17 Dec
Blog

Shure Aonic Free Review: True Wireless Studio Monitors

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.

Shure Aonic Free Trial: True Wireless Studio Monitors

RRP $ 199.00

"Big in size, comfort and precision are these buds for critical hearing."

benefits

  • Clear, precise and detailed sound

  • Very convenient

  • Very good transparency mode

  • Easy to use, customizable controls

  • Great EQ settings

  • Good call quality

disadvantage

  • Big buds, big charging case

  • No ANC or auto pause

  • No wireless charging

  • No watertightness

Shure is no stranger to high-performance audio. The company's in-ear monitors (IEMs) and microphones have been the first choice of musicians and audio professionals for decades. But when it comes to the true wireless earphone market, Shure has only just stepped into the ring with its $ 199 Shure Aonic Free. Was it worth the wait? And how do these new buds compare to products from more established brands like Sony, Jabra and Apple? Let's check them out.

A larger set of buds

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Let's talk to the elephant in the room: The Shure Aonic Free are big. They use a very similar design to Sony's previous flagship, the WF-1000XM3, which places the electronics, battery, and other goodies in a diamond-shaped gondola that sits fairly prominently outside your ear.

Shure's design is even bigger than Sony's, making the Aonic Free one of the biggest buds we've ever tested. Fortunately, these nacelles look pretty sleek, with a relatively thin profile and a satin gunmetal finish that gives the plastic a high quality, sophisticated look. If you really want to get noticed, they are also available in red. But despite their size, they are also remarkably light and in fact weigh a gram less than the Sony XM3.

There's a lot of precision and detail, especially in the mids and higher frequencies.

And while there's no denying that these buds are really big, the design has two distinct advantages. First, with all of the bowels of the buds outside of your ear, the part that actually fits in your ear is tiny and extremely comfortable. Shure uses memory foam earplugs instead of silicone, which increases comfort by reducing pressure points.

Not everyone loves the sometimes squishy feel of memory foam, but I'm a huge fan. Once inserted, the fit is very secure, but it won't withstand vigorous activity, as well as buds designed for this purpose. Expect to need regular readjustments as you walk. In fact, you might want to avoid using the Aonic Free for exercise: they are some of the only earbuds on the market that do not offer official protection from water in relation to an IPX rating.

Second, the large outer gondolas make pressing the multifunction button located on the top edge very easy. Accidental presses are almost completely eliminated, and you probably won't accidentally remove an earbud while using these buttons.

The Aonic Free comes with an equally large charging case to match the large buds. It absolutely dwarfs the tiny package of the AirPods Pro case, and I doubt a lot of people will think of it as pocket money. It also lacks wireless charging, which is an unfortunate shortcoming at this price point. Nevertheless, it is robustly built, the lid can be easily opened and closed using a large study hinge and the Aonic Free is really easy to plug in and out of the charging sockets.

I like the sound

Man with Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

In keeping with Shure's reputation for stage and studio equipment, the Aonic Free has a neutral and very clear sound signature. There's a lot of precision and detail, especially in the mids and higher frequencies. A track like Dire Straits ’Six Blade Knife and Mark Knopfler's unmistakable Stratocaster work becomes a haptic experience – you can almost feel the strings under his experienced hand.

The bass reproduction is strictly controlled, is only displayed when necessary and never overwhelms the other frequencies. Such a conservative approach to bass can make the Aonic Free sound cold when you're used to headphones or earphones like the Sony WF-1000XM3 or XM4.

Shure Play app screenshot for iOS.This is how things sound right out of the box. But the Shure Play Companion app can completely change the personality of the Aonic Free with its EQ adjustments. Shure gives you seven presets to play with, including Bass Boost, Bass Cut, Vocal Boost, and Loudness, but if you really want to get the most out of the Aonic Free, you need to try the manual EQ option. Here you will find a graphic EQ that can be adjusted more precisely than I have ever seen it before. You get four control points on a frequency spectrum from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Each of them can be raised +/- 10 dB in 0.5 dB steps, and you can even adjust their bandwidth from 0.2 octaves to 4 octaves in 0.1 octave steps.

If all of this is Greek to you, suffice it to say that this is an unmatched level of EQ control for a set of true wireless earbuds, and those who love to mess around with the sonic weeds will love it.

It's worth noting that the Aonic Free doesn't generate as much volume as a percentage of some other well-respected earbuds. In other words, at 50% volume on my iPhone, the Aonic Free were significantly quieter than the Jabra Elite 7 Pro or the Technics EAH-AZ60. I don't see this as a problem – they can still get really loud – but you may find that you have to run these earbuds at a higher setting than you are used to.

It's also worth noting for Android users that Aonic Free supports the aptX codec, which can be helpful in situations where audio delay (latency) is an issue.

Total control

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The Aonic Free do not have Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), but thanks to these foam earplugs they are excellent at blocking outside noise passively. There have been a couple of times when I felt like ANC was blocking a bit more, but not many. What they have is a very good transparency mode that you can set in the Shure Play app to let in little or a lot of the noise around you. In fact, at the maximum setting, it amplifies some of these sounds, so some careful adjustment is required.

I love that Shure has built in a feature called PausePlus that allows you to automatically turn on transparency mode when you pause your music. With too many earbuds, you'll have to pause first and then switch to transparency, which can be annoying when someone tries to talk to you.

Shure Play app screenshot for iOS.

Shure Play app screenshot for iOS.

The Shure Play app also gives you complete control over the multi-function buttons. You can assign up to three different commands per earbud, including play / pause, skip forward / backward, transparency on / off and access to the voice assistant. In addition, you can choose whether you want to control the volume with a fourth gesture. It's a bit awkward, admittedly – you have to press and then long press – but it's a handy option nonetheless. The only thing Shure left out is wear sensors, which can automatically pause if you remove one or both of the earbuds – another surprise considering how many other earbuds come standard with them at this price point.

Your phone call options include muting the microphone and switching between two calls, both of which are rare features. You can also use each earbud independently for music and calls.

Avoid the wind

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Call quality on the Aonic Free can be excellent, but you need to avoid windy or very noisy situations. The microphone does a great job of capturing the full tone and resonance of your voice, with little to no distortion, but struggles to maintain that quality under adverse conditions. They're definitely not the earbuds you'd want to use on the phone while you bike through heavy traffic, but they will work admirably on Zoom calls or anywhere you find relatively calm conditions.

Speaking of Zoom calls, the Aonic Free are the first headphones I've come across that can automatically turn on a red LED light when you're on the phone to let others know that just because you're not speaking, you aren't yet to be interrupted. It's a look back at the early days of Bluetooth, but I think it's brilliant – all true wireless earbuds should have a similar option.

More performance please

Shure Aonic Free True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Shure claims that the Aonic Free can last for around seven hours on a single charge, and as far as I can tell, that's correct when you're listening at 50% volume. But as mentioned above, because these Buds run quieter than other models, you'll likely hear at 60% or more, which will reduce battery life a bit.

I agree – six to seven hours is still enough for most people. But what I can't understand, given their huge charging case, is why you can only charge the earbuds twice for a total of 21 hours of playtime? If the Aonic Free were really small – say, AirPods Pro small – I'd happily accept that (although even the AirPods Pro have a longer total time of up to 24 hours), but the Aonic Free have no such excuse.

Our opinion

Although the Aonic Free are larger than most true wireless earbuds, they are very comfortable and offer exceptionally clear and detailed sound. For the discerning listener, this may be worth the price of admission, but given the many features that are lacking at the price, most people will likely be happier with other models.

Are there any better alternatives?

When it comes to sheer clarity, attention to detail, and EQ control – that so-called studio sound – you will hardly find a better set of true wireless earbuds, even if you are spending well over the price of $ 199 on Aonic Free. But considering how many features Shure has left out, here are two options worth considering:

$ 200 Jabra Elite 7 Pro: At the same price as the Aonic Free, the Elite 7 Pro has it all: Great sound, great ANC, great transparency, tons of customization options, long battery life, wireless charging, and an IP57 rating that makes it effectively waterproof. Oh, and they're much smaller too. Audio purists will still prefer the incredibly precise sound of the Aonic Free, but I also think the Elite 7 Pro sounds pretty good.

230 $ Technology EAH-AZ60: For a slightly larger investment, the AZ60 offers fabulous ANC and sound quality that rivals the Aonic Free, but with a slightly warmer standard signature that will appeal to people who don't love the sometimes overly accurate Shure sound. The Technics also have Sony's LDAC codec for wireless hi-res audio and Bluetooth multipoint to connect two devices to your earbuds at the same time.

How long will they last?

Given their total lack of water protection, this very much depends on how careful you are with the Aonic Free. The build quality seems to be excellent, however, and Shure backs it with a two-year warranty, which is unusual in this product category. That might be a good sign that they'll be better off in the long run, but like all true wireless earbuds, it's likely that decreasing battery life is what is keeping them from still being in your audio arsenal 10 years from now.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but only if you're looking for what Aonic Free has to offer – a highly detailed, precise, and customizable sound with very few other bells and whistles. For everyone else, you can find better options for the same price or less.

Editor's recommendations



17 Dec
Blog

HP ZBook Studio G8 Review: Powerful, Portable, and Pricey

An HP ZBook Studio G8 is on a table.

HP ZBook Studio G8

RRP $ 6,863.00

"The HP ZBook Studio G8 is fast and well built, but the price is far too high."

benefits

  • Stable built

  • Spectacular display

  • Thin and light for a workplace

  • Excellent keyboard and touchpad

  • Good productivity and creative performance

disadvantage

  • Too expensive

  • Performance does not correspond to the price

  • Terrible battery life

HP offers a full line of portable workstations for developers and technical users, from the ultra-portable ZBook Firefly G8 to the ultra-powerful ZBook Fury G8. In the middle of the product range is the ZBook Studio G8, a workstation that is aimed at both gamers and creative professionals. Simply put, it's not your typical portable workstation that is large, heavy, and highly upgradeable. It is aimed at the same people who might buy a Dell XPS 15, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme, or MacBook Pro.

It's not a cheap laptop either. I tested a configuration with the Intel Core i9-11950H vPro CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU that says the retail price is a whopping 6,863 US dollars. As of this writing, the price is still $ 4,392, although prices will fluctuate.

Either way, you are spending a huge surcharge to get a laptop with high-end components and a handful of professional features. For most people, this won't be a winning combination compared to today's extremely powerful thin and light consumer laptops.

draft

An HP ZBook Studio G8 sits on a table showing the back and lid.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ZBook Studio G8 is more like traditional thin and light laptops than a workstation. This is intentional, because the laptop should appeal to both consumer-oriented power users and professionals who are looking for a highly mobile solution. Take a look at the ZBook Studio G8 and you'll see a striking resemblance to an HP Specter from a few years ago. There's an aggressive angle along each side, sharp chamfers on different edges, and the back edge is a sharp wedge that adds some flair to the design.

