operation that's significantly easier, and a form factor that's roughly the same as that of the S8's predecessor, despite the new phone's much larger display. The curve also enables useful UI layers and shortcuts like Apps Edge, a feature exclusive to Samsung's flagships.

But, of course, all the elbow grease used to capitalize on display real estate came at a price, and a significant one: the home button. With no room left on the device's front, Samsung developed a two-pronged approach: a digital home button with intuitive haptic feedback to replicate the tactile sensation of a real button, and relocating the fingerprint sensor around the back (although we wish the company had opted for a more-central placement).

"Taking away the physical home button you would say was a little bit of a risk," Denison said, "but it was a risk we thought was worth taking. … [Developing the haptic feedback] was something that frankly required a lot of simulation and trial and error along the way. We were constantly designing prototypes and doing various testing on usability and durability."

The Infinity Display didn't just improve things for Samsung's loyal customers, either; it sent ripples across the industry. Both HTC and OnePlus were sent back to the drawing board, revising their existing flagships to roll out full-screen versions later in the year. Google reportedly deviated from its original plan for the Pixel 2 XL by spurning HTC to partner with LG, which offered a design with much slimmer bezels for that 6-inch phone.

Samsung's achievement was the culmination of a focus on display innovation that goes as far back as the original Galaxy S, the first touch-screen smartphone with an AMOLED panel.

"We think screens are the primary window to the phone experience; that's the area we've invested [in] trying to build design leadership and manufacturing leadership, and we've been quite proud of the success and acceptance of that [investment] in the market," Denison said. — Adam Ismail

DJI Spark Drone: No Controller Required

Short of being trained by a Jedi, this is the closest you'll come to using the Force. The DJI Spark, the company's newest and smallest drone, doesn't need a controller or a smartphone to fly. All you need to do is wave your hand.

Hold your palm out, and you can direct the Spark across the sky, have it take a picture or video of you, and get it to follow you as you walk around. Oh, and it'll land on your hand, too.

But getting the Spark to do all this wasn't as easy as, say, flapping your arms.

Back when the company was launching the Mavic Pro, DJI's designers were trying to make an even smaller drone, but they wanted the Spark's distinguishing feature to be more than just its size. "Then, we asked, 'Besides the hardware and software, how can we make the drone easier to use?'" said Paul Pan, senior product manager at DJI.

The project team recognized that actually piloting a drone was still a major challenge for most consumers. "We then went from an iteration of a simpler remote controller to finally no controller at all," Pan said.

DJI then looked for gestures that people typically make, including those in everyday life and in the movies. Working within the confines of the Spark's 3D sensing system — which helps it avoid trees and other obstacles — DJI tried numerous iterations, as the drone had to account for different pilot body types, control habits and even the drone itself.

"Giving a gesture to control the drone makes the drone move and simultaneously affects the recognition input because the pilot's palm and body are moving as well," Pan said. After 10 months of experimentation, Pan said, "the Gesture Control function was born."

While the gestures are still fairly limited now, we can't wait to see what else will take flight. — Mike Prospero

Hellblade: An Authentic Descent into Madness

From a distance, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice ($30, PS4 and PC) looks like a fairly straightforward action-adventure game, packed with swordplay, puzzles and a harrowing hellscape of demons. But once you put your headphones on and sink your teeth into developer Ninja Theory's interactive journey, it'll quickly hit you: That harrowing hellscape is the inside of someone's mind.

The first independent release from the action-game veterans at Ninja Theory, Hellblade places players inside the head of Senua, a Celtic warrior experiencing extreme psychosis. It successfully tackles the sensitive subject matter of mental illness through a moving, multihour journey, which makes brilliant use of audio and visuals to bring to life the kinds of demons that many real people live with every day.

"At the very beginning, we knew that tackling mental health and psychosis would be creatively exciting, and socially, it would be incredibly dangerous," said creative director and studio co-founder Tameem Antoniades.

To get it right, the studio worked with University of Cambridge neuroscience professor Paul Fletcher, biomedical research charity Wellcome and a variety of "service users," folks who have experienced extreme mental illness and who were willing to share their stories and give feedback. The next challenge was building the in-game technology that would bring Senua's experience to life in a way that would do those users justice.

There's a reason Hellblade asks you to play with headphones on as soon as you boot the title up: One of the game's biggest innovations is its use of binaural audio, which Ninja Theory employs to faithfully re-create the feeling of having voices inside of your head.

