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The most ridiculous product at IFA is this speaker and headphone combo

Genius or total overkill? We can’t decide. The Sphere from Motorola is a spherical speaker that does double duty as a headphone stand. More specifically, it comes with a pair of wireless headphones that are designed to snap right into it when not in use. This is 2-in-1 at its finest, or so Motorola says.

The speaker itself is a wireless Bluetooth speaker that packs in two 8W speakers and a convenient AUX jack for when you don’t want to cut the chord. The headphones are also wireless and tout an impressive battery life of 22 hours. They also offer in noise reduction and echo cancellation.

At IFA, Motorola’s representatives told us that the Sphere will retail for 149 Euro, which seems pretty reasonable considering that you’re getting 2 for 1. Aside from a choice of white or black, it seems like there will be special “designer” versions of the Sphere covered in skulls, the Earth and other fantastical artwork and photos. Why? Because they can.

We have no word on availability yet or if the Sphere will come to the U.S. You can read more at www.motospheremax.com

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The most ridiculous product at IFA is this speaker and headphone combo originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 1, 2017 at 11:00 am.

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Lenovo’s Yoga 920 gets updated with new colors and Active Pen support

Lenovo’s Yoga Convertible series is a lot like a fine wine that keeps getting better with age. Now up to its 6th generation, the Yoga 920 which was just announced at IFA, is not a drastic overhaul compared to its predecessor,  but it packs in plenty of improvements, many of which have been based on user feedback. For example, so that you don’t have to look unflattering on video chats anymore, Lenovo has moved the webcam back up to the top. They’ve also included a large shift key this time around. 

The display on the new Yoga is a near edgeless display (5mm (.19in) l/r) and under 14mm (.55in) thin, and it can be configured with a 4K 13.9″ UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS Touchscreen. But what’s especially exciting about the display is that for the first time, the Yoga is Active Pen compatible, so it’s ready for all your scribbles and master pieces. Lenovo has added far field voice mics which allow you to ask Cortana questions – even while the laptop is sleeping. There’s also an instant fingerprint login with Windows Hello compatibility.

On the other hand, the look of the Yoga has more or less remained the same – it’s still strutting an all-metal unibody design with its unique 360-degree watchband inspired hinge. But they have thrown in two new color choices. So in addition to platinum, it’s available in new copper and bronze colors. Of course, the Yoga remains svelte, measuring 12.72″ x 8.8″ x 0.55“ inches and weighing just a little over 3 lbs.

Performance wise, we don’t expect the 920 to be a slacker. To that effect, the system can be configured with up to 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, a 1 TB SSD and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. Battery life is claimed to be 10.8 hours with a UHD display and, 15.5 hours with an FHD display. The Lenovo Yoga 920 will be available in October.

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Lenovo’s Yoga 920 gets updated with new colors and Active Pen support originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 1, 2017 at 8:00 am.

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Star Wars Jedi Challenges transforms kids into a Jedi with AR

Every kid dreams of being a Jedi, but Lenovo has figured out that swinging a lightsaber alone isn’t enough to satisfy kids in 2017. That’s why they’ve partnered with Disney to come out with Star Wars Jedi Challenges. Star Wars Jedi Challenges uses augmented reality to simulate the experience of being Jedi. The system, which requires a smartphone to work, includes a Lenovo Mirage AR headset, Tracking Beacon, and a Lightsaber controller. 

The lightsaber itself is modeled after Anakin Skywalker’s own lightsaber, while the headset is where the smartphone is anchored, and the beacon allows players to freely move with natural motion as they duel or direct their pieces across the battlefield.

Jedi Challenges will come with plenty of games entrenched in the Star Wars universe. Gameplay includes everything from training to lightsaber battles against villains like Darth Vader and Kylo Red, combat games and Holochess. In addition, Jedi Challenges introduces a new Star Wars character, the Archivist, whose jobs is to teach players how to properly use the Force.

“With Star Wars: Jedi Challenges, Lenovo and Disney are bringing Star Wars to fans in ways they could previously only imagine,” said Jeff Meredith, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Lenovo Consumer PCs & Smart Devices.

Star Wars Jedi Challenges is compatible with Android and iPhone and is available for pre-order at Best Buy and Lenovo for $199.99. It will be available in November, and we’re sure it will be a hot holiday item for kids, and probably some adults too.

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Star Wars Jedi Challenges transforms kids into a Jedi with AR originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 31, 2017 at 12:06 pm.

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LG V30 takes on the Galaxy Note 8 with a beautiful new look and improved optics

LG’s follow up to the V20 is here, and the rumors and leaks were pretty spot on. To that effect, the new V30 packs in a stunning 6.0″ QHD+ OLED Display with a 2880 x 1440 resolution, but by the size of it you would never guess it was packing in such a large display. That’s because it sports an 82% screen to body ratio (with a 18:9 aspect ratio), allowing the LG V30 to pull off a big screen in a relatively small body that measures just 5.96 x 2.96 x 0.29 inches. 