The color is called "Turbo Silver" and the overall aesthetic is sophisticated but eye-catching. It's a lot more attractive than the Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2, which shares similar components but is a lot more boxy and old-fashioned. The ZBook Studio G8 challenges the Dell XPS 15 more directly in its look and feel, but the Dell is slimmer and just as attractive.

Thanks to the very thin display bezels on the sides and relatively narrow bezels at the top and bottom, the ZBook Studio G8 with its 15.6-inch display in 16: 9 format is quite a large notebook. It's only slightly larger in width and depth than the XPS 15, with its 15.6-inch 16:10 display that has tiny bezels all around, and it's considerably smaller than the ThinkPad P15. It's also thin at 0.69 inches compared to the 0.71 inch on the XPS 15 and 1.24 inches on the ThinkPad P15 at its thickest point, and at 3.96 pounds lighter compared to 4.42 pounds, respectively. 6.32 pounds for the XPS or P15. The ZBook Studio G8 manages to fall into the thin and light category while housing some serious components.

The ZBook Studio G8 is as good as the best in terms of build quality. There's no bending, bending, or twisting in the lid, keyboard deck, or bottom case, and HP puts the laptop through a brutal series of 21 military certification tests. The ZBook Studio G8 is easily on par with the Dell XPS 15 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, which makes it a fairly robust device.

The ZBook Studio G8 does not offer the same expandability as many workstations. It has 32GB of RAM, much less than others that can be upgraded to 128GB, and the maximum storage is 2TB. There's only one slot for a solid-state drive (SSD), while many workstations have two – the ThinkPad P15, for example, has two slots and can be upgraded to a whopping 16 TB of storage. That's the price you pay for being so thin and light.

On the left side of the HP ZBook Studio G8 there is a single USB-A port and a 3.5mm audio jack.

On the right side of the HP ZBook Studio G8 there are two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 ports, a mini display port connector and a full-size SD card reader.

Connectivity is good for a thin and light laptop, although thicker workstations tend to have more ports. On the left you will find a single USB-A port and a 3.5mm audio jack and on the right you will find two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 ports, a mini DisplayPort connector and an SD card reader in full size hand side. Power is supplied via a proprietary connection that is fed by a sizable 200 watt power supply. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 provide wireless tasks.

There are a few "professional" features that you won't find on a typical consumer laptop. For example, there is built-in tile support that will help you track down your laptop if it has been stolen. HP's Wolf Security Suite provides hardware-based protection against BIOS corruption and attacks, and there are several other security features only available on HP's business-class laptops. The chassis can also be disinfected and has been tested for 1,000 cleaning cycles with selected household towels. Whether these features offer enough added value to justify the price of the ZBook Studio G8 is an open question.

power

An HP ZBook Studio G8 sits forward on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

My test device was equipped with the 8-core / 16-thread Core i9-11950H vPro CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 32 GB RAM and a 2 TB PCIe SSD. You can also choose up to an Nvidia Quadro A5000 GPU if you want really professional graphics, but otherwise my review unit was maxed out. I ran it through our suite of benchmarks and found that while it's a fast laptop, it doesn't outperform some consumer-grade laptops that cost less than half the price.

The ZBook Studio G8 performed well in Geekbench 5 and took third place in our comparison group behind the Apple MacBook Pro 16 and the Lenovo ThinkPad P15. In our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265, the Lenovo took first place and in the Cinebench R23 came third, again behind the MacBook Pro 16 and the ThinkPad P15. In the PCMark 10 Complete Benchmark, which is a great test of productivity performance, the ZBook Studio G8 finally took third place behind the ThinkPad P15 and the Asus Vivobook Pro 16X with a Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU.

The extremely high price of the ZBook Studio G8 can hardly be justified due to the performance alone.

Most tellingly, however, was the workstation's performance in the real-world Pugetbench benchmark running in Adobe Premiere – a demanding application for which the machine was specifically designed. The ZBook Studio G8 scored 612 in the benchmark, a solid score that fell short of the ThinkPad P15, Dell XPS 17, and the insanely fast MacBook Pro 16, which beat the rest of the field. The ZBook Studio G8 wasn't even much faster than the Dell XPS 15 with a slower CPU and GPU. In short, HP's workstation was disappointing in what is perhaps the most important benchmark.

The only way to characterize its performance is that it is certainly a fast laptop that will serve its professional market well while satisfying productive users at the same time. At the same time, however, it's not necessarily faster than the thin and light mass of high-end consumers. The extremely high price of the ZBook Studio G8 can hardly be justified due to the performance alone.

Underdog bench 5
(Single / multiple)		 Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) Handbrake (seconds) PCMark 10 Pugetbench Premiere Pro
HP ZBook Studio G8 (Core i9-11950H) 1637/9139 1594/11788 84 6432 612
Lenovo ThinkPad P15 (Core i9-11950H) 1691/9250 1596/12207 84 6866 724
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1 Pro) 1773/12605 1531/12343 95 N / A 956
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 1520/7353 1519/10497 106 6251 432
Dell XPS 15 (Core i7-11800H) 1556/7692 1513/9979 103 6024 509
Dell XPS 17 (Core i7-11800H) 1568/8801 1525/10145 109 6209 692
Asus Vivobook Pro 16X (Ryzen 9 5900HX) 1544/8299 1486/11478 90 6486 571

Gaming performance

Given that HP specifically mentions Gaming as one of the ZBook Studio G8's strengths, and it features an RGB backlit keyboard per key and the OMEN Gaming Hub utility, it's fair to rate its gaming performance. The RTX 3070 was supposed to make it a competitive gaming device, but it turned out that its performance was downright mixed.

The ZBook Studio G8's 3DMark Time Spy Score was low compared to the peer group, especially the Razer Blade 14 and Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, which both came with RTX-3070 GPUs. The HP caught up with Assassin's Creed Valhalla, where they tied for first place, and it ended up between the Razer Blade 14 and Legion 5 Pro in Battlefield V. However, his Fortnite score was the second lowest and he wasn't especially fast on Civilization VI, where its CPU should have paid some dividends. Overall, the ZBook Studio G8 is undoubtedly capable of playing competently at 1080p and even 1440p, but it won't beat many dedicated gaming laptops.

Laptop 3DMark time spy Assassin & # 39; s Creed Valhalla
(1080p ultra high)		 Battlefield V
(1080p Ultra)		 Fourteen days
(1080p epic)		 Civilization VI (1080p Ultra)
HP ZBook Studio G8 (RTX 3070) 7391 77 fps 83 fps 89 fps 112 fps
HP Victus 16 (RTX 3060) 7341 59 fps 72 fps 99 fps 118 fps
Razer blade 14 (RTX 3070) 8605 60 fps 96 fps 96 fps 111 fps
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (RTX 3070) 9175 61 fps 73 fps 101 fps 114 fps
Asus ROG Strix G15 (RX6800M) 10504 77 fps 109 fps 108 fps 150 fps
MSI GS66 Stealth (RTX 3080) 9097 70 fps 117 fps 140 fps 149 fps
Razer blade 15 (RTX 2080 Super) 7637 58 fps 98 fps 110 fps 134 fps
MSI Creator Z16 (RTX 3060) 6322 50 fps 57 fps 56 fps (1600p) 92 fps

At this point it should be noted that the ZBook Studio G8 gets very loud under full load and produces so much noise in our gaming benchmarks that I wanted to put on headphones. The case also got quite warm, with parts of the palm rest exceeding 126 degrees Fahrenheit and the bottom of the case reaching over 140 degrees F. The CPU temperatures stayed below 90 degrees F during the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, so HP did an excellent job of keeping the component temperatures within a reasonable range.

display

Close-up on the display of the HP ZBook Studio G8.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

My test device came with the 4K OLED display (3840 x 2160), one of four options, along with two Full HD options (1920 x 1080) and HP's DreamColor 4K display running at 120 Hz. With OLED displays you can't usually go wrong, and mine definitely looked great. The colors were dynamic without being oversaturated, the display was bright enough in all my work environments (including outside in southern California sunlight), and I enjoyed deep black colors.

My colorimeter was mostly happy with the display, but it wasn't quite as spectacular as some of the OLED panels I tested. It was bright at 413 nits, well above our 300 nit threshold, and the contrast was excellent at 28,880: 1 (note this is a lower score than some of my previous OLED tests, but I switched colorimeters and it apparently tests OLED displays differently). The colors were wide at 94% of AdobeRGB and 100% of sRGB. The color accuracy was just OK with a DeltaE of 2.16 (1.0 or less is considered excellent). Compared to the Dell XPS 15 OLED display with 397 nits, 27,770: 1 contrast, 97% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB and a color accuracy of 0.41. The ThinkPad 15 had a more average IPS display that was very bright at 542 cd / m² and had a contrast ratio of 1,040: 1, 76% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB and a color accuracy of 1.49.

Creative types will love this display, although they would like the colors to be a little more accurate. Everyone else will enjoy the colors, brightness and contrasts that make the ZBook Studio G8 an excellent laptop for creative and productive work.

The speakers of the HP ZBook Studio G8 rest next to the keyboard.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Four speakers, two tweeters and two woofers provide the sound, and when they are all the way up, they emit ample volume. There was no distortion either, with clear mids and highs and a hint of bass. These are some of the best speakers you'll find on a Windows laptop that rival the Dell XPS 15, which is the Windows benchmark but doesn't quite get on par with the excellent MacBook Pro audio.

You can use these speakers for all of your listening needs from gaming to Netflix bingeing to music. No headphones or external speakers are required.

Keyboard and touchpad

Keyboard and touchpad of the HP ZBook Studio G8.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ZBook Studio G8's keyboard is very similar to that of HP's Specter range, with plenty of key spacing, large keycaps, and a row of cursor movement keys along the right side. However, its switching mechanism is completely different, it is the same depth, but with more click than push button. It's a comfortable and quiet keyboard on par with the excellent version of the Specter, even if it feels different. My test unit came with the optional per-key RGB lighting that can cycle 16.8 million colors, and it's as good as a gaming laptop like the Razer Blade 14. It's strange to have such lighting on a portable workstation but that too shows how HP sees its customers using the laptop.

The touchpad was large and comfortable, with a glass surface that made swiping precise. As a Microsoft Precision touchpad, it supported the multi-touch gestures of Windows 10 and was pleasant to use. The display was also touch-enabled and precise as usual.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by both an infrared camera for facial recognition and a fingerprint reader in the upper right corner of the palm rest. Both worked quickly and reliably.

There's no privacy switch or slider for the webcam, which was disappointing. And the webcam itself gets stuck at 720p.