"What a binaural mic does is simulate how we hear the world. It's just simply two microphones attached to two rubber ears. And it's only when you experience it yourself that you realize just how much we're missing with generalized, procedural 3D audio" said Antoniades.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice struck a deeply emotional chord, both with folks experiencing mental illness and those hoping to understand it.

Equally striking are the game's visuals, which feature incredibly detailed environments, clever use of full-motion video and one of the most realistic-looking main characters we've ever seen in a video game.

To make Senua look true to life under a tight budget, Ninja Theory built its own motion-capture studio and collaborated with Cubic Motion, 3Lateral and Epic Games, three companies that were willing to help out in order to fine-tune their own performance-capture and graphics tech.

"We had this massive, four-way R&D thing, all of us just working out of goodwill. And we pushed the performance technology forward," said Antoniades.

This collaboration led to a breakthrough: real-time performance capture. Ninja Theory could translate a live motion-capture scene into a complete in-game cinematic squence within minutes. The process usually takes months. Ninja Theory demonstrated the tech live at last year's Siggraph conference, beating out film giants such as Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic for the event's real-time graphics award.

"Somehow, through the most extreme budget constrictions we've ever had, we've done more with this technology than I think anyone ever has," said Antoniades.

That impressive technology all coalesced into a cohesive, immersive and incredibly striking final product, which got massive critical praise when it launched in summer of 2017. More importantly, it struck a deeply emotional chord both with folks experiencing mental illness and those hoping to understand it.

"The people who really connect with Hellblade get a sense that they know something they didn't know before. Something deep about the mind, about madness, about suffering. And they get some empathy from that," said Antoniades.

"I think that leads you to understand that games are a really important medium for humanity." — Michael Andronico

Nvidia Shield: One Box to Rule Them All

The 2017 iteration of the Nvidia Shield ($179) wants to be all things to all people ㅡ and it succeeds. The Nvidia Shield is not just a 4K HDR streaming player; it's also a game console, a digital assistant and a smart home hub.

"Today's living room is typically cluttered with many devices," said Chris Daniel, the Nvidia Shield’s director of product management. "Our vision with Shield is that all of those experiences become 'apps' on a single, high-performance device."

The Nvidia Shield features a fully integrated Google Assistant. Just like on a smartphone, Google Assistant on the Nvidia Shield can tell you about traffic, look up sports scores, answer general trivia questions, add items to a to-do list, launch apps, search for streaming content and even control smart home gadgets. (The device supports Samsung SmartThings, which is the most diverse and robust smart home hub on the market.)

"We placed a technology bet when designing our new game controller that hands-free assistants would become a must-have in the living room," Daniel said. "At the time [we created the first Nvidia Shield], Google Assistant didn't even exist."

The decision to incorporate Google Assistant into the Nvidia Shield was natural, as the Shield runs on the Android TV OS. Managing content on this set-top box is just as easy as using an Android phone — and its visual element helps distinguish it from smart speakers, like the Amazon Echo or Google Home.

"You get access to your same Google Assistant with personal calendar, photos, commute information and more," Daniel said. "Ask your Google Assistant for the weather, and you see a five-day visual forecast, something you won't get from a stand-alone smart speaker."

Listening to customer critiques was also vital. Nvidia charged too much for the 2015 Shield's accessories: $30 for a stand and $40 for a remote control, which didn't come with the system.

"Many family members weren't comfortable using the game controller," Daniel explained. "In this year's model, we include the media remote as a standard accessory in the box. … We learned a lot from the first Shield and incorporated those learnings into the current model." — Marshall Honorof

Threadripper: AMD Rips the Competition

For years, consumers, analysts and media alike have labeled AMD as a maker of midrange and lower-tier processors and GPUs. Hell, even AMD seemed to accept its perceived place in the grand scheme of things. But thanks to the work of a team of engineers who weren't afraid to think outside the box, AMD is the proud creator of the Ryzen Threadripper processor, which is one of the most powerful desktop CPUs on the market.

Available in various tiers (1900X, 1920X and 1950X), Threadripper has effectively raised the bar for high-performance PC components. The premium 1950X CPU packs a whopping 16 cores and  32 threads, but all Threadripper processors are overclockable and feature an unheard-of 64 PCIe lanes. Best of all, these massive chips are hundreds of dollars cheaper than their Intel counterparts.

"We went from a company that delivered midrange and good mainstream value solutions to not only competing, but to actually offering the highest-performing processor you can buy,” said Don Woligroski, global marketing manager for desktop processors at AMD.

