David Egbert's Geeky Blog: 2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Apple iPad Air 3: Rumors & Leaks (2016)

The iPad Air 2 released over two years ago, but a new version of the iPad is coming soon.......probably! Here's everything you should know so far about the ...

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What’s Hidden Inside This iPhone Case?

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) --- Today's Mystery Video - https://youtu.be/kifH-__ZN-4?list=PL7u4lWXQ3wfI_7PgX0C-VTiwLeu0S4v34 TurtleCell Headphone Case for iPhone ...

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TWO GTX 1080s in a f***ing LAPTOP – Sager NP9873

With a desktop CPU, TWO desktop GPUs, and a truly huge form factor... can you even call this thing a laptop anymore? Massdrop link: http://dro.ps/ltt-tfz Be quiet!

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Leaked CAD-based Moto X (2017) renders and video reveal a poor man’s Moto Z

While Sony backpedaled from Z to X branding for this year’s high-end Xperia smartphone family, Lenovo did the exact opposite, replacing the moderately popular Motorola Moto X lineup with a brand-new, redesigned and fairly original Z roster of premium modular handhelds.

But rumors of a swift Moto X return have persisted over the last few months, reaching their culmination today with yet another of those all-revealing @OnLeaked CAD-based render exposés. It’s important to highlight the Moto X (2017) moniker still needs credible corroboration, looking more like an educated guess than anything else.

What’s pretty much etched in stone is that we’re dealing with a poor man’s Moto Z here, looking slightly less “premium” and considerably chunkier than the standard 5.5-inch powerhouse. On the bright side, an 8.4mm profile (9.3, camera bump included) would allow the so-called Moto X (2017) to pick the headphone jack back up while bizarrely switching from a USB Type-C to a traditional microUSB port as well.

At 5.2 inches in screen diagonal, the presumed Android upper mid-ranger should end up just a hair shorter (150 mm) and narrower (73.8 mm) than the Moto Z. With relatively thick bezels, that is, a revised oblong-shaped fingerprint reader beneath the usable display, single protruding rear-facing snapper, M banners both on the device’s front and back, and last but not least, no pogo pin connectors for Moto Mod add-ons.

Excited? Intrigued? Disappointed? A combination of all three? Sound your feelings below.

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The Perfect Desk Setup | Episode 1

A $3500 Ultimate Gaming Setup aimed towards PC and Console gaming with a side of productivity. ▻dbrand skins: http://bit.ly/1MIYVbr ▻NICE App (available ...

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$50 Gaming PC Challenge!

The Forgotten Nintendo Console: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF-A24YykHo&index=1&list=PL02HDVnTgIcpnnRo8PRZDJnxILA2IHIpI Check out ...

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Windows Scoop Fans in India to Get Exclusive Updates, Invitations to Events, and More

The Windows Insider Team is extending the deadline for submissions to enter the Windows Scoop Fans programme to January 5. First announced earlier this month with a December 25 deadline, Windows Scoop Fans is designed for Windows enthusiasts and runs alongside the Windows Insider programme. It brings together all Windows brand (Home, Surface, Gaming on Windows) fans as part of the Windows community.

As members of Windows Scoop Fans, users will get exclusive updates to news on Windows, including the latest apps and devices, after they are granted access to a private Facebook page. The Windows Insider Team says that, "member will also get valuable tips and tricks, invitations to Windows fan events and more."

To become a member, interested Windows fans in India need to send an email to scoopfan@microsoft.com (from the same email address used for Facebook) answering the question 'Why I'm the biggest fan of Windows'. Microsoft says users can make submissions about a favourite feature, a Windows app they created. or how helpful Windows has been to get work done, among other things. Windows fans can also attach photos and videos with the email to support their story.

As we mentioned, the Windows Insider Team has set a deadline of January 5 for submissions and selected Windows Scoop Fans participants will receive a confirmation by January 15.

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The hot (and not so hot) news stories from Pocketnow in 2016

We didn’t decide on what was going to make or break our year. Nope, manufacturers — and the devices they put out — did. And every move, big and small, tilted a domino over that led to bigger ones falling onto us, the press and the consuming public.

These stories aren’t necessarily the most popular stories Pocketnow has covered in 2016, but probably the most meaningful and most impactful to one person who reads the site or another. Yep, that means you may have missed out on any of these stories.

In which case, we should probably get started with some of the cold, hard facts the plopped down onto us.

Not Hot

Motorola gutted — the Chicago-based phone manufacturer isn’t one of its own right anymore. Ever since Google gave it up to Lenovo in 2014, the Chinese tech strongarm has been trying to merge its own mobile operations with those of Motorola’s. It was even capped off by a lame branding shift.

That strategy has failed as it was and the two units consequently suffered cutbacks. The latest and biggest one for Motorola reportedly left it with just 500 employees — it had five digits in its ranks just a few years before.

Jolla Tablet — remember Jolla? One of the mobile operating systems that’s looking to take the charge away from Android in Russia? Yeah, well, the reason why the Finnish startup is spreading its OS there is partly because it couldn’t proper fulfill crowdfunding perks to its backers.

Back when Jolla was more consumer-facing, it launched a phone and then launched a Jolla Tablet. But the company put a lot of that money to research and development and partnered with shady components players. After hitting the financial brink a couple of times, the firm found it safer to quit and give out the 500 devices it had than feed the money pit.

That doesn’t stop the company from its hardware ambitions, be it in phone or watch form.

Apple v. FBI — this story actually begins late in 2015, when Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and injured 22 others at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. The two were killed by police in a subsequent gunfight.

The FBI requested Apple’s assistance in decrypting the iPhone 5c that was under the possession of Farook and the ownership of the Inland Regional Center, where he worked. The company would not comply, as it would not only involve breaking encryption that Apple claims it was not equipped to do by design to fully protect consumer privacy, but that it would not build a “backdoor” for law enforcement to simply nail into phones.

As a court case began brewing and sides were being formed, the FBI announced that it had acquired an exploit from a gray hat entity to break through the encryption of the iPhone. Apple’s response was surprisingly milquetoast and we, as a society, lost a chance to discuss how we treat privacy in the digital age and what role tech corporations (and the private sector at large) and governments have to play in our hidden lives.

Follow-on impacts include: smaller law enforcement departments using the exploit; the FBI extracting materials of little use in the device it had caused such a ruckus over; press outlets suing the agency for that material.