Battery life

An HP ZBook Studio G8 is on a table.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Inside the ZBook Studio G8 there is an 83 watt hour battery installed, which is not exactly huge for this device class. The Lenovo ThinkPad P15, for example, has a capacity of 94 watt hours and the Dell XPS 15 is almost on par with HP with 86 watt hours. Throw in some high-end components and a power hungry 4K OLED display and my predictions for battery life have been bleak.

Things were just as bad as I expected. Starting with our web browsing test, which ran through a number of popular and complex websites, the ZBook Studio G8 only lasted five hours, about half of what we'd like to see in this test. The XPS 15 OLED lasted nine hours and the ThinkPad P15 reached 9.5 hours. In our video test, which repeats a local 1080p movie trailer, the ZBook Studio G8 only lasted 6.25 hours, compared to the XPS 15 OLED for 11 hours and the ThinkPad P15 for 11.15 hours.

I also ran the PCMark Applications battery test, the best indicator of productivity performance, and the ZBook Studio G8 got 5.5 hours, while the XPS 15 got eight hours and the ThinkPad P15 6.35 hours. Finally, in the PCMark Gaming Battery Test, which shows how hard a laptop works on battery power, the ZBook Studio G8 lasted 91 minutes, roughly the same as the XPS 15 OLED and about 40 minutes longer than the ThinkPad P15.

Overall, the battery life of the ZBook Studio G8 was poor. You have to lug around and plug in the large power pack before a work day is over. If your workload is demanding at all, you'll pocket it even before noon.

Our opinion

The ZBook Studio G8 manages to pack components at the workstation level into a thin and light housing. However, this happens at the expense of pure performance and expandability. Aside from some professional features that may or may not be useful to the typical developer or even engineer, the ZBook Studio G8 outperforms some 15-inch laptops like the Dell XPS 15 and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen. not 4 (which is actually more expandable than the HP).

That makes the ZBook Studio G8 an odd laptop. It's a great machine, no doubt about it. But it's also horribly expensive without much to add to justify the investment.

Are there alternatives?

The ThinkPad P15 offers similar performance to the ZBook Studio G8, but is much more expandable at the expense of the added thickness and weight. It's just as expensive, but you'll be happy to find that you can upgrade the memory and storage if needed.

You can also consider MSI's WS65 Mobile Workstation. It supports the same basic components and can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM, but it is also thinner and lighter and does not offer the same expandability as some workstations.

Finally, the Dell XPS 15 is an excellent choice when you don't need these professional features. It's just as well built and handsome, and it's almost as fast in our test configuration that it wasn't maxed out. Buy an XPS 15 and its high-end components and you'll likely get similar performance for thousands less.

How long it will take?

The ZBook Studio G8 is solidly built and will withstand many years of productive service. However, it is not as expandable as many workstations. So you buy what you get. However, the three-year guarantee is welcome.

Should you buy it?

No. The ZBook Studio G8 is also a great device. It's just too expensive compared to the competition.

Editor's recommendations



16 Dec
Blog

OnePlus Buds Z2 Review: Too Much Bass, Not Enough Grace

OnePlus Buds Z2 open case.

OnePlus Buds Z2 in the test: Too much bass, too little grace

RRP $ 99.00

"Active noise cancellation is a welcome addition to the lightweight OnePlus Buds Z2, but the heavy bass of the 11mm drivers can be overwhelming and they don't really stand out enough to beat the competition."

benefits

  • Light and comfortable to wear

  • Simple, reliable touch controls

  • Choice of noise cancellation modes

  • IP55 and IPX4 water and dust resistance

disadvantage

  • Bass-heavy sound profile

  • No wireless charging

  • No alternative sound modes

True wireless earbuds, almost regardless of the price, have to attract attention today due to the large selection. OnePlus is no stranger to its smartphones, which usually come up with good design, desirable features, and a tempting price.

But what about the OnePlus Buds Z2? They follow the OnePlus Buds Z for $ 49, but the price has now doubled as Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and a pair of updated drivers have been added. Is that enough to separate them from everyone else – and separate you with $ 99 to get them?

draft

The housing of the OnePlus Buds Z2 is made of glossy plastic – my test model is black, but there is also a white model – with the brand name in simple letters on the lid, which is held securely closed by a magnet. Open it up and the top feels pretty cheap and thin, with a scratchy, matte plastic lining that keeps the Buds Z2 in place. It's a simple and nondescript case.

OnePlus Buds Z2 closed case.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

OnePlus has also chosen a simple design for the Buds Z2. A short, tube-like shaft protrudes from the inoperative speaker cabinet, with visual interest only provided by a sunburst-style CD-like endplate. That's it. They are certainly not ugly, but neither are they inspiring. OnePlus definitely relies on subtlety here, but the case and design of the Bud Z2 border on boring.

The box contains three sets of earplugs in the sizes small, medium and large. I liked the medium best and, according to the MyMelody app, makes for a good end to my ears. There is also a short USB Type-C cable in the case for charging the battery. A button on the back of the case puts the Buds Z2 into pairing mode, and there is a single LED on the front to indicate status.

OnePlus Buds Z2 open case.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Although I'm not particularly impressed by the look of the OnePlus Buds Z2, I can't fault the comfort and durability. The Buds Z2 are very light at 4.5 grams each and do not cause ear fatigue. I wore them for four hours straight and had no problems. Each bud has an IP55 water resistance rating, so you can even clean it with a single flush. It's just a shame that they look rather generic.

sound

Inside every ordinary-looking Buds Z2 earbud, you'll find an 11mm driver and three microphones, plus a tiny 40mAh battery. The driver is the same as in the OnePlus Buds Pro, plus there is Dolby Atmos and AAC and SBC codec support. The design may be subtle, but there's no doubt that OnePlus tuned the Buds Z2 for bass because it can be, damn it, overwhelming.

OnePlus Buds Z2 earbuds.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The scientist at Twice has a strong bass line undoubtedly, but the finesse of the song has been removed with the OnePlus Buds Z2. It booms and booms all the time, but due to the tight soundstage and amplified highs, it doesn't seem to overwhelm the vocals, instead wrapping the song's sweet and addicting melody in a thick bass blanket. Listen to the Apple AirPods Pro, and the nice balance and controls make it sound like a different song.

This bombastic approach can also be heard in Ive & # 39; s Eleven, where the harsh treatment of the vocals and the heavy bass boom of the Buds Z2 don't encourage you to turn up the volume. There's also noticeable distortion as you approach even the three-quarter mark on the iPhone 13 Pro. That said, there's a ton of volume on offer if you want it. Two of my regular test tracks – Tokyo Towers Mix from What Time is Love by The KLF and Inner Peace by CloZee – both have deep bass throughout and are not particularly pleasant to listen to. Unfortunately, there's no equalizer in the app or some way to tweak the sound profile to fix this overzealous approach.

Compared to other headphones that I use plugged into my TV, the OnePlus Buds Z2 were very loud and still pretty harsh, with some laughter being especially deafening during comedy shows. However, on the spoken word, performance was good, helped by a focus on treble and vocals. I've used the OnePlus Buds Z2 for video calls and while the audio quality was okay for me, listeners described it as average.

Dolby Atmos support is offered. but only if you are using a current OnePlus phone. On the OnePlus 9 Pro, I used the Disney + and Tidal apps to try it out, but the results were mixed, not least because it's quite difficult to tell if you're listening to Dolby Atmos content. Seeing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings didn't really sound any different, while the Atmos mixes on Tidal's Atmos playlists were better, with some interesting spatial effects, but overall, it was never as effective as listening to Atmos tracks over Apple Music and the AirPods Pro.

OnePlus Buds Z2 in the ear.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The OnePlus Buds Z2 is all about bass and treble and it lacks a fine balance, which means that the mids tend to be lost and some details are hidden. This harshness didn't suit my tastes or my choice of music, but I can see bass and volume junkies enjoying the sound more – just be aware that listening to music with the OnePlus Buds Z2 isn't anything relaxing. These are loud and very proud of the bass they can deliver.

Controls and noise cancellation

The OnePlus Buds Z2's touch controls are responsive and the sensor is easy to find with your finger, which makes them better than many other earbuds. All you have to do is tap the flat endplate to pause or play the music, or touch and hold to change the noise canceling setting. There's no messing around with holding the stem or trying to find the touch sensor, everything is built in sensibly and the sensor seems big enough that you don't have to tap over and over to find the right spot.

There are two settings for noise cancellation, a standard and a maximum mode and a transparency mode. You long press the earbud to switch between them. By default, this goes from transparency to maximum noise cancellation, but you can customize this in the app. In the end I set it to the standard ANC mode instead of the maximum due to the excessive hiss created by the maximum setting.

These are loud and very proud of the bass they can deliver.

While the +/- 25db standard mode creates some pressure in your ears, I prefer that initial discomfort to the louder background noise created by the +/- 40db max mode. I didn't notice much of a difference between them in terms of isolation either, although I suspect that has something to do with the environment. The default mode was fine for home and general outdoor use, but I wasn't on an airplane or in an overly noisy environment to fully try the maximum setting.

App and connectivity

The OnePlus Buds Z2 connect via Bluetooth 5.2 and support Android Fast Pair, which worked fine on my OnePlus 9 Pro and Google Pixel 6 Pro, although I had to manually establish a connection on the iPhone 13 Pro. I also connected it to my Sony TV. I was able to move around my one-story apartment without losing connectivity, and the range was similar to other wireless headphones I use.

MyMelody app with OnePlus Buds Z2.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

I found the connection time to be very fast and extremely reliable. During the test, I kept switching between devices and headphones, and the Buds Z2 had no problems with this at all. If you tap and hold an earbud for a few seconds, the Buds Z2 will also quickly switch between previously connected and available devices. Take the headphones out of your ears and the content will pause automatically, and this worked even while streaming an app from my phone to my TV.

If you have a OnePlus phone, the Buds Z2 doesn't need to install an app as all functions and firmware updates are handled by the phone. For other Android phones and the iPhone, you should download the My Melody app, but the OnePlus Buds Z2 will work perfectly without using the accompanying app if you prefer.

For my music choices, the OnePlus Buds Z2's bass response is ridiculously exaggerated.

My Melody allows you to customize the touch controls, update the firmware, change the noise canceling mode, perform a seat test, and check the battery level for the case and headphones. It was reliable on my iPhone 13 Pro, although I don't use it very often other than applying a firmware update.

battery

In a listening session in which the OnePlus Buds Z2 switched between my iPhone 13 Pro, my Sony TV and my Mac Mini, the low battery warning came after four hours. You should get near the estimated five hours of OnePlus usage with ANC active, but don't expect to exceed this. OnePlus estimates 27 hours of total ANC usage, or 38 hours without it. It takes 90 minutes to fully charge the case and a 10 minute charge adds five hours to its useful life via the included cable and standard adapter. The OnePlus Buds Z2 do not have wireless charging.