It's that time as a value provider that makes Threadripper such a success story. Instead of disabling or omitting features from its chips, AMD gives you access to everything at reasonable prices.

Woligroski explains: "One of the coolest things for me is that you can buy the lowest-end Threadripper, the 1900X, for $550 or so, and Intel's $2,000 Core i9-7980XE can't touch it when it comes to I/O (input/output), and that's because we came from this place where we just want to give people all the stuff we can give them.”

However, Threadripper almost didn't happen. A group of developers worked on the chip as a side project in 2014, and AMD had no plans to enter the high-performance space. But a conversation in a cab during Computex between Travis Kirsch, director of client product management, and Jim Anderson, senior VP and GM of the computing and graphics business group, got the project greenlighted. And AMD was off to the races to bring Threadripper to the masses.

"For us, we really had a lot to prove, and I think it took people a few months to realize we weren't overpromising," Woligroski said. "It turned out that we were underpromising and overdelivering. … It helped us get our swagger back. I think people take us a lot more seriously because of the existence of Threadripper, even though Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 are such great products."

But AMD's biggest challenge by far is getting consumers to understand exactly what Threadripper can do. "Most people will say, 'Oh, I've got a Threadripper, I can render faster,' said Woligroski. "It's like, no, man, you can't just render faster, you can render and you can encode something at the same time and you can play a game at the same time and you've got no lag."

One thing is clear: AMD has raised the stakes in the processor market, and it couldn't be more excited.

"I love any kind of leapfrogs in the industry, where one side gets ahead of the other, be it hardware or software, and then the other side scrambles to catch up," said Woligroski. "And that's really exciting; that means we're pushing something and we're making a meaningful difference and the competition responds and everybody wins in the end." — Sherri L. Smith

reMarkable Tablet: The Write Stuff

The reMarkable is a specialized $599 tablet for people who love to draw and write, as it recreates the pen-and-paper experience to an impressive degree with its felt nub and proprietary display. The Apple Pencil may have less latency, but pushing its rubber nub against the iPad's glass pane simply doesn't feel as natural as this startup’s slate.

The company's CEO, Magnus Wanberg told us he came to the idea because, while paper "is a beautiful material, it's hard to organize, hard to share and easy to lose track of."

After deciding the slate should use an E Ink-based digital paper display — the kind in Amazon's Kindles — his team reached out to the E Ink company in late 2013, and "told them about our vision for this beautiful product that would give digital superpowers to the paper writing experience that we love."

"E Ink said, 'Yeah, great idea, but digital paper is inherently not fast enough for writing,'" because the pause of turning a page on a Kindle is too long, and doesn't suffice for the drawing experience. After spending two years working on the latency problem, Wanberg and his team returned to meet with E Ink in Taiwan in 2015.

"We showed them two units: one with basic software and another featuring our Canvas technology" (its secret sauce of five proprietary tools). "Instead of giving a walkthrough, we simply asked them to write on each," and E Ink saw that the difference was "night and day."

One week later, Wanberg received an email from E Ink, saying that this was a huge technological breakthrough in digital paper. “Whatever you need, we'll build it,” the note said.

The critical consensus has been strong for the tablet, which many — including our sister site Laptop Mag — have praised for bringing the pen-and-paper experience to the digital age. — Henry T. Casey

Razer Kiyo: Lights, Camera...

The Kiyo takes extraordinary photos, but it's the 12 LEDs that fit in a light ring around the camera for easy, bright lighting that make this device so special.

"Working closely with a wide range of grassroots streamers and top broadcasters like Jericho, IncredibleOrb and FazonHD, we noticed that the top ranks had expensive and complicated lighting setups, whereas casual streamers usually stuck to simple, inexpensive camera setups," said Jeevan Aurol, product marketing manager at Razer.

Razer went through a process to make sure the Kiyo ($99) would brighten up any streamer properly. Aurol said Razer tested a variety of arrays of LEDs, brightness levels and color temperatures and found that the "natural lighting feel" was the best, on average, with a variety of skin tones.

The Kiyo's other innovation is its portable, cylindrical design that allows it to be placed just about anywhere.

"[We] focused heavily on the hinge stand design and thought a lot about the different ways that streamers set up their cameras: on the top of their monitors, mounted on tripods or positioned on tables," Aurol said.

As we said in our Kiyo review, a single light ring isn't the same as a full setup, but this peripheral brings studio-like lighting to a lot of people for a reasonable price. — Andrew E. Freedman

Amazon Echo Show and Spot: Alexa Grows Up

At around this time last November, Amazon had just three Alexa-enabled products—the Echo, the Echo Dot and the Tap—and just over 3,000 skills. Fast-forward a year, and the company now has twice as many devices (with another on the way) and more than 27,000 skills in its catalog.