Windows 10 Mobile going nowhere — just because we now have the power of promised foresight doesn’t mean that we can let Redmond go for leaving us on the lurch for one whole year.

Windows 10 Mobile only got two major third-party releases in the back half of the year while the rest of it was filled with Microsoft reminding us that it really doesn’t care about mobile today and would rather focus on tomorrow. Developing x86 app emulation on ARM64 chips may have been a terrific long play, but we can’t be assured that consumers and enterprise would readily flock to the end solution that’s expected to debut in the new year.

Never mind the fact that those people can’t use this emulation in 2016.

BoonGoogle — some of the biggest disappointments didn’t just come from Apple, though you’ve probably figured that out from our ongoing coverage of its depressed expectations.

But we decided that riffing on Google for shooting down or missing out on what we thought to be achievable and on-mission moonshot projects would be a better idea: we can together grieve the future we’ll never have.

First, Project Ara, the modular smartphone concept developed by Motorola (which is very happy with its own solution, thank you very much), didn’t get to Puerto Rico when it was supposed to and spent copious amounts of idle time before a brief resurgence in the public eye at Google I/O this year before all of a sudden, kaput. Way to whip us, Mountain View. Way to go.

Andromeda seemed like a good way to merge disparate user experiences on Android and Chrome OS for the up and coming convertible tablet market. Mobile apps were definitely a go while the power to scale up as needed was also appreciated, at least, so was told in tea leaves. And we had a product launch this year to look forward to. But all we’re left with now, Hiroshi Lockheimer tells us, is a voice assistant currently incapable of anything terribly useful that will tie the two ecosystems together.

Brilliant.

The extended development of Android Wear 2.0 this year meant little hardware progress, ergo market progress for the platform. Was it a good choice given the very vulnerable state of the smartwatch category? Did Apple, Samsung and Fitbit close the loop for Google? We’ll have to keep tuned in 2017 to find out.

Lastly, we’ve seen Google’s customer service express itself to be inert and a failure for many customers of its first-party hardware. The company has yet to respond to our request for comment on how it handles issues like Nexus devices crashing plus Pixels freezing and putting out crud sound. Claims have come up about how Google’s development team does not thoroughly look into faults that have been reported across multiple units and users.

Oh, Google, Google, Google. What can you do in 2017?

Hot

Nokia lives again — it’s the revival that we keep talking about and one that fell from the graces of said company in Redmond, Washington.

When the Finnish legacy brand sold off its Device and Services division to Microsoft two years ago, it signed a non-compete clause that prevented it from making phones for sale for more than two years. In the run-up to that clause being fulfilled, the company decided that it would try consumer mobile once again and licensed a seemingly purpose-built startup, HMD Global Oy, and Foxconn to prepare for battle.

This month, the Nokia 150 came to fruition and serves as a launch platform for bigger and better phones to be released in 2017. And with plenty of the old C-suite back in the game plus a patent battle with Apple in the mix, this will be one interesting item to keep tabs on.

Foxconn buys Sharp — this is one of the more oddball deals of 2016 and one that was on the precipice of not happening at all.

Japanese displaymaker Sharp was mired in trouble up until this year — tech manufacturers turned from sourcing LCDs to OLED panels and Apple has been continuously rumored to do the same for its iPhones. But the company, built on the older screen tech, couldn’t afford the outlay needed for new foundries. It was seeking help and fast.

And against all other options that involved Japanese entities investing, it was billionaire Terry Gou’s Hon Hai Precision Industry out of Taiwan that came up with a massive bid — one that shook up the insular economy of Japan.

As CEO, Gou’s eccentricities have helped manage Foxconn’s reliably renewed assembly contracts with Apple for the iPhone — the company is the largest contractor of the sort, after all. With ownership of Sharp, he would not only get another future contract for displays, but a chance to flex OEM muscle as the company produces smartphones, too. Last minute financial skeletons may have capped the deal’s value, but all bodies involved eventually struck agreement.

The dirty work of revving up OLED operations has just begun, but Gou now finds himself defending his perceived gains as United States President-Elect Donald Trump is looking forward to Apple manufacturing its “damn computers” domestically. But if a costly factory branch build-up in America can help secure more contracts with Cupertino, then Foxconn and Sharp will follow.

Beta for the people — you can have a beta testing program, sure. But would you ever go public with one?

Apple did with iOS and what has become macOS, but so did Google this year as it added on an Android Beta Program for Nexus, Pixel and some Android One users. Even if the beta programs weren’t open enrollment, there’s been a whole bunch more notice given to programs from Samsung and others as of late (by the way, OnePlus, you’ve got a day left for that OnePlus 3 and 3T Nougat update).

And if super-users get super-served with these updates, then it may leave every other customers just that bit more well off.

Not reality — this was the year that tech companies started avoiding reality in favor of headsets and new smartphone technologies.

HTC and Facebook ran neck and neck with their Vive and Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets. While both ended up pretty close to the starting gate, over the year, it seems clear that one has been mustering support from startups, PC producers and sales while the other has been plodding along and suffering the occasional controversy or two.

Rumors of Google trying to get into the standalone VR game were dismissed (though we stress that 2017 can hold anything). In the meantime, Android Nougat washed in Daydream, a renewed approach and in-app experience to mobile-based VR. If it does any better than what Cardboard gave us, we consider that a hotness of a sort.

Finally, Lenovo was able to help Google launch its augmented reality platform, Tango, with a special, sensor-packed phone, the Phab 2 Pro. It’s a purpose-built device that really shouldn’t be a phone so much as a cellular tablet that can deliver enhanced sensory hits in class lessons and extrapolated information for pertinent spatial tasks.

But with the headsets’ and phones’ honeymoon phases edging to an end, we think it’ll take some bravery and new ideas to make virtual, mixed or augmented reality more useful, more visible and more approachable to the lay person. That’ll require work in the next many days.

Three’s a crowd — ZTE, Eve and you.

As an individual and passionate techie, you may not consider your voice to be heard in the ocean of other customers that just want their effing phones to make calls and surf the internet. Nope, you definitely want more than all of those people.

In maintaining its sophomore smartphone efforts in the United States, Chinese manufacturer ZTE decided to take community-building seriously this year. It launched Project CSX, a contest that saw hundreds of mobile device concepts passed around, showcased, poked at and voted on in the hopes of creating something thoroughly unique and particularly useful.