Price and availability

The OnePlus Buds Z2 cost US $ 99 in the US and will be available from the OnePlus and Amazon online stores from December 18. However, if you join OnePlus' "Red Cable Club", you will be able to buy them from December 17th. Joining the club is free and comes with certain benefits, including free shipping. The white version will initially be available, the black version will be available in early 2022. In the UK, the OnePlus Buds Z2 will cost £ 99 and are now available in the OnePlus online shop.

Our opinion

The original OnePlus Buds Z were $ 49, but the addition of ANC and Buds Pro drivers means the Buds Z2 has doubled in price, and at $ 99, they have serious competition. We found that you don't have to spend more than $ 100 these days to get a pair of true feature-packed wireless headphones, and while the OnePlus Buds Z2s tick most of the boxes, the sound is going to split opinions.

For my music choices, the bass reproduction of the OnePlus Buds Z2 is ridiculously exaggerated and robs most of the songs of any subtleties. I understand, however, that a lot of people seriously want loud and bassy headphones, and while the Buds Z2 definitely are, the mega bass darkens details and overwhelms the midrange, which isn't ideal no matter how much you want.

On the positive side, the touch controls are good, the noise cancellation is effective in standard mode, and the waterproof rating is IP55. It's a shame the battery life doesn't go beyond four to five hours with ANC, and the design isn't a bit more inspired. The OnePlus Buds Z2 are inconspicuous unless you crave thundering bass.

Is there a better alternative?

Unfortunately for OnePlus, and luckily for you, there are so many alternatives to choose from that you can get exactly what you want, for the same price or less. I used the OnePlus Buds Z2 along with the $ 99 Nothing Ear 1, and I prefer the latter's natural sound profile and overall design, and I really appreciate the addition of wireless charging.

If the Nothing Ear 1 isn't for you, here are eight alternative options, all under $ 100. There is so much to choose from that you can pretty much find a pair to suit your exact needs. This diversity poses a problem for the OnePlus Buds Z2, which are difficult to stand out from the crowd.

How long will they last?

The IP55-rated earphones and the IPX4-rated housing offer the OnePlus Buds Z2 sufficient protection against water and dust, making them suitable for use in the gym or in the rain. The plastic construction should be resistant to damage. The HeyMelody app enables firmware updates if OnePlus releases them in the future. Battery life can degrade over time, but there's no reason why it doesn't last two or three years before it becomes noticeable.

Should you buy it?

No, there are better sounding and equally, if not more, feature rich options for the same or less money.

Editor's recommendations



16 Dec
Blog

4 Signs Your Skin Is Dehydrated & How To Fix It

Does your skin feel more flaky and sensitive than usual? Has your natural glow been zapped by your complexion? If this sounds like the condition of your skin, it may be dehydrated. Here are the top signs of dehydrated skin and our recommendations on how to fix them.

What is the difference between dry and dehydrated skin? | 4 signs of dehydrated skin | How to fix dehydrated skin

What is the difference between dry and dehydrated skin?

Dry and dehydrated skin have many of the same signs and symptoms, but they're actually quite different. Here's a quick breakdown of how these two skin care problems differ:

Dry skin

Dry skin is classified as a skin type and is inherited through your genetics. Skin Inc defines dry skin type as one that is prone to insufficient production of the skin's natural oils. Dry skin can also be associated with hormonal imbalances or an underactive thyroid. This can slow down your skin's production of sebum and contribute to a dry and dull complexion. While your dry skin type cannot be genetically modified, adding oily products to your skin care routine can improve its appearance.

Dry skin

Dehydrated skin, on the other hand, is a skin condition. It is caused by external influences (weather and seasonal changes), unhealthy diet (lack of fresh produce) and lifestyle choices (alcohol or caffeine consumption). All of these factors reduce the water content of your skin, which leads to a less supple appearance. One important finding is that dehydration is characterized by a lack of water – not oil; even oily skin types can dry out. Fortunately, dehydrated skin is temporary and can be alleviated through a combination of topical treatments and lifestyle changes.

4 signs of dehydrated skin

Not sure if you are dealing with dryness or dehydration? Here are four tell-tale signs that you have dehydrated skin:

1. Itchy skin

Have you ever returned from a ski vacation or a day at the beach and felt the relentless need to scratch yourselves? External elements such as wind and extreme temperature changes can draw moisture away from the outer layer of the skin and cause a tense, itchy feeling. This is often accompanied by peeling, regardless of the amount of oil on the surface of your skin.

2. Increased sensitivity

One of the biggest consequences of dehydrated skin is an increase in sensitivity. If the moisture barrier of your skin is disturbed, it cannot protect itself properly against external environmental influences. As a result, irritants such as bacteria and pollution can penetrate the outermost layer, making symptoms such as redness, itching, and irritation worse.

3. Matte skin

Overall, does your skin look dull and tired? Dehydration affects your skin's ability to perform important functions such as cell turnover. Without adequate hydration, your skin will not lose its outermost layer often enough and dead cells will build up on its surface. This contributes to clogged pores, congestion, and a dull complexion.

4. Fine lines & wrinkles

“Gently pinch the skin on your cheek. If it looks like you have fine lines, you are dehydrated, ”advises skin care professional Joanna Vargas. Dehydrated skin often shows accelerated signs of aging; In contrast to laugh lines or crow's feet, however, these wrinkles appear as a network of tiny, triangular folds.

How to fix dehydrated skin

Before we outline a skin care routine, let's first explore some other lifestyle tips that might help you.

1. Avoid caffeine and alcohol

Caffeine and alcohol are two of the worst culprits for dehydrated skin. Both substances are diuretics that affect the health of your skin by breaking down the water content. And alcohol doubles in size by inhibiting the production of the hormone vasopressin, which is essential for rehydration. If you can't imagine getting through the day without your morning latte, don't be afraid: one to two cups of coffee a day and a glass of alcohol in the evening are generally accepted.

2. Best products for dehydrated skin

To repair dehydrated skin, you need to address your skin care routine and overall health. This means hydrating from the inside out as well as treating the dehydration topically.

3. Buy a humidifier

You may need to add moisture to the air and turn off the air conditioner. Humidifiers are usually very quiet and work in the background by evaporating water through a heating element. They create steam that is released into the air, creating moisture and moisture to help people with dehydrated skin.

4. Skip harsh facial scrubs

Exfoliating is a safe way to lighten dull, dehydrated complexions, but if you have dehydrated skin, we recommend avoiding gritty scrubs, which could irritate the skin. Healthy skin takes 25 days to naturally renew itself, and dehydrated skin takes longer. Proper exfoliation speeds up skin cell turnover by removing dead cells from the surface to reveal the new, healthy cells underneath. We've recommended a gentler skin care exfoliating option below.

A routine for dehydrated skin

To repair dehydrated skin, you need to address your skin care routine and overall health. This means hydrating from the inside out as well as treating the dehydration topically.

1. Wash with a gentle detergent and lukewarm water

The best way to cleanse dehydrated skin is with a gentle cleanser and lukewarm water. Choose detergents that are free from harsh chemical additives and artificial fragrances that can draw soothing moisture out of the skin and increase sensitivity. At Eminence Organics, we select only the best organic ingredients and keep our skin care products free of harmful chemicals such as parabens, petrolatum, mineral oils, propylene glycol and sodium lauryl sulfate. To cleanse dehydrated skin, we recommend using a product like Wildflower Cleansing Balm or Stone Crop Cleansing Oil, which gently melt away impurities, moisturize the skin and leave no residue.

2. Apply an essence

Skin care that you shouldn't do without – especially for dehydrated skin – is an essence. This K-Beauty staple maximizes hydration, replenishing moisture, and protecting skin from the drying effects of environmental stressors. Facial essences are packed with deeply moisturizing and antioxidant ingredients that work wonders on dehydrated skin. Take our birch water cleansing essence as an example. This light essence contains snow and reishi mushrooms to moisturize the skin and neutralize the drying and aging effects of free radicals.

3. Use a hyaluronic acid serum

Hyaluronic acid is extremely effective in replenishing dehydrated skin. As a humectant, this miracle active ingredient helps to bind and store moisture and keeps the skin soft and cozy. According to ELLE, hyaluronic acid has the ability to hold up to six liters of water and "acts like a magnet for moisture, helping your cells to store as much of it as possible so your skin feels and appears hydrated, plump and healthy". At Eminence Organics, we infuse botanical hyaluronic acid into deeply moisturizing serums like our Strawberry Rhabarb Hyaluronic Serum and Firm Skin Acai Booster Serum.

4. Use a gentle scrub

As mentioned earlier, avoid harsh peels that contain pearls or sugar. Instead, opt for a gentle scrub like our strawberry-rhubarb dermafoliant, which uses rice and chickpea flour to gently remove flakes and dead skin. Strawberry is a natural detergent and astringent that contains salicylic acid. Salicylic acid exfoliates and removes impurities to lighten the appearance of the skin and shrink the appearance of pores.

5. Protect the outer layer of your skin

The judges aren't sure if drinking eight glasses of water a day will dramatically improve the hydration of your skin. Dermatologist Joel Schlessinger Explains Reader's Digest, "Drinking water all day is great for your body, but that moisture doesn't really reach your skin unless you're extremely dehydrated." The key is to keep water from leaving your skin by keeping the moisture barrier intact and healthy. One of the best ways to achieve this is with a topical treatment like our Marine Flower Peptide Night Cream. This rich formula contains botanical peptides (from rice protein) which means that it is plant-based and naturally derived. Jojoba oil locks in moisture and prevents transepidermal water loss so you can expect a change in your skin with a more hydrated, firmer look.

We also recommend our Lotus Detoxifying Overnight Treatment, which uses jojoba oil to lock in moisture and prevent transepidermal water loss.

Is your skin dry or dehydrated? We'd love to hear your lifestyle or skin care tips and tricks to keep your skin looking its best. Let us know in the comments below and join the conversation on social media.

This post was originally published in March 2016.

15 Dec
Blog

The Benefits of Hill Running — More Speed, Better Mechanics, and Power

I grew up in the late 70s and 80s, have been an athlete my whole life and have loved soccer since I can remember. So one of my favorite mainstream media training stories as a kid was the hill legendary running back Walter Payton used to condition himself in the off-season. Search all over the internet and you can find stories about Payton's alien conditioning, how he brought athletes from all sports to exercise, and how they all ultimately knocked out from exhaustion. He's one of the most prolific runners in the NFL, arguably one of the greatest of all time, and the hill was his secret.

I've been training for almost twenty years now and I'm obsessed with mountain running. I owe that to Payton, and since speed is the ultimate goal in all of my programs, hills (or stairs for those of you who don't have a suitable hill nearby) are an absolute must in any speed or conditioning program. I've spent the majority of my career between Cal Poly and San Jose State, and both places have significant hill / stadium slopes that are perfect for pounding my athletes.