And don't forget the various Fire TV devices, tablets and dozens of third-party gadgets, from smartphones to speakers to thermostats, that also have Amazon's assistant built in.

What's more, Alexa devices can now do more than they could a year ago, such as look at feeds from security cameras, play the same song throughout your entire house, and call each other — even if one is on the other side of the country.

Ironically, this explosion of both hardware and software was borne out of a desire to simplify the smart-home experience for consumers. "We always try to come up with tenets that will help guide us with our priorities," said Miriam Daniel, the product management director for Alexa experience and devices. "Every new idea we think about, we think what problem does this solve, or how does it improve our customer's lives? How does it remove friction?"

Amazon started thinking about the Echo and Alexa nearly five years ago. Trekkies all, Daniel and her team wanted to replicate the show's experience of being able to just talk to the ship's computer, wherever they happened to be. "We wanted to bring that simplicity of voice," she said.

"We inventoried what it took to set up a smart home device, and it was like 15 steps. And we said we've got to solve that friction problem, which is how the Echo Plus was born." — Miriam Daniel, product management director, Alexa experience and devices

After the release of the first Echo products, Amazon began collecting feedback from users as to what could make their devices, and Alexa, better.

For example, Amazon was pleasantly surprised by the number of consumers who were using the Echo to control smart-home devices, but that getting everything connected was confusing. "We went and inventoried what it took to set up a smart home device, and it was like 15 steps, about 30 different clicks, two apps, two devices — it wasn't for the faint of heart," Daniel said. "And we said we've got to solve that friction problem, which is how the Echo Plus was born."

When Amazon launched the Echo Show, it was in response to customers who wanted a visual confirmation of things they were saying and doing with Alexa. Yet, Daniel said that the team was focused on making sure that the Show was still a voice-first device. Being able to just fall back to a primarily touch experience would turn the Show into nothing but a glorified tablet.

The Echo Show is too big and too expensive? Welcome, Echo Spot.

Daniel and her team also have to remind themselves that, unlike smartphones, tablets and laptops, Echo devices were designed to be shared. "In this day and age when every device has become a personal device, and people are heads-down into their personal electronics, our tenet was to seek out the use cases that would bring back the family time, the communal experiences back into the home."

This is evident in the hyper-attention that Amazon spends on the performance of the far-field microphones in Echo devices — and how readily Alexa will respond, in the same measured tone, to shrieking children asking  the most inane questions.

Along with the hardware, Amazon has a team working to make Alexa seem more human. The company is seeing that customers are interacting with the assistant as if it were a friend, a companion, colleague, family member, versus just treating it as a piece of technology.

"The other day, I actually got a letter in the mail where a customer wrote and said, every time I talk to Alexa, I thank her, and I wish she would say 'You’re Welcome." And she was talking about a continuous interaction. So we get tidbits like that all the time, where customers want Alexa to have more of a personality."

"[Alexa] didn't come together because customers said 'we want to talk to technology,'" Daniels said. "It came because we had a vision of how to simplify the life around us." — Mike Prospero

Nintendo Switch: The Anti-Console

You're playing Super Mario Odyssey on your couch, getting lost in the game's gorgeously inventive 3D worlds on your big-screen TV. There's just one problem: You have a big cross-country flight coming up in a few hours, and it'll probably be days before you get to resume your adventure to save Princess Peach.

And then it hits you:

You pull the Nintendo Switch out of its dock, throw it in your bag and hop on the plane. Without skipping a beat, you're back to fighting Bowser and collecting moons, this time on the system's beautiful 6-inch display, all while you float tens of thousands of feet above the ground. This is the magic of the Nintendo Switch.

"When playing a video game, it’s a great feeling to be totally immersed in the experience. Often times you don’t want to stop playing," said Charlie Scibetta, senior director of corporate communications at Nintendo. "But with traditional consoles... there inevitably came a time when you had to move on just from a practical standpoint. That was the limitation we wanted to overcome with Nintendo Switch."

The Switch is the year's most innovative gaming gadget because it manages to deliver on a simple-but-unprecedented promise: a home console that you can play on-the-go. With its detachable Joy-Cons and its ability to be propped up on a table or gripped like a handheld, the Switch is changing how, and where, we play.