After several verdicts, it was determined that a reading phone with an omni-adhesive back and a specially polarized display would be made by the company in 2017. But no matter which idea won, we think that the contest easily beat out hundreds of other marketing ploys we’ve seen.

Back to Finland and to a community of over a thousand curious minds who coalesced around a project called “Pyramid Flipper.” The company behind it, Eve-tech, made its bones with a crowdfunded Windows 8 tablet that performed decently. But it decided that a fair, no-nonsense competitor to the Surface line of devices was needed and that as much bull as possible had to be cut out from the creative process.

This is where we laud the startup for not only gathering obsessives to pick at their brains at how the specs and features of a convertible tablet should interact with each other, but the meticulous transparency of the research and development phases of which it presented to that community. Eve-tech empowered consumers, albeit of a limited population, to get involved in its product — a feat made incredible by how little capital the company’s name held.

The company ended up introducing an elegant, but beefy computer, the Eve V, to Indiegogo at a steeply discounted price. The Eve V ended up quickly breaking records for the crowdfunding site.

As real outcomes of what ZTE’s Project CSX and Eve-tech begin to flow from factories to consumers’ hands, we will definitely evaluate what sort of a job both companies have done in executing the demands of fans.

What cannot be questioned is the fact that companies big and small turned directly to their would-be customers and asked them, “What do you want?”

They got answers. Loud and clear.

If you think we’ve got some holes on this list, don’t worry: we’re probably going to fill them up with our “Winners and Losers of 2016” post, coming shortly.

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iBall Set to Launch Gaming Laptops Soon: Sources

One of the sticking points when it comes to PC gaming is the high cost involved in getting a decent enough gaming desktop. The same applies to gaming laptops. And while compromises can be made to ensure pricing on the former is in check, it’s the latter that’s a point of contention for many a gamer. There simply isn’t any cost-effective gaming laptop in the market right now. That may change soon though.

(Also see: iBall CompBook i360 Is a Rs. 12,999 Laptop With 360-Degree Rotating Display)

According to several industry sources speaking to Gadgets 360, Indian consumer electronics company iBall will begin selling gaming laptops soon and is already hiring staff for the same.

For its part, the company confirmed that it has been mulling its options.

(Also see: The Best Value for Money Gaming PC You Can Build in India)

“We are contemplating to introduce gaming laptops. The product is in the consideration stage which is not been finalised yet,” a spokesperson for iBall told Gadgets 360 on email though did not comment on how far ahead it is in the process. It currently has two gaming cabinets — Black Stallion and the Robust.

(Also see: iBall CompBook Flip-X5 Convertible Laptop With Windows 10 Launched Rs. 14,999)

Mumbai-based iBall is known for its cost-effective albeit functional range of devices. It will be interesting to see if the same applies to its gaming range. The reasons for getting into gaming as per our sources has to do with other laptop and peripheral segments not performing as well as they should be. Not much of a surprise given the slowdown in computer sales over the past few quarters.

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ATH-M70x vs ATH-M50x – Full Comparison + Sound Test

Full comparison and Sound test between the ATH-m70x and the M50x. Is it worth the upgrade to the Audio Technica M70x from the M50x? Well you came to the ...

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What’s On My Tech?

The tech I use: phone, computer and gaming! Twitter: http://twitter.com/austinnotduncan MKBHD's What's on my Tech: http://youtu.be/EC00YntB7LQ HTC One ...

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Best of 2016 and prepping for CES 2017 | #PNWeekly 233

We’re finally saying goodbye to 2016. A year full of highs and lows, which devices struck our fancy? Which gadgets fell flat? And what had us thinking deep? We’ll discuss our remembrances and grievances throughout the show and taking a closer look at our wrap up videos, and looking forward to next year as CES is moving the calendar up on tech announcements for 2017.

Those stories, plus we answer YOUR viewer questions, so make sure you’re charged and ready for the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast!

Watch the live video broadcast from 10:00pm Pacific on December 29th, or check out the high-quality audio version right here.

For folks watching live, you can comment and ask questions by using the #PNWeekly hashtag on Twitter during the broadcast. For folks watching later, you can shoot your listener emails to podcast [AT] pocketnow [DOT] com for a shot at getting your question read aloud on the air the following week!

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December 29, 2016

Juan Bagnell

Jules Wang

Adam Doud

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32:28 | Optional S-Pen heading for Galaxy S8?

51:22 | Maybe the HTC Ocean will arrive on January 12th after all?

1:02:44 | After Cyanogen, what will partners do for Nougat?

1:15:13 | Does Google even care why Pixel’s are freezing?

Goodbye 2016 – Our best of the best, phones, cameras, and audio!

(01:27:57)

We ranked the best smartphone audio. We tackled the best smartphone cameras. We voted on the best smartphones at every price. 2016 is well finished. With an exciting wrap up, and some late arrivals, we now face a fast ramp up to 2017 with an early CES.

⋅

See you at CES 2017!

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Friday, December 30, 2016

New Year's Eve Day: The Best and Worst of 2016

New Year's Eve day is here, and that means the end of the year is nigh. It's safe to say 2016 has been a crazy year by most standards, as Facebook and Google failed to deal with the epidemic of fake news, Samsung's Note 7 became infamous for its explosive capabilities, and virtual reality, from Oculus to Sony, finally reached the hands of consumers.

To chronicle the biggest moments of 2016, we'd planned and set in motion an extensive project that has been going on for the last two weeks. In that time, we’ve covered everything from the best phones to best films, the things we loved and hated this year, and anything in between.

So buckle up because it's time to take off. Here's all of our year in review coverage:

2016 Highlights

Staff Picks: The Tech Trends of 2016
Our Favourite Tech Purchases from 2016
The Best Phones of 2016
The Best Phones under Rs. 10,000
The Top 10 Games of 2016
The Best Games of 2016: Shooters
The Best Games of 2016: Role-playing
The Best Games of 2016: Open-world
The Best Games of 2016: Indie
The Best Apps of 2016
The Best TV Shows of 2016
The Best Movies of 2016
The Biggest Disappointments of 2016

The trends of 2016

The State of The Smartphone Industry in 2016
The Year in Video Gaming
Hollywood Blockbusters Had a Terrible Year

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Wireless PCs Are Coming in 2016!

Intel is working on the 'wire-free' PC, and it could be here sooner than you think. By 2016, Intel's new "Skylake" platform could revolutionize the PC industry, ...