Design-wise, the LG V30 takes queues from the LG G6, not the V20. And in comparison to its predecessor, we wholeheartedly prefer the V30’s new look, and find it to be more attractive this time around. Overall, the phone is gorgeous, thin, and weighing around 158g, it feels surprisingly lightweight to hold in your hand. The phone is also IP68 water and dust resistant, it’s rocking Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back, and it has passed 14 different military-standard durability tests – so not only is it pretty, but it’s also pretty tough.

The LG V30 is heavily focused on imaging, optics and Hi-Fi audio. When it comes to filming video, you can smoothly zoom in on objects. We tried this out and were impressed with how smooth the zooming in is compared to most other phones. In addition to video recording with Hi-Fi audio, there’s also a feature called Cine Effect which produces more cinematic videos. The phone also comes with a Quick Video Editor for easy editing on the fly.

For photos, the camera sports a crystal clear lens for capturing more light and more detailed images with improved dynamic range and darker darks, thanks to a 10-bit HDR image sensor. LG has also preloaded the phone with GRAPHY, which we’d best describe as part EYE.EM / part learning tool. Essentially, GRAPHY lets you browse through a catalog of photos taken by professional photographers. If you spot a photo you like and feel inspired to snap a similar photo, all you have to do is select the photo and you can import the manual camera settings that the original photographer used for that photo. This seems like a potentially great way to up the ante with your photos by cheating, and we wholeheartedly approve.

Fingerprint locks are soooo 2015. Fortunately there are various ways to wake-up the V30. In addition to using your fingerprint, you can use face recognition, voice recognition, or you can knock on the display with your fingers. Other notable specs of the V30 include an improved f1.9 wide angel camera, a 3,300 mAh battery, an SD card slot a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.

The biggest hurdle for the V30 is whether or not it can properly take on the recently announced Galaxy Note 8. Both devices sport a similar look and a similar large screen to body ratio, but the Note 8 has its iconic S Pen feature. The V30 on the other hand doesn’t have a reputation for blowing up, so it will be interesting to see which device comes out on top with consumers.

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LG V30 takes on the Galaxy Note 8 with a beautiful new look and improved optics originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 31, 2017 at 6:18 am.

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Samsung’s Gear Sport smartwatch puts fitness first

It was just last week that Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 8, but that isn’t stopping them from launching some new products at IFA 2017. But instead of a phone, they have focused on launching several wearables at the show, and these wearables are all focused on fitness. The star of the line up is their new Gear Sport. The Gear Sport is smaller and sportier than their previous smartwatches, which are both aspects we wholeheartedly welcome.

The Gear Sport touts a battery life of up to 4 days and it’s available in a choice of blue or black in a 42.9 MM casing. Blue or black may not be very exciting choices, but Samsung is coming out with a variety of different color straps from leather to silicon to nylon, as well a hybrid band which is a rubber based product with leather on the top. There will also be lots of color based matching watch faces to choose from.

Beyond its actual looks, the Gear Sport is heavily focused on fitness with an emphasis on nutrition. To that effect, it helps you do things like figure out how much exercise you need to do for the day to burn off the right amount of calories to stay fit. These kinds of practical features go beyond telling you to just go to the gym, and it’s what makes the Gear Sport really stand out. To coincide with these features, the Gear Sport offers continuous heart rate monitoring, GPS, and it’s military grade certified. As a matter of fact, it’s durable enough to take swimming – even in salt water. Speaking of swimming, the Gear Sport can track your swim workouts. Samsung has partnered with Under Armor and Speedo to bring their fitness apps and functionality to the watch. A 12-month premium membership for Under Armor is also included with purchase.

But even though the Gear Sport is considered a sports watch – it’s also a jack of all trades. For starters, Samsung Pay is built in, allowing you to use the watch to make payments NFC terminals – even if the watch isn’t connected to the internet. Another nifty feature of the Gear Sport is that it lets you control Powerpoint presentations directly from your wrist (Windows 10 only). You can even use the watch face as a touchpad to rotate through a VR experience when using the Samsung Gear VR. Samsung has also partnered with Spotify to make the Samsung Gear Sport the first smartwatch to offer Spotify offline playback, which was a heavily requested feature for their Gear S3 smartwatch. The catch for us is that the Gear Sport is running the Tizen OS as opposed to Android Wear, but Samsung emphasized that to date there are currently thousands of apps and watch faces available for Tizen.

In addition to the Gear Sport announcement, Samsung announced an update to their IconX wireless earbuds which brings many improvements, including longer battery life, and the addition of a personal training coach. The Gear Fit2 Pro was also announced as an update to last year’s Fit2 model. The Gear Fit2 Pro tracks laps, distance under water, and now has continuous heart rate monitoring that can work under water.

Samsung’s Gear Sport and new IconX will be available sometime in the fall. The Gear Fit2 Pro will be available for preorder on August 31st and it will be available in store on September 15th for $199.

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Samsung’s Gear Sport smartwatch puts fitness first originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 30, 2017 at 12:00 pm.

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