Much of what makes the Switch special lies in its versatile Joy-Con controllers. You can attach them to the Switch to use Nintendo's console as a handheld, pass one to a friend for instant multiplayer gaming, or flail them around for motion-controlled games like Arms and 1-2 Switch. They're key to the Switch's ability to act as both a portable and home console, and feel far more practical than the gimmicky gamepads of Nintendo's past.

But a cool piece of hardware is useless without great games to play on it, and Nintendo's first-party output for the Switch represents some of its most creative work yet. Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are already hallmarks of their respective franchises, each delivering dynamic, lively worlds and exciting mechanics that push each series forward.

"With traditional consoles... there inevitably came a time when you had to move on just from a practical standpoint. That was the limitation we wanted to overcome with Nintendo Switch." — Charlie Scibetta, senior director of corporate communications,  Nintendo

Equally impressive is the Switch's third-party library, which ranges from beloved indies like Shovel Knight to big AAA games such as Skyrim and L.A. Noire. Sure, you can play Rocket League and Doom on other platforms, but only Switch lets you play them in a handheld format.

"The Nintendo Switch is appealing to developers because they have bought into the same value proposition that gamers have – a play anywhere, with anyone, whenever you want game-play dynamic," said Scibetta.

But while the Switch's game lineup is fantastic, perhaps the biggest reason Nintendo's new console is thriving is the sheer simplicity of it. Part of why 2012's Wii U was a failure was the clunkiness of the system, which relied on a bulky tablet controller that had to be tethered to the console at all times. The Switch condenses that idea into a much more compact and portable piece of hardware, resulting in a level of pick-up-and-play simplicity that brings Nintendo's glory days to mind.

"Ever since the first video about Nintendo Switch debuted last October, people seemed to immediately 'get it,'" said Scibetta. — Michael Andronico

iPhone X: A Vision Perfected

The iPhone X isn't the first phone to integrate technologies like OLED or facial recognition — it simply executes those features better than the competition. At the same time, the processor inside the iPhone X is miles ahead of anything from the Android camp.

There are three advancements — the Super Retina Display, Face ID and the A11 Bionic chip — that combine to make Apple's flagship the most innovative product of the year.

The first thing you notice when you pick up the iPhone X (other than its lack of bezels) is how vibrant its Super Retina Display is. Despite using a Samsung-supplied OLED screen, it's clear that Apple engineered the hell out of this panel to leapfrog its foes. In fact, in side-by-side comparisons with the Galaxy Note 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL, everyone on our team of editors and writers preferred the iPhone X's screen, thanks to its more realistic-looking hues, higher brightness and wider viewing angles.

"The color accuracy is incredible; that's one of those things that OLED didn't knock out," said Greg Joswiak, vice president of product marketing for Apple. "The colors had been wrong, oversaturated."

To improve on previous OLED implementations, Apple brought in its own color-management system to ensure that the iPhone X produces the most accurate colors possible. The team behind the Super Retina Display also developed a unique folding-panel design, stacking the circuits so it could get as tight to the bezel as possible.

Last but not least, Apple did a ton of work at the subpixel level, so the iPhone X's screen could display really crisp lines along with beautifully rounded corners. We could see the difference when we looked at the same high-resolution image of a docked ship on the iPhone X and other OLED-screen phones. Images on the iPhone X looked sharper.

"We had to do a lot of engineering to come up with panels that were better," said Joswiak.

The iPhone X also introduces a new way to unlock your phone in Face ID, which leverages the new TrueDepth camera system up front. There's a ton of tech packed into that small area on the front of the phone, including an infrared camera, a flood illuminator, the 7-megapixel front camera and dot projector. That's in addition to the proximity sensor, ambient-light sensor, speaker and microphone.

"Forget all those stories you heard about us trying to map fingerprints into the back. We had a line of sight on how to do real facial recognition, in a way never done before." — Greg Joswiak, vice president of product marketing, Apple

Apple has taken some criticism for the notch that swoops down from the top of the screen, but it serves a real purpose by containing all that tech.

"With all of those components, this is one of the most densely packed technology areas I think we've ever done," said Joswiak. "It's one of the most sophisticated pieces of technology we've ever done in such an incredibly small space."

That dot projector shines 30,000 invisible dots on your face in order to create a 3D map. This TrueDepth system then feeds that map to the A11 Bionic chip and does all the math to identify that it's you — almost in real time.

The result is facial recognition that works as reliably in bright light as it does in the dark. And, unlike other phones with facial recognition, you can't fool this one with a photograph. Face ID is so good, in fact, that Apple didn't even bother with a fingerprint sensor.