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MKBHD buys a new mouse!

Logitech Performance MX - http://amzn.to/14w4Fk7 Watch Episode 1 - http://youtu.be/zv3mY3tLAv4 Subscribe for more antics from CES 2015 ...

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792p Next-Gen Consoles vs. PC – WTF?

How much more raw power would an XBox One or a PS4 need to output 60fps? What about 1080p? See how well "next-gen" console gaming performance ...

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2016’s biggest tech winners and losers

After carefully selecting the year’s overall top three phones across three price categories, as well as the five best cameraphones and audio phones, then recapping 2016’s highs and lows in the final Pocketnow Weekly episode, the time has come to dive deeper into the aforementioned highs and lows.

Better yet, why don’t we take a closer look at the tech companies and products covered on your favorite news and reviews website that impressed the most this year, and the ones that flopped the hardest? It wasn’t easy to handpick just 5 winners and 5 losers, primarily because this felt like a mixed year for, well, almost everyone in the biz.

You can’t have it all, and you can’t lose it all either, in 12 months, so at the end of the day, what counts is to be able to rack up more points in the win column. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are our biggest 2016 winners and losers of the industry:

Winners

Huawei

Realistically speaking, there’s almost no conceivable scenario that could bring Huawei ahead of Apple in global smartphone sales standings as early as 2018. But setting such an ambitious (read crazy) goal is half the battle. Another quarter is regular, steady shipment growth at a time of general industry stagnation.

Looking beyond cold numbers, Huawei deserves all the praise in the world for scoring hits in the low, mid and high-end market segments. No renewed Google co-branding partnership needed, and what’s perhaps most impressive, critical and popular success was easily achieved across two vast lineups of all-pleasing phones, P9, P9 Plus, Honor 8 and 5X included.

Apple

Unpopular opinion – Apple had a good year. Not a great one, but still, the Cupertino-based money-making machine made a ton of cash, sold a decent number of iPhones considering ominous projections a while back, shrewdly avoiding scandals, and even silencing headphone jack-killing detractors with hot-selling wireless Airpods.

Is the iPhone 7 innovative? Not in the slightest. But, as always, Apple found the perfect moment to “borrow” certain features from rivals (water resistance), while helping break dual cameras into the mainstream.

Fitbit

No stranger to controversy, the wearable market leader did at least two things right in 2016. On one hand, it retained and consolidated its domination over a business very few companies managed to crack, and on the other, it got a stellar bargain on Pebble. Oh, and let’s not forget about a lower-key purchase of essential Apple Watch-contending wrist-enabled payment technology.

OPPO and Vivo

These two can only be evaluated together, as they stem from the same parent company, rising at an extremely similar pace on nearly identical strategies. Offline sales and promotions are their strongest suit, though without a winning bang for buck and robust device portfolios, it’d be all for naught.

Of course, OPPO is the bigger name outside the BBK-owned duo’s homeland of China, doling out remarkable budget-friendly Android mid-ranger after mid-ranger.

OnePlus

Technically also controlled by BBK (via OPPO), this flagship-killing little engine that could forged its own path in the ruthless smartphone landscape since its 2014 commercial debut. 2016 saw Pete Lau, Carl Pei and co. controversially trim some fat to make room for two hero devices for the first time.

Equally well-received, the OP3 and 3T were openly up for grabs off the bat, putting the pesky invite system away (hopefully, for good), which was the year’s biggest victory for OnePlus when all is said and done.

Losers

Pebble

We knew the smartwatch pioneer was in trouble, but when exactly did things get so bad that both a software asset clearance and sudden hardware cancellation became unavoidable? Was it before or after Pebble raised another $12.7 million on Kickstarter from unsuspecting supporters of the Time 2, Pebble 2, Core, and the American company in general last spring?

No wonder many past and present project funders continue to feel betrayed, whether they qualify for (tardy) refunds or not. We don’t want our money back, we want our Pebble back. The really sad thing about this unexpected death is it signals not only the tragic fate of once-so-promising smartwatches, but also the tech crowdfunding “phenomenon.”

Samsung

Did the Galaxy Note 7 double recall and subsequently premature discontinuation cost Samsung a boatload of cash? Sure. Will the world’s number one smartphone manufacturer be able to recover both from a financial and reputational perspective? Most likely, as long as mistakes are not repeated, and flagship device launches rushed.

Can we pretend nothing happened if that’s the case? Absolutely not. Not today, not tomorrow, not a decade from now. The only way Samsung, and other OEMs for that matter, will learn to do a better QA job, is if we constantly remind them of this unprecedented, hopefully never-to-be-followed fiasco.

Facebook and Google

Shocking US election outcome aside, we can all probably agree (save for Mark Zuckerberg, perhaps) that so-called “fake news” are a problem. A big one, not just for Democrats or Republicans, Hillary Clinton or President-elect Donald Trump.

Even with a seemingly foolproof plan to dodge online hoaxes in place, anyone can occasionally fall victim to an intricate enough prank. That’s where the world’s largest social network and top search engine ultimately came in. But it’s too little, too late. Especially too little.

LG G5

It’s probably not fair to call all of LG a 2016 loser, although the Korean company’s mobile division in its entirety bled a whopping $380+ million in the year’s third calendar quarter alone. The once promising, ultimately too experimental G5 was to blame, and the more level-headed albeit still nichey V20 simply didn’t have enough time to completely right the ship.

But there’s more to G5’s failure than an individual lack of focus and overblown ambitions, as other modular concepts also proved non-starters this year. Is the notion DOA? Motorola, or rather Lenovo, would beg to differ. Let’s wait and see if the masses agree.

Yahoo

Don’t give up on the long-sinking, slowly-decaying email service, they said. It’ll be safe, they said. It turns out, not so much. The (multibillion dollar) question now is what happens to Verizon? Does America’s largest mobile carrier stand to lose from its proposed acquisition too? Will there eventually be a renegotiation? We’ll keep our eyes peeled and revisit the matter this time next year.

For now, we’d appreciate it if you kept things civil in the comments section below. It’s natural to disagree with at least one of our above picks, but let’s stay away from labels like “iSheep”, “fandroids”, haters and so on… for once.

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Will you quit Youtube? – Ask Me #4

Carbon Fiber Skins on my Phone dbrand: http://bit.ly/1Lb861O Follow me for all the updates! Instagram: http://instagram.com/ed.techsource Facebook: ...

