30 Sep
Blog

Sonos Beam (Gen 2) Review: Improved Immersion

Sonos Beam Gen 1 and Gen 2, stacked vertically.

Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

RRP $ 449.00

"Dolby Atmos adds a touch of 3D fun to an already excellent soundbar."

advantages

  • Easy adjustment

  • Immersive, room-filling sound

  • Slim design

  • AirPlay 2

disadvantage

  • No HDMI inputs

  • Requires compatible TV for Dolby Atmos

Since its debut in 2018, the $ 399 Sonos Beam has been one of the best small soundbars you can buy thanks to its great sound, compact and stylish design, easy integration with Sonos' sound platform for the whole house and its ability to double as a smart speaker for Alexa or Google Assistant.

But in recent years, Dolby Atmos – the 3D surround sound format that makes movies and music much more immersive – has become hugely popular, not least due to its acceptance by streaming giants like Netflix, Disney +, Amazon Prime Video, and both Apple TV + as well as Apple Music. This means that most new soundbars, including Sonos' $ 799 flagship Arc soundbar, are now Atmos compatible, and the second generation Beam is no exception.

The new Sonos Beam is more expensive at $ 449. So the questions are whether existing Beam owners should even think about an upgrade and what prospective Beam newbies can expect from it.

A couple of small changes

First things first, before reading this hands-on test, be sure to check out our review of the original Sonos Beam. Sonos made very few changes to the second generation version. From now on, I'll just discuss what these changes are and how they affect the performance of the beam.

I am a fan of the grid. It's much easier to clean and doesn't attract as much dust in the first place.

Some of these changes are relatively minor, such as the decision to replace the fabric speaker grille with one made of rigid plastic. The biggest change is in the sound, which I'll get into in a moment. It's worth noting, however, that while I am discussing the changes Sonos made to the Beam, this is not an attempt to figure out which one is better because, aside from remaining Gen 1 inventory, the second generation Beam is now the only one that you can buy.

What's in the box?

Sonos Beam Gen 2 scope of delivery.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Sonos has always been the king of simplicity, and that goes from setup to software to packaging. The new Beam comes in a plain printed, fully recyclable box, and the only plastic you'll find are the two small poly bags that protect the included HDMI cable and optical-to-HDMI adapter. If Sonos finds a way to erase those bags, it will have some of the most sustainable packaging in the business.

In the box you will find the beam, color-coordinated power and HDMI cables, the adapter I mentioned and some printed matter for guarantees, etc.

Great grill

Sonos Beam Gen 2.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

I like the traditional look of cloth grilles on a speaker. But as the owner of two cats, I can confirm that fabric grids are more like dust and fur magnets that have to be cleaned pretty much all the time. I don't know if that was the idea behind Sonos when it decided to replace the fabric grille on the first generation Beam with a perforated plastic version, but I'm a fan. It's much easier to clean and doesn't attract as much dust in the first place at.

Setting up Sonos products has always been remarkably easy. The new beam is even easier.

The white Gen 2 test device Sonos sent me looks great. And if you're a die-hard white product fanatic, this new Beam will go with every other white Sonos speaker you might own, from the Sonos One to the tiny new Roam.

An (even) simpler set-up

Setting up Sonos products has always been remarkably easy. Plug it in, open the Sonos app, tap some settings and press a button or two on the speaker. Two minutes later and that's it. The new beam is even easier to set up thanks to near field communication (NFC) from Sonos. As soon as I put the beam on the wall and started the Sonos S2 app, the app recognized the beam and asked me to complete the setup.

This would have been as easy as tapping my iPhone against the top of the Beam, but my phone case is ridiculously thick (it was designed to be attached to a motorcycle) so that part didn't work. The app cleverly saw that I was having problems and asked if I would like to switch to an audio-based setup. When I said yes, I was asked to hold the phone next to the speaker while the speaker played an encoded audio tone. Five seconds later I was done. I have to give Sonos crazy props – the company just keeps making its products easier to work with.

The connection to my TV was also a breeze. As soon as this HDMI cable is plugged in, the Beam automatically recognizes your television and determines which commands it needs to control. This is especially handy if you choose to use Alexa's TV control capabilities.

Is it atmos?

Sonos Beam Gen 1 and Gen 2, stacked vertically.Sonos Beam Gen 2 (above, in white) and Sonos Beam Gen 1. Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Dolby Atmos can be a difficult technology to understand. In an ideal world, we would all buy dedicated 5.1.2 or better home theater systems with at least two ceiling speakers to give us all of the juicy hemispherical sound effects that Atmos is known for. That's not realistic for most of us, which is why Dolby Atmos soundbars have become so popular. With built-in upward-facing drivers that radiate sound from the ceiling to our ears, the best Atmos soundbars provide a compelling replacement for the installed ceiling speakers. But here's the thing about Dolby Atmos: thanks to sound virtualization, which uses some very clever tricks to simulate the presence of upward-facing or ceiling-based height channels, it can actually be delivered over just two channels.

With the addition of virtualized surround sound, it's an even more impressive addition to your TV.

How well virtualization works depends on a number of factors, including the size of the soundbar, the number of drivers it can use to create the simulated sound, the size and shape of your room, and even whether you have the soundbar Have turned on on a tabletop or mounted on the wall.

In general, this type of virtualized Atmos sound just can't compete with what you get from dedicated speakers, and the new Beam is no exception. However, Sonos managed to get a surprising amount of additional immersion out of what is exactly the same driver setup as the first-generation Beam under that perforated grille.