Why hill

Power and strength are crucial when it comes to speed, especially during the acceleration phase. Forty yard jumps, tall running backs shooting through a seam, a batter racing down the first baseline to hit a throw, or a forward exploding to the hole, the sudden surge of speed is the most important factor. It is the first three to five steps that determine the success of the effort.

Check out the NFL combo. When you see the athletes running into their 40s, it's the start that makes the best time. Conversely, if you see a man stumble out of the gate or take a sloppy step, rest assured that the time will be less than impressive.

(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgUP_u604NA (/ embed)

Mountain running teaches the drive phase of a sprint like nothing else can. Because of the incline, the runner has to use the forefoot to climb. One of the most important speed training cues we use is that the forefoot is responsible for speed and the heel is responsible for braking. Even tall guys who, due to their size and tendency to heel contact, come up first when running on level ground, are forced into a “suitable” sprint position. Think of the lean angle that world class sprinters use on the first 50-70 meters of a 100 meter run – this is the position we want to teach and the hill does it for us automatically.

The most obvious benefit is the burden that mountain running puts on its feet. I've always thought that parachuting, tape running, and partner hauling were silly considering all of these devices or routines are aimed at the benefits of time on the hills. In addition to squats, Olympic weightlifting and / or kettlebell training, nothing will improve leg strength and explosiveness like sprinting up a hill.

Use mounds for side applications

Since the vast majority of the teams I train for speed don't really have the ability to run straight in their sports where they would benefit from on-track training (think top speed), we devote almost all of our time to Change of direction training. Many children have little or no understanding of how to turn. They have no understanding of where their body is in space, they insist on using their toes to slow down, and most of the time they have little control over their swing when running.

(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymA2RlXnKg (/ embed)

Due to the incline of the hill you have chosen, the runner must of course bring his drive foot into a "toe-in" position when climbing sideways. If they don't, their efficiency will drop and they will almost instinctively feel the need to adjust. When you are on level ground, one of the most important lessons I teach is a subtle toe-in on the outside leg of a turn. This does two things. First, it allows the runner to fully access the big toe while riding. Second, it is directionally in sync with the goal they are trying to achieve. Believe it or not, this is something many of these kids don't own when they first show up. And what you get when you don't have this technique is a slow, feeble attempt to redirect yourself.

Next, gravity is a tyrant. The natural slope of the hill requires a very strong push. One that is required on level ground when the athlete is trying to accelerate. If I can get a kid to drag their bum up the hill, either sideways or straight, then they have context and I can get that kind of understanding on level ground.

The benefits of backward hill sprints

Running backwards on the mountain is the perfect way to pound your athletes. The hill I use is behind our sports complex in Cal Poly and is about 35 meters long with an incline of about 14 percent. Steep. We have integrated running backwards into the final phase of our mountain training. Part of that is because I want my kids to be very uncomfortable, part of functional speed for my defensive backs and linebackers, and the other part is that they develop some level of resilience.

When I was in college we had to walk around the outside of the Begley Building at EKU. In all fairness, it was a deliberate way of making us miserable. The slope changes outside were constant and there was a close relationship with misery because we were told to do this for 15 minutes or more without a break. It was a total jolt, but it taught us a lesson – learn how to penetrate pain. Nothing careless, just a burning sensation on your legs that would almost choke you on your own vomit.

(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Bv5g-JRFA (/ embed)

The foot drive that walking backwards when going uphill is basically nowhere else to be duplicated. It teaches the kids how to push off the forefoot with whatever they have. Remember that acceleration is in the front of the foot and braking in the heel. The runner trains the right pressure, the right place and the economical use of the feet.

Hills teach running efficiency

Again, due to the incline, the runner is brought into a position in which he has no choice but to give everything. Due to the distance, they have to go up a hill, casual jumping or sessified hopping only makes the ascent 10 times longer. Because they want it to be over as soon as possible, you get a natural full effort.

Hopping has proven to be the hardest part for my children. Other things might hurt more, but jumping makes them work as hard as possible, coordinate their movements as efficiently as possible, and their anaerobic energy system burns them up completely. It is a pleasure to watch.

Selected image: KieferPix / Shutterstock

13 Dec
Blog

Lockly Flex Touch Review: The Perfect First Smart Lock

The Lockly Flex Touch Smart Lock.

Lockly Flex-Touch

RRP $ 149.99

"The Lockly Flex Touch gives you many ways to lock and unlock your doors and make other adjustments, but some can be prevented by the additional cost of adding Wi-Fi controls."

benefits

  • Quick and easy installation

  • Responsive fingerprint scanner

  • Multiple ways to lock / unlock

  • Simple but efficient app

disadvantage

  • Bulky interior design

  • No battery

  • Requires Wi-Fi adapter for mobile functionality

Smart locks are a family of tried and tested smart home devices. For the most part, these latched internet connected peripherals have one job – to keep the door locked. The many bells and whistles, from fingerprint scanning to intuitive companion apps that offer a variety of controls for on the go, are secondary to the certainty that the lock will protect your home every night.

You can find a dizzying amount of smart lock brands on the shelves of brick and mortar and digital stores. Ideally, you want to balance a solid brand name with a great set of security and control features. Oh, and a decent price never hurt either.

Lockly, a formidable name in the smart lock market, has made a number of internet connected locks that we have installed and tested. The latest in the company's product range, the Lockly Flex Touch (available exclusively from Home Depot), does a great job offering a number of must-have smart lock features for less than $ 200. However, there are a few other features that the company hasn't built into the basic package lock (more on this below).

Read on to learn more about our experience with the Lockly Flex Touch.

Out of the box

The scope of delivery of the Lockly Flex Touch.

When you unpack the Lockly Flex Touch, you will find everything you need to install it. This includes the outer and inner lock peripherals (the latter with connected wiring harness), the bolt assembly, an assembly wiring harness and strike plate, screws for all components and an instruction manual. The lock should also come with an activation code card with the serial number and activation code of your Flex Touch.

The code is needed during setup and if you ever need to pair or replace your lock you will need the unique PIN again. After setting up the card, please keep it in a safe place.

The biometric fingerprint scanner is one of the best we've ever worked with.

Our first impression of the overall look and feel of the castle was pretty good. The outward-facing key cylinder made of satined nickel is durable but elegant. Aside from the fingerprint reader, the lock exterior actually looks like most of the traditional single cylinder locks you will find.

What impressed us less is the interior. It's big, at least when compared to most of the interior smart lock hardware. At seven inches high and nearly ten inches wide, the chassis is framed to hold the four AA batteries needed to power the Flex Touch. Let's just say it doesn't exactly fit most doors.

Easy installation, quick setup

The finished interior for the Lockly Flex Touch.

Attaching and turning on the Flex Touch was a pretty straightforward process.

To get started, you must first remove your existing lock and deadbolt. Similar to other smart locks, Lockly's included deadbolt assembly is designed for both 60mm and 70mm configurations, depending on the type of door you are working with. My door required an adjustment of the latch that was as simple as turning the latch body clockwise. You will feel and hear an audible click when the new fitting is locked.

Install the latch for the Lockly Flex Touch.

After the bolt has been screwed in, the outer lock only needs to be attached and the connection cable passed through, the inner mounting plate attached, the cable inserted and then the inner assembly screwed in place. Oh, and don't forget to pop in the four AA batteries. The Flex Touch is supposed to be included, but mine is not. So it is a good idea to make sure you have some extra batteries on hand before installing.

Before you put the battery cover on, you must hold down the programming button before inserting the last of your four AA batteries. A series of beeps will indicate that the lock is being calibrated on your door. Once the calibration is complete, you can download the Lockly Companion App (for iOS and Android devices).

Make sure your phone or tablet's bluetooth is turned on as this is how your Flex Touch will be controlled from your mobile device (more on this below). After you have been asked to enter your lock's unique activation code, general setup is complete. All said and done, you're probably looking for about half an hour (top) to install.

main features

The outer assembly of the Lockly Flex Touch.

With most smart locks around $ 200, the price of the Flex Touch is a bit lower than average, but don't expect a cheaper price to translate into less technology. While Lockly locked a number of the Flex Touch's mobile controls behind the Lockly Secure Link Wi-Fi Hub's paywall, the Flex Touch's basic functionality is pretty great.

The Lockly app has a simple layout and a number of easily accessible settings.

For starters, the biometric fingerprint scanner is one of the best we've ever worked with. Unlike more sensitive fingerprint smartlocks, which can get fussy in the rain or cold outdoors, the Flex Touch's print reader did a solid scan of my app-assigned finger every time and locked and unlocked it with almost no raids.

In fact, the only time I've had problems was after returning home from a long, cold walk. The print scanner made a mistake on the first read, but a simple re-scan was all it took. It is also good to know that the lock can store up to 99 individual fingerprints in case your dominant hand is otherwise busy or you want someone else to unlock the door.

Other important features include a reliable auto-lock function, physical backup keys and external 9V battery contacts when the AA batteries are empty, as well as quick and easy profile duplication to store your fingerprints and eKey-Passes on other Lockly Smarts Import locks.

Mobile control and the Lockly app

Three screens of the Lockly Companion app (on an iOS device).

One of the most convenient aspects of any smart lock is the ability to lock and unlock your doors on the go. Remote access is especially useful when you are on your way to the house in a car laden with groceries. Instead of fumbling for keys or deciding which finger to scan while balancing bags on either shoulder, you can simply open your lock app (after parking in the driveway, of course) and tap a button to open the door to unlock.

Yes, mobile controls are available for the Lockly Flex Touch. No, these functions are not included in the scope of delivery. If you want remote lock / unlock, multi-door lock, Alexa and Google Assistant commands, or real-time door monitoring, you need to purchase the aforementioned Lockly Secure Link Wi-Fi Hub for $ 80.

This means that a fully featured Flex Touch will cost you around $ 230. Not bad, but there are plenty of smart locks out there that include Wi-Fi controls, and sometimes for less than $ 200. Without the network module, the Flex Touch and Lockly companion apps run without bluetooth, which means you will still be able to lock / unlock the app as long as you are near the lock itself.

The Lockly app has a simple layout and a number of easily accessible settings. The start page lists the rooms in your house or houses and the Lockly devices assigned to them. If you select the Flex Touch, you will be taken to the lock status and control screen. A large blue lock / unlock button takes up most of the space, with controls, log, access, and additional settings at the bottom of the page. There's also a battery life indicator in the top right corner.

Fingerprint mapping is done through the Lockly app, and the process is a breeze. Once you tap Start, press your finger repeatedly on the scanner and lift it up when you hear a beep. As soon as the scanning process is complete, the pressure is logged in the Lockly app. You can assign multiple fingers to multiple users, and the lock administrator can enter imprints on as many Lockly devices as you want.