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iPhone 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 Speed Test!

iPhone 7 - 1 Hour in Water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnP2bXW1BFM&index=1&list=PLqcaiHQwxA9gWWz-l_C2Ai536Gxz3_cLJ How does the iPhone ...

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Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Due In Q1 2017 With 4K Display Believes Media

Lenovo updates ThinkPad laptops with Windows 10 Signature Edition, Intel Optane storage tech

How To Get Review Units – AskMe #6

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Review: Game Boy Light

Another retro review, this time on the Game Boy Light! Facebook http://www.facebook.com/duncan33303fan Twitter http://twitter.com/duncan33303 Google+ ...

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Consumer Reports Stands by MacBook Pro 2016 Battery Test Findings; Refuses a Retest

Many early users of the new MacBook Pro 2016 units have reported battery life issues. Consumer Reports also reported inconsistent battery life in its in-depth tests, and the MacBook Pro 2016 shockingly became the first MacBook to not receive the organisation's recommendation. Surprised by the findings, Apple even announced that it is working with Consumer Reports to understand the battery tests that were performed by the latter. However, Consumer Reports has now announced that it won't be doing any retests as it's quite sure about the tests it performed initially.

The company told 9to5Mac that a retest is unwarranted, as it is confident about its findings. Their tests are monitored very closely and an entry is logged every minute to ensure accuracy. "In this case, we don't believe re-running the tests are warranted for several reasons. First, as we point out in our original article, experiencing very high battery life on MacBooks is not unusual for us - in fact we had a model in our comparative tests that got 19 hours. Second, we confirmed our brightness with three different meters, so we feel confident in our findings using this equipment. Finally, we monitor our tests very closely. There is an entry logged every minute, so we know from these entries that the app worked correctly".

Consumer Reports had found widely varying battery life across different MacBook Pro 2016 models, stating in its report: "In a series of three consecutive tests, the 13-inch model with the Touch Bar ran for 16 hours in the first trial, 12.75 hours in the second, and just 3.75 hours in the third. The 13-inch model without the Touch Bar worked for 19.5 hours in one trial but only 4.5 hours in the next. And the numbers for the 15-inch laptop ranged from 18.5 down to 8 hours." Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, had expressed his surprise at the findings, saying that the numbers did not match Apple's own data, in a Twitter post, "Working with CR to understand their battery tests. Results do not match our extensive lab tests or field data."

Consumer Reports also confirmed to 9to5Mac it is continuing to work with Apple to find an explanation for these results. "We are working collaboratively to understand the lower battery life findings and will report back to our readers if and when there is an update," said Consumer Reports' director of electronics testing Maria Rerecich.

The non-profit firm is considered as a reputable organisation whose recommendation holds high regard in the tech industry. This bad recommendation report could hinder Apple's new MacBook Pro 2016 models sales in the future.

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Best of 2016 and prepping for CES 2017 | #PNWeekly 233

We’re finally saying goodbye to 2016. A year full of highs and lows, which devices struck our fancy? Which gadgets fell flat? We’re taking a closer look at our wrap up videos, and looking forward to next year as CES is moving the calendar up on tech announcements for 2017.

Those stories, plus we answer YOUR viewer questions, so make sure you’re charged and ready for the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast!

Watch the live video broadcast from 10:00pm Pacific on December 29th, or check out the high-quality audio version right here.

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December 29, 2016

Juan Bagnell

Jules Wang

News

Optional S-Pen heading for Galaxy S8?

Maybe the HTC Ocean will arrive on January 12th after all?

After Cyanogen, what will partners do for Nougat?

Does Google even care why Pixel’s are freezing?

Goodbye 2016 – Our best of the best, phones, cameras, and audio!

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Thursday, December 29, 2016

Skeye Mini Review: The Best Drone Under $100!

With auto-stabilization, a lightweight design, and an amazing controller, the Skeye Mini is one of the best quadcopters I've ever used! Here's my full hands-on ...

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14-Core Mac Pro Killer PC?

MAINGEAR - https://www.maingear.com/ FOLLOW ME IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES Twitter - http://twitter.com/unboxtherapy Facebook ...

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ZBoard Electric Skateboard San Francisco Special

My review of the ZBoard San Francisco Special Electric Skateboard is here! Is it a toy, or is it a feasible mode of transportation? Watch the video to find out!

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Meizu Flyme OS Tablet JDtab To Launch On January 10 2017

Top 5 iPhone 6S Cases Under $25

Checking out the best iPhone 6S and 6S Plus cases for under $25! ▻Links Below◅ Follow me for all the updates! Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ed_TechSource ...

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Watch Dogs: PC vs PS4 vs PS3 Graphics

lynda.com free trial: http://bit.ly/1jncE83 Watch Dogs is here but the big question is, how does it stack up on the PC vs PS4 vs PS3? Click to Subscribe!

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Gadgets 360 Staff List Their Favourite Tech Purchases of 2016

As the year rolls to an end, a look around the Gadgets 360 lab shows far too many boxes from e-commerce companies because we shop too much for tech here. One of the prerequisites of the job is loving tech, and although we see a lot of products come for review, we're still enthusiastic about the category and keep buying new gear.

Looking back at 2016, the Gadgets 360 crew purchased a lot of products that you'd expect, such as new iOS devices, Kindles, and gaming accessories, but there were also a few unusual picks. Here's a look at everyone's favourite gadget which they bought in 2016.

Abhinav Lal: Logitech Orion G610 Red - I wanted a new mechanical keyboard to replace my ancient one, and this was a great deal during Black Friday in the US. My only quibble thus far is that it doesn't have a wrist rest.

Akhil Arora: Xbox Elite Controller - I'm no pro-gamer, but as someone who spends a dozen hours each week playing games, and occasionally reviews them for a living, the Xbox Elite Controller has been far my best tech purchase of 2016. It's definitely on the expensive side - around Rs. 16,000 - but if you're looking to splurge on yourself, I say go for it.

xbox elite

Devika Chitnis: iPhones 6s - This year I bought my first (non-second hand) iPhone. And yes, it was Rose Gold. It’s beautiful, from the outside and inside. Though by now the outside has enough scars to prove how it's weathered my year. The camera was way better than my last love, the iPhone 5s.The battery life was good back in March - now, I have to carry my charger everywhere I go. I bought the phone because of a deal, though looking at my credit card statement, I have to admit it wasn't a steal.