"Forget all those stories you heard about us trying to map fingerprints into the back," Joswiak said. "We had a line of sight on how to do real facial recognition, in a way never done before. It would be really hard to do, but we just didn't want to do it the way others had, which could literally be spoofed with a picture."

That brings us to the brain of the iPhone X, which is the A11 Bionic chip. Also found in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, the A11 Bionic is the fastest mobile CPU we've ever tested — by far. When transcoding a 4K video clip, for instance, the iPhone X took just 24 seconds, compared to nearly 3 minutes for the next-fastest Android phone.

The A11 Bionic packs two performance cores that are up to 25 percent faster than the cores in the previous A10 Fusion chip, along with four high-efficiency cores that are up to 70 percent faster. A second-generation performance controller allows the iPhone X to run all of the cores together at the same time, which is a first. This comes in handy when the phone is running demanding iOS augmented-reality apps.

But this chip isn't just about pure speed. It's about enabling features that simply weren't possible before. For instance, the neural engine inside the A11 Bionic enables the iPhone X to instantly recognize your face, performing 600 billion operations per second. This engine also fires up the cute new Animoji, analyzing and tracking your facial movements in order to map them to animated characters.

"Our SoC [system on a chip] team worked hand in glove with the rest of our organization, both hardware and software, to create chips that are perfectly suited for what we're trying to do from a features standpoint. That's huge," said Joswiak.

When Apple introduced the first iPhone, it took a lot of flak for not including a physical keyboard, but the company's actual vision was to eliminate buttons. Ten years later, the iPhone X nearly achieves that, and Apple could care less if others beat it to the punch when they're offering features.

"It doesn't matter if you're first to a general idea, it's about being first to making it fantastic, and that's what we try to do," Joswiak said. "Whether it's the chip team working with our hardware team or our software team with our human interface team — it is one team here. No one else can match that." — Mark Spoonauer

Image credits: Tom's Guide unless otherwise noted.

You just realized that your phone is low on juice, and panic sets in. How much charge can you get in a limited amount of time? We tested 10 of the top flagship phones and found that the OnePlus 5T is the fastest in the land.

Update Dec. 4: We've added information on the battery capacity and battery life for each phone in order to provide context.

The good news is that most of the premium Android phones these days offer some form of quick charging via their USB-C adapters. In the case of the latest iPhones, you can get fast charging, but only if you pay extra for both a 29-watt power adapter and a USB-C-to-Lightning cable (about $68 total). Yes, I'm serious.

For our first round of testing, we wanted to find what battery percentage these phones could reach in 30 minutes of charging with their included adapters. The phones were on, but the screens were turned off. With the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, we used both the standard AC plug and the fast-charging gear to bring you both sets of results.

The OnePlus 5T led the pack, reaching an impressive 59 percent in 30 minutes. The advantage for the OnePlus? Unlike most other Android phones, it doesn't use Qualcomm's QuickCharge technology. Instead, it employs the proprietary Dash Charge, which delivers higher amperage than QuickCharge and uses dedicated circuitry in the charger itself for heat management. (Android Central has a great explainer on how Dash Charge works.)

The next-best phone in the first round of our testing was the LG V30, at 53 percent. The iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were all close behind, at 50 percent, 49 percent and 47 percent, respectively, when we used the fast-charging gear Apple sells separately.

Flagship Phone Battery Capacity and Battery Life Compared

* Based on Tom's Guide web surfing battery test over LTE

However, it's important to note that these iPhones charge slower than the rest of the field even with their included adapters. For instance, the iPhone X hit only 17 percent after 30 minutes.

MORE: Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life

Among other phones, the Galaxy Note 8, S8 and S8+ were all in the same ballpark, at 35 to 38 percent, and the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL had comparable results.

So how about after an hour? The OnePlus 5T once again took the prize, reaching 93 percent in 60 minutes. The LG V30 snagged second place, at 86 percent, and the latest iPhones all vied for third place, though the iPhone X had the most capacity, at 81 percent. And, yes, you could argue that you need to cheat to hit these numbers with the iPhone, because you have to buy extra gear.

Overall, if filling up your phone fast is a top priority, the OnePlus 5T is the champ. And at $499, it's also the most affordable phone you can get that comes with flagship-level specs and performance.

Credit: Tom's Guide

• OnePlus 5T vs Pixel 2: Why OnePlus Wins
• Best Android Apps You're Not Using
• 10 Reasons Android Beats the iPhone