Adding a fingerprint in the Lockly Flex Touch app.

You can also use the app to monitor when and how (fingerprint, app, key) the Flex Touch was unlocked, adjust haptics and tones for the lock and app and add / remove users from your Lockly account.

Prices and guarantee

For now, you can only find Lockly Flex Touch in Home Depot stores and online at homedepot.com. The current retail price is $ 150, and the lock comes with a five-year limited mechanical warranty and a two-year electronics warranty.

Don't forget: if you want to use Alexa or Google Assistant to control the lock, or use other exclusive WiFi features, you need to include the Lockly Secure Link Wi-Fi Hub worth $ 80 in your total purchase price.

Our opinion

In our opinion, the Lockly Flex Touch is a great smart lock to get you started. It is a perfect gift for someone who is just getting started in the world of smart home technology. It's easy to install, the app is solid, and there are plenty of bluetooth-only features for you to enjoy. However, after a while, you will find that you want more.

When you get to that point, you can either invest in the Secure Link for additional functionality or maybe move the Flex Touch to a different door and invest in a new Smart Lock altogether.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes, especially if you want a smart lock that's instantly Wi-Fi enabled. One of our most popular smart locks, the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock, typically costs around $ 230, doesn't require a WiFi bridge, and is packed with incredible features and tons of app customizations.

If the budget matters, there is also the Wyze Lock. It's priced at around $ 130, it's quick to install, the app is great, and like the August Castle, it doesn't require a Wi-Fi bridge.

How long it will take?

Due to the generous mechanical guarantee period (five years), we assume that the Lockly Flex Touch will last a long time. Keep in mind that there is no rechargeable lithium-ion battery here, so you need to keep an eye on the battery life of the four AA batteries.

Lockly claims that the first round of batteries will give you about a year of useful life, but to be on the safe side, try replacing them every six to eight months.

Should you buy it?

Depends on. If you're looking for a cheap smart lock and just want to use bluetooth controls to begin with, the Lockly Flex Touch is a solid choice, especially when you consider the responsive fingerprint reader. However, with Wi-Fi built in, you can easily grab a network-enabled Smart Lock for just a few dollars more than the Flex Touch's $ 150 price point.

Editor's recommendations



11 Dec
Blog

Halo View Review: An Affordable Fitbit Alternative

Amazon Halo View lineup.

Halo View Review: An Affordable Fitbit Alternative

RRP $ 79.00

"The Halo View competes with Fitbit and offers robust functionality and a price that doesn't break the bank."

benefits

  • Inexpensive

  • Affordable membership

  • Easy

  • Focus on wellness

disadvantage

  • No GPS

  • Not as durable as others

Amazon unveiled its Halo fitness band in 2020 to mixed reviews. While many liked the simple design and abundance of wellness features, the voice tracking and fat scanning features caused quite a stir. The company has listened to this feedback and is back with its second iteration of the fitness tracker. The new Halo View takes the best features of the original Halo, removes the controversial ones, and adds an important feature that is missing from the Halo band. Is this new band keeping their promise to "build a healthier lifestyle right from the wrist?" We tested it to find out.

Fitbit-like and feature-rich

When I first saw the new Halo View from Amazon, my first thought was, "This looks like a Fitbit". The Halo View features Fitbit's traditional rectangular case, soft elastomeric strap, and a bright, colorful AMOLED display. It's a bit more boxy than the current-gen Fitbit Charge 5, but the similarity can't be denied.

Halo View's feature set is very competitive. It has a battery life of seven days and has withstood this claim in my tests. It's also equipped with an optical heart rate sensor, a pulse oximeter that can take both background and on-demand measurements, and a temperature monitor for your skin. Thanks to its 50-meter water resistance, you can wear the Halo View in the shower and while swimming.

Person wearing the Amazon Halo view.

Light as a feather

The Halo View looks like a Fitbit but doesn't have the same feel as a Fitbit. Compared to most other fitness bands with a weight of 30 grams, the Halo View is incredibly light at 20.6 grams. The View is so light that I've often forgotten I'm wearing it. It's also very comfortable on the wrist with an easy-to-close strap that doesn't pinch or, at least to me, irritate my skin.

If you want a fitness band that won't weigh you down, the Halo View should be your first choice.

The Halo View doesn't feel as solid as a Fitbit, either. While it feels cheap, it doesn't work like a cheap device. The Halo View exceeded expectations during the test. The battery life was up to a week and the sensor readings were accurate. Although the tape is awkwardly attached to the top of the sensor unit, it held it securely on my wrist and the screen remained scratch-free during the test.

Fitness tracking falls short in one area

Weekly goal for Halo view

Amazon is new to fitness tracking, but you wouldn't know. The Halo app is surprisingly designed with a user interface that makes it easy to find the information you need. And that information is abundant. Amazon's Halo View gathers all of the common health metrics you need to track your fitness, like step count, heart rate, calories, and more. The View uses a weekly scoring system to measure your activity level, which is perfect for busy people. Instead of cramming thousands of steps each day, you can take a day off, exercise when you have more time, and still meet your fitness goals. GPS is the only blatant omission. The View has no built-in GPS and does not use your phone's GPS. As a result, it will not display distance or pace during an outdoor activity. Most people probably won't care, but runners and bikers alike will be disappointed.

Temperature tracking while you sleep

Halo View automatically tracks your sleep every night and is great at knowing when you fall asleep and wake up. It also calculates a sleep score, which is a quick and easy way for you to gauge your sleep quality without digging deep into a variety of metrics. If you want to explore the details, you can too. The Halo app divides sleep into deep, light REM sleep, as well as number of disturbances, awake time, and more.

Not only does Amazon Halo View track your nightly heart rate and movement, it also measures your skin temperature at night. This adds another metric that you can use to diagnose sleep problems or to monitor your health. Do you wake up tired but have slept eight hours? You can check the temperature stats to see if temperature played a role in your insomnia. You may need to shed a layer or add a blanket to keep yourself comfortable at night. Temperature can also be used to diagnose illness, track your menstrual cycle, and monitor other changes in your body or around you.

Halo Fitness brings the burn

Halo fitness

Halo View integrates with Amazon's Halo Fitness, which provides access to a growing library of on-demand workouts led by professional fitness instructors. You can choose between cardio, outdoor, strength, yoga and mobility courses. And there are workouts for all fitness levels. Like Apple Fitness and iFit, the workouts are mostly bodyweight exercises, but that doesn't mean they were easy. The classes I took were strong enough to make me sweat and left me sore the next day. Most of the exercises take less than 25 minutes, so you can easily do them even on a busy day. Although I used Halo View to track my workout, the tracker stats don't integrate with Halo Fitness in the Halo app. I had to look at my watch to check my heart rate instead of seeing it on my phone's screen.

Decreased creepiness

Amazon raised some eyebrows with its tone voice analysis and the photo-based body fat analysis it added to its original Halo fitness band. Even though it removed Tone from the Halo view, Amazon kept the body fat measurements that require you to take a photo of yourself in your Skivvies. Measuring body fat using photos may be more accurate, but not everyone will use this feature.

Same goes for Halo View's new Movement Health, which uses the camera to assess your ability to make five simple movements. The data collected by the camera is then analyzed and used to improve your mobility, stability and posture. Fortunately, these features are optional and disabled by default. I turned it on for testing but didn't use it much after initial setup. Step count, activity score, and the weekly goal were my main motivators for keeping moving.

Diet adds a new dimension

View Hale nutrition recipes

Step count, heart rate and sleep tracking are only half the story. The Halo View is packed with a variety of health and wellness features that complement the fitness metrics gathered by the band's built-in sensors. Diet is one of the newest additions and shows promise. The Nutrition section in the Halo app contains customized single meal recipes as well as long-term nutrition programs to help you build healthy eating habits over time. I signed up for "Have a Glass of Water Before Every Meal" and cherished the daily reminders that encouraged me to improve my hydration each day. In the future, Amazon plans to offer instructions for meal planning and shopping lists that will be synchronized with Alexa.

Affordable monthly membership

Amazon nailed the membership options on Halo View. Some companies cripple their devices for non-subscribers, but Amazon gives you basic metrics like steps, heart rate, and sleep times for free. You do not need to purchase this additional subscription to take advantage of the device's minimal fitness tracking capabilities.

Those who want advanced metrics like daily activity results or personalized insights can sign up for a Halo membership. Amazon cost its membership at an affordable $ 3.99 per month. The View comes with a 12 month free subscription to Halo membership so you don't have to pay that fee right away.

Person wearing the Amazon Halo view.

Our opinion

The Halo View is a great value for those looking for an affordable alternative to the more expensive trackers from Fitbit and Garmin. It has more than enough metrics and wellness features to keep most users at ease. The Halo View might not have enough bells and whistles to draw people away from Fitbit or Garmin, but it's a great starting point for those new to fitness tracking.

Is there a better alternative?

The Halo makes a great entry-level fitness attacker, but there are better alternatives. With sleek, rounded lines and a beautiful AMOLED display, the Charge 5 is a worthy competitor to the Halo View. At an MSRP of $ 129, the Charge 5 is more expensive but offers the distance and pace metrics not found on the Halo View. Another option is Garmin's Vivosmart 4, which has a sophisticated design and loads of smart features to keep you both connected and healthy.

How long it will take?

Amazon Halo View is a budget fitness tracker, so don't expect it to last five years. Most users will be able to use Halo View for a number of years with normal usage. Adventure athletes or hand-working people such as mechanics or carpenters may find the View too sensitive for their harsh lifestyles.

Should you buy it?

Absolutely. With fitness tracking, sleep tracking, nutrition, and access to instructor-led workouts, the Halo View is ideal for someone who wants a fitness tracker but doesn't want to spend a lot of money.

Editor's recommendations



09 Dec
Blog

Nokia T20 Tablet Review: Plenty of Peaks and Valleys

You can play Call of Duty: Mobile on Nokia t20 tablet.

"The Nokia T20 tablet is a decent tablet that is better than a Fire tablet and cheaper than an iPad, but that's all it offers."

advantages

  • Nice design with nice color

  • Good price

  • Decent performance

  • The Google TV hub is pretty awesome

disadvantage

  • Poor network connectivity and battery life

  • Screen is not bright enough.

  • Volume is not loud enough

The Android tablet market is largely dominated by iPads and Amazon Fire tablets, but the Nokia T20 is worth considering. If you're looking for a tablet that's cheaper than an iPad but more useful than an Amazon Fire, the Nokia T20 is a good budget option with just a few minor pitfalls.