Gagan Gupta: Apple Ecosystem - I started 2016 as an Android loyalist. My Google Nexus 6 was the ideal smartphone for me with its QHD display, contoured back, and front-firing speakers. But then, Google's dodgy update cycle, and Nougat's terrible roll-out had me waiting for the update months after its releases. I decided to finally give the other side a try. I wasn't very impressed with iPhones until the iPhone 7 Plus, mainly because to me, they didn't offer anything groundbreaking, for me to to consider a change. But now with the iPhone 7 Plus, iPad Air 2, and a 4th gen Apple TV, all purchased in 2016, I'm finally using an ecosystem that works.

Gopal Sathe: JSB HF05 Foot Massager - At the end of the day, sitting down for half an hour to read while your feet and calves are massaged is a very relaxing feeling. I looked up various options and finally found one that was affordable, doesn't take up too much space, and is actually effective and relaxing too. And you can get this for just over Rs. 10,000. How is that not beautiful?

Jamshed Avari: Pebble Time - When my original Pebble started crashing all the time and suffering from the dreaded screen tearing problem, I knew it was time to move on. I was really tempted to back the Pebble Time 2 on Kickstarter, but it seemed like it would take too long, and I found the in-between model going cheap on Amazon India.

pebble time

I'm glad I decided to buy it, now that there's no chance of the successor even being released, and I really hope this one lasts a long time because it's a massive part of my everyday life, and I don't see any anyone else putting out a similar product.

Ketan Pratap: Sony Bravia LED TV + Teewe 2 - I had been planning to buy a HDMI streaming stick alongside a television for some time, but I had a very limited budget. Thanks to offers and online discounts popping up, I managed to grab the Teewe 2 streaming stick months before I even finalised a television set.

Some time later, I managed to grab a good deal on a Sony LED television as well - the BRAVIA KLV-32R302D. The purchases might have been made because they were good deals, but both devices have worked out really well for me.

Kunal Dua: Bluedio T2S Bluetooth Headphones - After my LG HBS-730 Bluetooth headset died, I was in the market for a pair of Bluetooth headphones to listen to podcasts while drowning out the noise at work. I stumbled upon this product from a brand I’d never really heard of, but I was encouraged by the reviews I read. At just $17.50 (roughly Rs. 1,200), it was a risk worth taking, and I have to say I haven’t been disappointed.

The audio quality is good enough for my use - primarily podcasts and the occasional late night TV show, while paired to the Apple TV - and the best part is its battery life. It’s rated at 40 hours of use over Bluetooth on a single charge, and I have no reason to doubt that figure. With my usage pattern I can easily go two to three weeks without needing to recharge them.

Naina Gupta: Motorola Moto G4 Plus - I needed to buy a new phone and based on the reviews, I bought the Moto G4 Plus, during its first sale. It's a good smartphone with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage, and the turbo charging feature has been great. I also love the camera performance of the phone, and that's why it is my favourite purchase of the year.

Moto G4 Plus hand

Pranay Parab: Kindle Paperwhite - Much as I love paper books, it's impossible to carry them with you without worrying about damaging them. Ever since I got the Kindle, I stopped worrying about this and started reading every day on the commute to work. I've read 35 books this year mostly thanks to the Kindle Paperwhite and next year, you can bet that I'll read even more.

Ravi Sharma: JBL Pulse 2 Bluetooth speaker - With my ageing wired speakers not making the cut anymore, I was in the market for a Bluetooth speaker earlier this year. After a bit of research, I zeroed down upon the JBL Pulse 2 and Harman Kardon Esquire Mini Portable.

Eventually I picked the Pulse 2 as it had a bigger battery, and could be paired with my friend’s JBL Pulse to deliver amplified sound in a large enough space. So far, I am more than satisfied with the purchase. It delivers more sound than my room can handle, and it is portable enough to carry around anywhere I am going.

Rishi Alwani: iPhone 7 - While I’ve been drifting between Android and iOS for the better part of three years, the iPhone 7’s got enough polish to keep me back in Cook’s camp (with a little help from Google, killing off the Nexus line. Superlative battery life, great build quality, and all those lovely apps that make every non-video game related use a treat, make it my most favourite purchase of the year.

Rohan Naravane: Motorola TurboPower car charger - Grabbed this for under Rs. 1,000 on Flipkart. It charges my Samsung Galaxy S6 as fast as the bundled fast charger. It's especially useful when using GPS, since that taxes the battery heavily, where typical car chargers fail to provide sufficient juice.

Roydon Cerejo: Jaybird X2 - I've been eyeing the Jaybirds for a while but they are simply too expensive in India. Luckily, I managed to get one for $80 (around Rs. 5,500), which is a steal considering how awesome they sound.

jaybird x2 case2

Sandeep Kumar Sinha: F&D 2.1 Bluetooth Speakers - I wanted to have a good set of speakers that could cater to music and entertainment needs. I happened to spot the F&D Speakers in an online shopping sale and bought them on the spur of the moment.

The speakers fill my entire room with a loud music, without any real compromise in quality. The speakers allow me to pair multiple devices at a time, so switching to different devices is easy too.

Sanket Vijayasarathy: Kindle Paperwhite - As much as I love reading physical books, a Kindle just makes sense when I'm on the road and don't want to carry around a heavy book. After a while you kind of get used to the Kindle. It's light and I get to take along a bunch of books wherever I go.

Shekhar Thakran: iPad Air 2 - I have avoided Apple products for quite some time now. I bought Acer Iconia Tab A500 as my first tablet due to the fact that Android provided an open platform to make most out of a mobile device. After using the iPad Air 2, I can safely say that there is no better device for browsing the Internet, reading articles, or even playing light games like Goat Simulator. You have to give up on the customisability, but what you get in return is a smooth and reliable performance in a very well designed product.

Shubham Verma: Samsung Curved LED Television - I had to buy an LED television for my place, and while browsing Internet, I spotted the Samsung Curved LED TV at a very cheap price. Without any second thoughts, I added to it my cart and bought it. A discount of 30 percent on my Airtel DTH purchase under an offer came as icing on the cake.

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Unreleased Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X shown packing 4GB RAM and Snapdragon 653 SoC

Tireless Xiaomi is tireless, reportedly working on a smaller edgeless Mi MIX (though maybe not), killer pint-sized Mi S (still doubtful), flat-screened Mi Note 2 (likewise questionable), and Galaxy S8-contending Mi 6 (this one’s only a matter of time).

Let’s not forget future entries in the budget-friendly Redmi series, like a Note 4X that’s already practically guaranteed to pack 4GB RAM and an octa-core Snapdragon 653 processor. We don’t want to bore you with a huge recap of recent Redmi releases, but it’s obviously important to remember what the original Note 4 was all about when it saw daylight back in August.

Today’s leaked “About Phone” screen seemingly pertaining to the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X hints at incremental upgrades from 2 and 3GB RAM, as well as a MediaTek Helio X20 SoC, mostly justifying a speculated price hike to around $185 (CNY 1,300).

That’s probably with 32GB internal storage space, your 64 gig boost no doubt costing extra, while Android 6.0 Marshmallow will apparently still run the software show out the box in skinned MIUI 8.1 form. The rest of the rumored Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X features perfectly match those of the non-X Note 4, including a 5.5-inch Full HD screen, microSD support, dual SIM slots, 13/5MP cameras, and a rear-positioned fingerprint scanner.

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Samsung Unveils CH711 Curved Quantum Dot Monitor for Gamers Ahead of CES 2017

Samsung on Thursday unveiled a new curved monitor with quantum dot technology, said to be designed for gamers. Called the Samsung CH711, the monitor will be officially launched at CES 2017, alongside price and exact availability details.

The Samsung CH711 curved quantum dot monitor will be available in 27-inch and 31.5-inch variants, while the company says it will be released in early 2017. It features an 1,800R radius curvature, and a 178-degree viewing angle. Both variants sport a QHD (2560x1440 pixel) resolution, and the quantum dot panels are rated to deliver nearly 125 percent sRGB colour gamut coverage.

The monitor can be adjusted both vertically and horizontally, while it can be flipped completely vertical as well - though this might be quite pointless with the Samsung CH711's curved display. It is said to sport a three-sided 'Boundless' design, with small bezels on top and either side. Power and HDMI cables from the monitor are hidden within its neck, giving the configuration a clean look.

samsung ch711 curved quantum dot monitor side samsung

At CES 2017, Samsung will also showcase the CFG70 and CF791 curved quantum dot monitors, which were first unveiled at IFA 2016 in September and released in the US in December. The company will also unveil new high-resolution quantum dot monitors at CES 2017, also due to be released in early 2017. These are the 28-inch UH750, as well as the 23.8-inch and 27-inch SH850.

Announcing the new Samsung CH711 monitor, Seoggi Kim, Senior Vice President of Samsung Electronics' Visual Display Business, said, "Today's multimedia consumers, quite rightly, have high expectations and demand a truly cutting edge, totally immersive experience that realizes the full potential of whatever they are playing or watching. This year's lineup of curved Quantum Dot monitors offers brilliant design, richer colour and deeper contrast than ever before. We can't wait to share them with the world at CES 2017 in Las Vegas."

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Top 5 Gaming Mechanical Keyboards Under $50 – 2015

Checking out the best Gaming Mechanical Keyboards under $50. ▻Links Below◅ ▻Top 5 Tech Playlist: https://goo.gl/txpXSr ...

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Photon $500 Gaming PC Build – June 2014

Hulu Plus: http://www.huluplus.com/austin AMD Athlon X4 760K: http://amzn.to/1nFGEzU MSI A78M-E35: http://amzn.to/1YL81WC Sapphire Radeon R7 260X: ...

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LG Tone Studio and Tone Free wearable audio products blast off in CES 2017 lead-up

Are speakers the tech industry’s “next big thing”? Maybe “smart” ones, with their fancy voice-activated personal assistants and home automation controls, although we still have our doubts devices like the Amazon Echo, Google Home and whatever Apple might be planning as a counter-offensive effort can further grow in mainstream popularity at the impressive pace of late.

When it comes to “dumb” wireless speakers, as hard as Samsung and especially LG may try to revolutionize the niche, they’ll probably always be afterthoughts for smartphone, tablet or laptop buyers.

Besides, some “innovations” just feel weird, bringing no real-life benefit to the table, like the ability to float in mid-air or being able to wear your new LG Tone Studio DTS-enabled speaker around your neck.

That’s basically the only thing separating the HBS-W120 “personal wearable speaker” from the crowd, though we’ll admit a built-in Hi-Fi DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) also sounds fairly intriguing. Then you have a nifty arrangement of two “full range” speakers on the top and two vibrating on the bottom for your own “personal surround sound experience”, which is nice, but still unusual.

LG’s neck fetish extends to the Tone Free (model HBS-F110) “wireless stereo product” too, with a pair of otherwise standard-looking wireless earbuds capable of charging when stored inside their own neckband. This also delivers vibration alerts for incoming calls and text messages, and of course, both wearable audio devices are headed to CES next week for more details and premiere showcases.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Is the Moto E (2015) Worth $149?

The Moto E (2nd Gen) has arrived, and it's bigger, faster, and more customizable than ever before! Here's my take on this new entry-level SmartPhone. Get the ...

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Iron Man S6 Edge Unboxing!

Does the Iron Man Galaxy S6 Edge live up to all the hype? Giveaway Details below - Subscribe to all 3 channels! UnboxTherapy: http://bit.ly/UnboxS6 TLD: ...

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Omron Factory Tour – The Making of a Logitech Romer-G Switch

Logitech and Omron flew us out to Japan to show us just how much goes into each and every Romer-G switch... Thanks to Logitech and Omron for making this ...

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Leaked Samsung Exynos 8895 SoC specs include 2.5GHz top speeds, G71 MP20 GPU

Technically, this is not a Samsung Galaxy S8 leak. And it’s questionable (to say the least) anyway, although we’ll take it, seeing as how these are rather slow news days in anticipation of next week’s onslaught of CES 2017 product announcements from left and right.

Besides, who would go to the trouble of fabricating a specification chart for the upcoming Exynos 8895 processor that isn’t particularly mind-blowing? It’s pretty great, don’t get us wrong, but it feels just realistically unimpressive enough to, well, actually be legit.

Apparently, the newest super-high-end mobile SoC built by Samsung from scratch will cap off at 2.5GHz clock speeds as far as custom-made M2 CPU cores are concerned, not previously rumored 3GHz top velocity.