One of the (only) advantages of using an Android tablet (as opposed to a Fire) is access to Google services and the App Store. Gmail, Maps and Drive are central to my workflow. And while most Android apps aren't ideal for the tablet form factor, the Play Store is a much better app ecosystem than Amazon's App Store. Also, Google recently launched Android 12L, which is designed for tablets and is foldable, indicating Google's interest in form factor support. So now could be a good time to jump on the Android tablet bandwagon.

Overall, the Nokia T20 does a pretty good job as a media streamer and can even turn into a productivity machine. Let's dive in.

Design and display

The Nokia t20 tablet is too big to hold with one hand.

The Nokia T20 tablet has a glass and aluminum construction so you won't confuse it with a budget device. The deep ocean colorway on the back is a pleasant shade of blue. It gives the tablet an overall classic and subtle look that you would want from a coffee table tablet. One disadvantage is that the display is not bright enough for outdoor use. Otherwise, it's a sharp 10.4-inch diagonal with a resolution of 1200 x 2000, resulting in an odd aspect ratio of 5: 3. That puts it somewhere between 16: 9, which is great for watching movies, and 2: 3, which is great for productivity.

This tablet does a pretty good job as a media streamer and can even turn a case into a productivity machine.

The aspect ratio means that the tablet is awkward to hold to read in the Kindle app. It's too wide and too big to hold with one hand in any orientation. So you can either hold the tablet with both hands or place it on a table to watch movies or TV. Speaking of watching movies, most have black bars at the top and bottom, but they're not distracting as letterboxing is also common on TVs.

The Nokia t20 is easy to hold and carry.

In landscape mode you will find the power button in the upper left corner. The volume rocker is at the top in the same corner. You can expand the 32 or 64 GB internal storage with a microSD slot on the top right. Stereo speakers on both sides deliver good sound that isn't quite as loud as I'd like. There is a headphone jack in a strange place in the rounded corner of the tablet. I didn't expect to find it there, so much so that I didn't even notice it for the first week. Finally, there is a single USB-C port on the right for charging and data.

The power button is placed a bit inconveniently because I accidentally switched off the tablet while playing or only held the tablet with two hands. That gets really annoying when playing or reading. Combined with the weight, this means this tablet excels when you can put the tablet on a stand and watch a video, or when you plug in a wireless keyboard for easy typing. That's exactly how I wrote this review.

Performance, battery and camera

The Nokia t20 has a great blue color scheme.

In this section, I'm going to highlight the ups and downs of this tablet. What is important here is the price. While the price tag isn't all that cheap with a Fire tablet, it's very cheap even when compared to a base model of the iPad. But this low price comes with some compromises.

To be honest, the performance and battery are not great. While the tablet can run games like Call of Duty: Mobile pretty well, the game loads very slowly. Apps tend to lag on launch and even if you switch back to them while multitasking.

Network connectivity isn't great either. The tablet sometimes had problems playing or resuming a video stream on my mesh home WiFi. I was testing it on either my iPad or Lenovo Tab 13 Yoga when this happened. Both had no problem playing the same content at the same time. Add to this the performance lag, and that doesn't mean good things for hardware.

The battery is an 8,200 mAh battery that lasts for about one to one and a half days. When you stream or play videos, the battery chews through pretty quickly. After 30 minutes of streaming Netflix at 75% brightness and playing Call of Duty: Mobile, the battery was 80%. In contrast, most phones can do both activities along with 30 minutes of navigation and have more in the tank.

A good pill usually gives you a solid two days. This is not enough, so remember to plug it in at night.

The battery life isn't bad, but it's not the best either. I often found myself picking up the tablet in the morning only to find the battery at almost 25%. A good pill usually gives you a solid two days. This is not enough, so remember to plug it in at night.

As for the cameras, there are two. On the front, you get a 5 mega-pixel shooter that is clear and great for video calls and the like. On the back there is an 8MP shooter that is suitable for scanning documents or QR codes. These are the only acceptable uses for a tablet camera, by the way. Please don't be the person holding up your slate to record a concert.

software

The Google TV interface is one of the best things about the software.

The software on the Nokia T20 is pretty close to a standard Google experience. That's a good thing, too, because there isn't a lot of additional bloatware that takes up space. I activated the gesture navigation right away because that's how I roll. Unfortunately, on a tablet, it takes several seconds to display multitasking when using gesture navigation. It takes so long that I often have to remind myself that I'm actually doing it right. Having seen this phenomenon on other tablets, I can assume this is an Android thing, not a Google thing. That doesn't make it any less of a nuisance.

A nice part of the software is also a Google component. The Google TV hub is pretty awesome. It's a combination of the different services that you've signed up for and can curate the content for you, which you can watch from Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and others. While I certainly miss the Google News feed, this is an acceptable replacement, especially given the nature of Android tablets. They are primarily content consumer machines.

As mentioned earlier, you can use the tablet as a productivity machine, but there is no software here to make it possible like there is on the Lenovo Tab 11 Plus. Also, it doesn't mean you should be doing something just because you can do something on this tablet.

A nice part of the software is also a Google component. The Google TV hub is pretty awesome.

Other aspects of the software are singing the same chorus they have been singing for years. Android apps are not optimized for a tablet screen. Hopefully Android 12L (when it comes to this tablet) will fix this problem. But for now, you can only expect regular Android apps that cover a larger area. That is not Nokia's fault, however; this is google's fault and it is high time google fixed it. What would Nokia's fault be if this tablet never saw Android 12L. Nokia isn't exactly known for its software updates, and while Nokia promises three years of security updates, I wouldn't be holding my breath for OS updates.

Price and availability

The Nokia T20 tablet is available in the US for $ 249 from Nokia.com or. available Amazon. In the UK, prices start at £ 199. The main difference between the US version of the tablet and the global version is in the LTE connectivity. The US tablet doesn't have that; global publishing does.

Our opinion

The Nokia t20 tablet fits easily into a backpack.

Overall, this is a nice coffee table tablet that is good for content consuming and some gaming. It lives in that strange space between being more useful than an Amazon Fire tablet and less expensive than an iPad. It's a stunning tablet that can give you a good screen for watching movies and, in a pinch, can even help you get productive work done.

While it's good for the price, if you really want a great tablet, spend about $ 100 more and get a 9th generation iPad. If all you want is a tablet for movies and a game or two, get an Amazon Fire. But if you want something that bridges the gap and lets you use Google services that can't be overrated, then this is a good tablet that won't break the bank. Just don't expect a great app experience or software updates.

Is there a better alternative?

Naturally. Probably the best Android tablet you can buy is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7. The best tablet you can buy overall is the iPad Pro. However, if you want to stay in the under $ 500 category, check out the iPad Mini. This is one area that Apple has blocked the field and the Nokia T20 doesn't change that fact. It's not a terrible tablet, but it's not really good either.

How long it will take?

The aluminum construction makes a robust impression. Provided there is no accidental spillage or drop, the hardware should last a long time. However, we cannot make any guarantees about software updates, and history is not on Nokia’s side. Nokia promises three years of security updates, so that's it. What we can promise is that you will get your money's worth with this tablet over its entire service life.

Should you buy it?

No. But that's the answer we give you for almost every Android tablet we look at. Google just isn't there yet, but there is hope on the horizon. If Google is serious about Android 12L, that can change the conversation. Android is a wonderful operating system on phones, but the experience doesn't translate well to bigger screens, and it's a shame it took foldable phones to finally make this clear to Google.

Editor's recommendations



09 Dec
Blog

2021 BMW 330e PHEV Review: The Smarter 3 Series

BMW 330e near the bay

2021 BMW 330e PHEV test: the smarter 3 Series

RRP $ 42,950.00

"It's not the most efficient PHEV on the road, but the BMW 330e stays true to its roots as a sports sedan."

advantages

  • Smooth transition from gas to electric

  • Cheaper than the gas version with incentives

  • BMW luxury and comfort

  • Traffic jam assistant with hands-free function

disadvantage

  • Occasional jerking in hybrid mode

  • Only 20 miles range for electric vehicles only

The BMW 330e sits between the thundering splendor of the BMW M2 CS and the technological marvel of the i4. It is a vehicle with its tires in two worlds, combining the automaker's decades of internal combustion engine expertise with the electrification efforts of the modern version of the company that brought us the i8 and i3.

The BMW 330e 2021 does not carry the basics of its efficient plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Aside from the tiny “e” affixed to its badge and the charging port door, from the outside it's just a medium-sized German luxury sedan. On the road, however, the combination of powertrains makes for an extremely interesting and sometimes entertaining experience. But it also introduces strange behavior that you wouldn't expect from the automaker.

Available in two drive variants, the 330e with rear-wheel drive from US $ 42,950 and the 330e xDrive with all-wheel drive from US $ 44,950, the electric motor and battery of the German sedan afford a tax credit of US $ 5,836. That's a pretty good part of the change, and additional local and state incentives can push it up depending on where you live.

Even with minimal incentives, new owners with a hybrid drive could roll the door open for less than the cost of the regular 330i, which starts at $ 41,450 in rear-wheel drive.

Profile of the BMW 330eRoberto Baldwin / Digital Trends

power

It comes with the 2.0-liter TwinPower turbo in-line 4-cylinder engine from BMW. When paired with the electric motor, however, the 330e produces 288 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque, a 33 horsepower and 16 pound-feet increase over the non-electrified 3 Series. So what's the problem? Most of the time there aren't any. Mainly.

The BMW 330e spends most of its time in hybrid mode and switches between gas and electric drive at will to achieve an MPGe of 75. At the wheel, the vehicle offers the 3-person experience: solid acceleration (zero to 60 inches), 5.6 seconds), luxurious suspension that can be tightened for those moments on the back road, and precise steering. But it's not without its problems.

In hybrid mode, the 330e sometimes accelerated faster than expected. Instead of gradually delivering power away from a green light, the 330e would sometimes deliver a bump so violent that you hit your head against the seat. Surprise! That didn't impress our passengers. It wasn't an everyday occurrence and it never felt dangerous (the car straightened up immediately after it burst) but it happened about three times during our week with the vehicle.

BMW 330e badgeRoberto Baldwin / Digital Trends

This quirk almost spoiled an overall pleasant driving experience for the 330e. It's a wonderful cruiser on the freeway with plenty of room for four adults (five if the back seats don't mind getting comfortable). As with all PHEVs, the battery level quickly depletes when driving at 70 mph. At this point, the vehicle has a combined Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rating of 28 MPG.

Throw it into Sport mode, and while it's not an M-car, it enhances that experience for some fun on the road. The tight steering in combination with the rear-wheel drive of our test model made for slightly spirited driving. A hybrid boost in sport mode gives the vehicle a little extra kick in the pants when cornering and starting, while the turbos rev up. The extra weight of the electric motor and battery is obvious and requires a somewhat stiffer suspension, but the chassis tuning and the volume only put a small damper on the celebrations of the sporty sedan.