There might be two separate Exynos 8895 chip models in the pipeline (an M and a V version), both combining four M2 nuclei with a lower-power, energy-efficient ARM Cortex A53 quartet. The next-gen Mali-G71 GPU could pack as many as 20 cores, with 550MHz frequency, while most other 8895 features are expected to match the Snapdragon 835’s capabilities.

Namely, LPDDR4x support, UFS 2.1, native 4K screen resolution compatibility, Cat. 16 LTE connectivity, and of course, an advanced and frugal 10nm fabrication process. ETA? Q2 2017, which adequately fits with recent speculation of a Galaxy S8 April announcement and subsequent commercial rollout.

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iPhone 6S is Waterproof?! – Water Test

WOW, pretty impressive is all I gotta say when I submerged the iphone 6S in water... iPhone 6S Drop Test from 30FT: https://goo.gl/5KskKY Follow me for all the ...

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Best Cheap Smartphone? Moto G Review!

Is the Moto G the best budget smartphone? (Yes.) Click to Subscribe! http://bit.ly/SubAustin In this video I review the Motorola Moto G, a $179 smartphone that ...

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8-Inch Android 6.0 2048×1536 Tablet Ifive Mini 4s Launch January 20 For $165

A New (7.9″) 8-inch Android 6.0 tablet with 2048 x 1536 resolution display called FNF Ifive Mini 4S will be launched on January 20 for around $163: http://www.everbuying.net/product1232728.html

And it’s not just the resolution that is good either, as this tablet is a notch above other tablet in this class it competes in. It has 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi cover actually so you can use the fastest internet connections, it has Bluetooth 4.1, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with 128GB microSD card expansion support, a 2MP front camera, and a 8MP rear camera.

The processor in the FNF Ifive Mini 4S tablet is a 1.8 GHz quad-core Rockchip RK3288 processor, which is kind of intresting, because this processor is marignally more powerful than the Intel Atom Z3530 processor found in the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 (Z580C), a tablet that is nearly identical in specs, Android 6.0, and current price nowadays.

Android 6.0 Tablets

A main difference between the two tabets is with the battery life though, where Asus can keep going for 7-8 hours, while the Mini 4S says it has a 4 hour battery life from a 4800 mAh battery capacity with a 3 hour charging time.

FNF Ifive Mini 4S has a metal back cover, a micro-USB port and 3.5 mm audio jack, gravity sensor, geomagnetic sensor, gyro, and stereo speakers.

The weight of it is 340 grams which is a average for 8-inch Android tablets, but it is only 6,27 mm thick though, so that actually makes it one of the thinnest tablets in the world.

– Jim Miller

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Gaming & Editing PC Builds – October

Gaming and Editing PC builds featuring GTX 1060 and GTX 1080. ▻Try products for free: http://app.getnice.com/techsource/ ▻Check out Jayztwocents: ...

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Is Virtual Reality The Future of Racing?

Check out the full Castrol EDGE Virtual Racers video! http://bit.ly/CastrolEDGETitaniumVirtualracers See how two drivers on two separate tracks race ...

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CAD-based LG G6 renders shed some light on new non-modular design approach

At the risk of being called a quitter, LG will apparently return to “normal” flagship phone designs after just one modular experiment. One catastrophically failed wide-scale modular trial, that is, with both this fall’s V20 and next spring’s G6 straying relatively far from G5’s controversial “Friends” slide-out accessories approach.

By the looks of both recently disclosed schematics and customary @OnLeaked CAD renders, as well as based on credible word on the street, the LG G6 will arrive completely Friend-less, probably at the Mobile World Congress in February ahead of a commercial launch the following month.

Think of the G6 as a cross between the G5 and V20, though something about it feels a little too generic. You have this straightforward rectangular slab, free of bells and whistles almost altogether, with no pronounced curves, no all-glass construction, no nothing.

Well, at least you’re still looking at a dual rear camera setup with dual-tone LED flash, fingerprint reader right underneath it doubling as a power button, and yes, both a 3.5mm headphone jack and USB Type-C port.

The metallic (hopefully, for real this time) back cover “may not be removable”, which could hold the battery permanently in place too, while last year’s 7.7mm waist is said to go slightly up to between 8 and 8.3mm.

No screen size or resolution changes are expected, as LG believes it’s hit the sweet spot at 5.3 inches and Quad HD, with glossy and matte finishes reportedly in the pipeline, plus a “highly reflective metallic material.” Excited? Bored? Conflicted? Let us know how you feel in the comments section below.

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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Windows 10 Upgrade Tactics Were a Bit Too Aggressive, Admits Microsoft

Microsoft finally admitted that forcing its users to upgrade to Windows 10 was a bad decision. The Redmond giant this year tried several ways to push the newest OS onto existing Windows 7 and 8 users to the point that it refused to offer no as an option.

The Redmond giant had been aggressively trying to increase the adoption of Windows 10 ahead of its July 29 free upgrade deadline. Windows 7 and 8 users complained of free Windows 10 upgrade pop ups that included no cancellation option beyond the red X button. Soon, even that option disappeared - instead, clicking on the red X button sent confirmation to schedule the upgrade. Now, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela finally admitted that it went a little too far with its strategy in a Windows Weekly podcast, reports by Forbes' Gordon Kelly.

"We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective, but finding the right balance where you're not stepping over the line of being too aggressive is something we tried and for a lot of the year I think we got it right, but there was one particular moment in particular where, you know, the red X in the dialogue box which typically means you cancel didn't mean cancel," Capossela said.

"And within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have we knew that we had gone too far and then, of course, it takes some time to roll out the update that changes that behaviour. And those two weeks were pretty painful and clearly a lowlight for us. We learned a lot from it obviously." As Kelly notes, taking two weeks to change the behaviour of the red X button appears to be a case of Microsoft waiting to see if the consumer outrage outweighed the increased adoption.

Capossela's admission is long due and perhaps a little too late. Since the second half of 2015, Microsoft started pulling some sneaky tricks to get users running an older version of Windows to upgrade to Windows 10. From secretly downloading Windows 10 on Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs with automatic updates turned on to making the new OS a mandatory update, Microsoft tried it all. In June, Microsoft paid $10,000 as compensation for forcefully installing the Windows 10 update on a user's PC without her permission.

Whether this acknowledgement finally means that Microsoft will stop forcing users onto its newest operating system or not will have to be seen. As of now, it looks like the Redmond company will let the adoption of Windows 10 take place naturally and will not resort to tricking users to accept what is otherwise a pretty decent upgrade.

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