For the everyday commuter looking to reduce its impact on the planet, EV-only mode is a great preview of what an all-electric 3 Series will look like. In a world where the Toyota Rav4 Prime has a range of 42 miles, the 330e's 20 mile range on a 12.0 kWh battery feels disappointing. But even if one person commuted 60 kilometers, half of it could be powered by electrons in a luxury sedan. During our mixed driving tests (highway at 70 mph and roads) the 330e achieved a range of 19.8 miles. That's with us to go from a driveway at a top speed of 137 mph in EV-only mode to highway speed.

The extended congestion aid adds an extra bit of comfort to the horrors of traffic collapse.

characteristics

Though lagging behind Toyota's more efficient powertrain, the 330e really shines in its attention to luxury and technology. The interior includes the necessary comfortable, yet comprehensive seats. It's an appropriate mix to ensure that you feel safe on hard turns without sacrificing the driver's need to feel pampered.

The rear seats should keep passengers happy on long road trips, although legroom can be tight for those taller than six feet. Behind the seats, the trunk offers 13.2 cubic meters of space, enough for a couple of large suitcases, a small cool box and a travel bag. In other words, you won't be looking for space on a weekend getaway. The space is slightly larger than that of the Audi A4 and Mercedes C-Class, which have 13 cubic meters and 12.6 cubic meters respectively.

The materials in the interior are of high quality overall, both controls and the 10.25-inch touchscreen are inclined slightly towards the driver. The iDrive 7 infotainment system from BMW can be controlled either via the touchscreen or the rotary control in the center console. The system has been around for a few years, but still offers an easy-to-navigate framework that includes several customizable home screens that allow the driver to control the vehicle to their liking.

The system showed very little or no latency when operated with the fingers or using the rotary knob. Most of the more important functions were available with two taps, and even Apple CarPlay was just a tap away from the home screens thanks to a special (but tiny) tapable icon at the top of the screen. Unfortunately, Android Auto support is not available in the vehicle.

BMW 330e interior Roberto Baldwin / Digital Trends

For fans of tangible buttons, climate controls are still real physical buttons located under the touchscreen. BMW also offers a range of hotkeys that can be programmed by the driver. In addition, there is a real volume control, one of the few that still exist in the luxury automobile sector. Like an animal on the endangered species list, we should do everything possible to ensure that it returns to its natural habitat in greater numbers before sliders, buttons, and touchscreen controls replace all of them.

While the tendency is to just check a vehicle's most exciting characteristics on the open road with no other drivers and traffic, in reality most cars spend more time motionless on the freeway than cruising on pristine asphalt in the middle of the city in the desert.

BMW understands this, as its impressive driver assistance system with hands-free function at low speeds, the so-called Extended Traffic Jam Assistance, proves. The system works like GM's Super Cruise, but at low speeds on the freeway. On a motorway with clear lane markings and while driving at less than 40 miles per hour, the system allows the driver to take their hands off the steering wheel. The driver still has to be careful of the road and is monitored by a sensor in the dashboard, but it adds an extra bit of comfort to the horrors of traffic collapse.

The $ 1,700 option might be worthwhile for those who spend a lot of time behind the wheel and cruise the freeway at very low speeds. During our testing, the system did a commendable job of tracking vehicles, adjusting acceleration and braking when entering and exiting the lane. There weren't any moments when the 330e accelerated too fast for comfort as the road opened for us. There was also controlled braking, which was never a cause for concern.

BMW 330e sitting on dirt next to the roadRoberto Baldwin / Digital Trends

Standard safety functions include front collision warning, lane departure warning, and city collision mitigation and braking. The BMW 3 Series 2021 is a top safety pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The 3-series also has a five-star safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), but the 330e variant has not been tested at the time of this review's publication. While we don't expect the PHEV version of the vehicle to deviate too far from the overall rating of the 3 Series, the added weight of the battery and electric motor could be a sufficient variable to affect ratings of the vehicle.

On the warranty front, the automaker offers a four-year limited 50,000 mile warranty, a 12-year limited, no-mileage, rust breakout warranty, and an 8-year / 80,000-mile warranty on the battery.

How DT would configure this car

While the test vehicle had rear-wheel drive, we'd opt for the all-wheel drive Xdrive version of the 330e to provide additional safety in harsh climates. We'd also add the $ 1,700 Driver Assistance Pro package for the hands-free stowage system and the $ 1,400 Dynamic Handling Package, which includes an adaptive M chassis, sport steering, and blue caliper sport brakes.

Our opinion

Aside from a few jerky accelerations from a standstill, the 330e proves to be a vehicle worthy of the 3 Series legacy. If you are not looking for the more powerful M models, the 3 Series belongs in your garage. Its combination of efficiency and the sporty driving behavior of the mid-range sedan makes it less of a compromise and more of a great transition vehicle for anyone looking for an electrified BMW experience but not quite ready to operate the fully electric BMW i4.

The comfortable interior offers all the luxurious details you would expect from a German car manufacturer. The infotainment system isn't the latest from BMW, but it offers an easy-to-use touchscreen that displays key information on multiple customizable home screens, so the driver is just a few taps away from what they're looking for. Apple's CarPlay support is standard, but Android Auto users are left out.

Efficiency may not be on par with offerings from Toyota or other automakers, but the 20-mile EV-only range is part of a larger luxury package that makes the 2021 BMW 330e more than the sum of its parts.

Should you get one

Yes sir. The BMW 330e is a fusion of what people love about BMW: German sports luxury combined with a plug-in hybrid drive train that ensures greater efficiency in almost all driving environments.

Editor's recommendations



08 Dec
Blog

It’s 2021 and I Still Handwrite My Training Programs. Here’s Why

Programming is an art form; there is no doubt about that. A person who shows keen instincts, flexibility, and creativity in a finely tuned program is a talented coach / trainer. Many of us coaches get bogged down in systems and software. Tucking in Exercise A here and Exercise B there may add convenience, but the art form is lost.

The methods that worked like a charm 10 years ago are relics by today's standards. The teaching methods and coaches are evolving, as are the software programs for cutting out the biscuits. The convenience of these programs is gold in many ways. But do we lose some of the magic when we do it this way?

Coach Chris Holder explains his program to an athletePhoto courtesy Chris Holder

My coaching story

I can't speak for all coaches because I don't know what they're up against. My story is a little unusual for a college strength coach. I've paid for my coaching fees in a unique way. I started as an intern at Eastern Kentucky University in the spring semester of 2000. After six weeks of my internship, my Head Strength Coach, Mike Kent, took over the head job at the University of Louisville and had to leave. Due to the relative novelty of his position at EKU, the administration was unprepared and asked me to fill in until a search for a replacement for Coach Kent could be carried out. I worked alone for three months trying to keep an exercise department strength program going.

One of the most difficult tasks for him when filling out was programming, how he programmed. Get this: Kent handwritten every single program. Each team had either a sheet or a series of sheets that that team would wear for a month or two. He created each plan in Excel, where the exercises were built into the frame of the sheet. Then he spent his weekend hand programming loads for each athlete across the sports department. A red pen followed by hours of work. Kents Careful programming ensured that each athlete received the level of individual attention they felt they needed.

The difference between sheets and whiteboards

The coach-athlete relationship is interesting. When it comes to compliance, athletes have to show up whether they like it or not, and have no say in their programming. If you're a private trainer or own a gym / box, your clients have more say. But one thing is clear in all situations – the people exercising in your room want to feel like they are being given the attention they deserve, not just as members of a group, but as individuals.

There are few instances where using a whiteboard is acceptable in my facility. Most of the time we use whiteboards when teaching. When we're trying to dial in techniques and loads aren't necessarily a priority, the first month or so is a good time to rely on a whiteboard. Again, in my very specific situation, we will also keep a team on the whiteboard if the team members don't show a certain level of commitment. Let's face it, nobody on campus takes weight training as seriously as I do, and there are some teams that "do the moves." I advise my assistants to act accordingly. There's no need to spend hours programming on a team that doesn't put in an acceptable amount of effort.

Team of athletes lifting weights together in a gymSydra Productions / Shutterstock

Again, I understand that most clients in a CrossFit box can be temporary and not as consistent as a college team that has to show up. That makes the individuality piece more of a headache because you don't know when your customers will next show up. But nothing tells your customers you're with them like giving everyone a sheet of paper with their name on it. It's a simple gesture that speaks volumes about your commitment to progress. Yes, it can be time consuming, but it can also be a difference between a lackluster and a Herculean effort.

Computer programming vs. hand programming

Never have I ever used a computer to run percentages on any of my programs. I've always done it by hand. And frankly, I've never used a set percentage to allocate loads other than to determine the loads to start a cycle of hypertrophy based on a newly coined maximum for a repetition. The method I use was taught to me by Coach Kent, and it is based on the natural evolution of this method after 16 years of doing it.

Percentage computer programming makes some pretty bold assumptions for me about the length of a training cycle. If, like me, you use a linear method, you probably write eight to twelve weeks at a time. When I write a twelve week hypertrophy / strength / strength program for a soccer player, code the weeks with prescribed percentages, and then type in a maximum of one rep as the basis for the percentages, I am asking the athletes to be perfect with their diet, theirs Rest, their exertion – at any time. And let's be honest, none of them are. It is almost impossible for a person to be so dialed in all the time.

One man cranks the barbell while another man guides him through the repetitionFrame Stock Footage / Shutterstock

Hand programming gives me several advantages that a computer will never offer. First, even though I use an algebraic formula in my head to determine loads, I have the flexibility to adjust on the fly. You need that flexibility with Joe Blow rolling his ankle the previous Friday. Manual programming gives me a way out when I realize the whole team is on the verge of going nuts and requires an impromptu Deload week. It allows me (or really forces me) to get a complete picture of each one and it keeps my ass by the fire to keep in touch with each of my athletes. Anytime during a training cycle, you can ask me what the weight on the bench of so-and-so is on the second set, and 99 times out of 100 I'll know what's going on.

How do I program

If you watched my show it would look like this: I have a pile of papers and everyone gets the signature "pause and think". I need to look at the athlete's name and quickly check and remember what that person did last week. Then the writing begins. In some training phases I will program a sheet twice a week, once for the first half, then once for the second. It keeps me as up-to-date as possible for each individual.

When it comes to coaching, I sell an idea. I am selling a formula. I ask my athletes to trust me completely when I make decisions for them. The way I operate gives my athletes complete freedom not to think. They come into play and their job is to be focused and present and, most importantly, to be willing to perform. I do all the thinking for them days early so they can just come in and kick their ass.

This also includes manual programming. If I give you a sheet of computer-printed numbers, you'll be as excited as if you were combing your hair or spreading mustard on your sandwich. But if I give you a piece of paper with my handwriting on, you should see someone working with you. The handwriting tells the athletes that I took the time to think about them every day and every week.

Featured image: Chris Holder

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