Sonos Beam Gen 1 and Gen 2, stacked vertically.Sonos Beam Gen 2 (above, white) and Beam Gen 1. Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

To get a feel for the difference between the first and second generation models, I stacked them vertically and played a variety of content by switching the HDMI cable between them. The sound stage of the new beam is significantly wider and when playing Atmos content you get a small but noticeable height effect. The Beam has always outperformed its weight class when it comes to filling a room with great sound, and with the addition of virtualized surround sound, it's an even more impressive addition to your TV.

For fun, I tried the recently remastered classic Top Gun from the 1980s. In fact, those epic dogfight scenes and the iconic opening sequence on board an aircraft carrier sounded fantastic. The Beam still lacks the deep, low-end rumble of sound bars that come with their own subwoofers, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it mimicked a full surround system. Even more surprising is how well this effect carries over to standard 5.1 content.

There have been a couple of occasions when I thought the first generation Beam was providing a bit more understandable dialogue, but the difference was small.

The one port problem

The rear connections of the Sonos Beam Gen 2.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The new Beam has a single HDMI ARC / eARC port for connection to a television. The eARC part is new – it allows HDMI-eARC-enabled TVs to send a high-resolution, lossless 24-bit audio signal to the soundbar, whereas the first generation Beam was limited to lossy digital audio. That single port wasn't a serious limiting factor for the first-generation Beam, as the speaker couldn't decode more than Dolby 5.1, which meant that every television over the past 15 years could use its full capabilities, even if it meant having an optical- to use HDMI adapter.

But with the Dolby Atmos capabilities of the new beam, this is no longer the case. To hear Dolby Atmos from the new Beam, your TV must also support Dolby Atmos. If you want to hear Dolby Atmos from your other devices (such as streaming boxes, game consoles or Blu-ray players), they must also be connected to the HDMI inputs on your TV. There is simply no other way to transfer Atmos content to the new beam.

If you have a Dolby Atmos TV with lots of HDMI ports, this should work fine. However, if your TV isn't Dolby Atmos compatible, you will never be able to take full advantage of this speaker. Many other Atmos sound bars come with at least one HDMI input so you can connect an Apple TV 4K or a Roku Ultra. This would send the Atmos content straight to the speaker while the video goes to the TV, but that's not an option with the new Beam.

For Dolby Atmos Music, Sonos plans to support this format later this year. It starts with Amazon Music HD, but hopefully other services that offer Atmos Music and lossless music like Tidal and Apple Music will be added soon.

diploma

The Sonos Beam is a little more expensive now, but it's worth it. The additional immersion offered by the speaker's virtualized Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound makes an already powerful soundbar for movies and music even better. If you have an Atmos-enabled TV, it's worth upgrading to take advantage of the better sound. Even if your TV isn't Atmos-enabled, the new Beam may offer improved immersion over its predecessor, but the difference will be less noticeable.

Editor's recommendations



28 Sep
Blog

Logitech MX Keys Mini Review: Like the Original, But Smaller

Logitech MX Keys Mini looks great in graphite.

Logitech MX Keys Mini reviewed: Honey, I made the keyboard smaller

RRP $ 99.00

"The Logitech MX Keys Mini offers the same great typing experience in a smaller, more ergonomic experience."

advantages

  • Comfortable typing experience

  • Compact and lightweight for on the go

  • Ergonomic

  • Advanced features

  • Sustainable design and packaging

disadvantage

  • Expensive

  • Cannot be used as a wired keyboard

How do you improve a near-perfect keyboard? It's a good problem for Logitech with its MX Keys peripheral, which quickly became a fan-favorite keyboard at retailers like Amazon.

Logitech's solution was to bring a more compact version of its critically acclaimed keyboard in the form of the MX Keys Mini and MX Keys Mini for Mac. Both the standard and compact keyboards have similar layouts, with the one made for the Mac edition containing Apple-specific keys such as the option and command keys. Versions with international keyboard layouts will also be available.

It's not for the serious mechanical keyboard enthusiast, but most others will find a lot in what Logitech did with the MX Keys Mini.

draft

Logitech MX Keys Mini offers a more compact design.

Smaller doesn't mean tight. Like the regular MX Keys, the MX Keys Mini has full-size keys for easy typing. To shrink the dimensions of the keyboard – the standard version measures 131.63 x 430.2 x 20.5 mm – Logitech removed essentially everything to the right of the Enter key and repositioned the arrow keys in an inverted T layout. This reduces the width of the MX Keys Mini by 134.21 mm to 295.99 mm.

This is equivalent to a size reduction of just over five and a half inches – or 30%. The compact dimensions make the MX Mini more portable, making it easier to slip into a smaller bag when you need a better keyboard for remote typing. The real benefit, however, is that a narrower keyboard makes typing more ergonomic.

Logitech MX Keys versus new MX Keys Mini.

The new size reduces the weight of the keyboard from 810 grams to 506 grams. Much of the weight is due to the solid construction of the keyboard, which has a full metal shell on the top that surrounds the keys in an island style. There's a thin plastic strip that extends from the top of the keyboard, and this area houses the sensors, battery, and circuitry. The other dimensions have also changed slightly, but are largely similar to the original model.

Like the original, the mini edition has individual keys with a circular indentation on the keycap, a design feature that helps with typing. The chiclet key layout looks a lot more modern than the 1990s-style keycaps on mechanical keyboards, and looks like you could have taken them straight off a laptop. The company claims that the dimple on each key adjusts to your fingertips as you type, and automatic backlighting is available for night work too.

The MX Keys Mini is available in three colors – rose, graphite, and light gray – and features white LED-backlit keys. A built-in battery provides up to 10 days of use on a single charge with the backlight on, or up to five months of no-light use, claims Logitech, and it can be charged using the included USB-C cable. The keyboard version that we received for testing is made of graphite and comes with slightly darker gray keycaps and white lettering.

Our model isn't made for Mac, but it also comes with dual keys that support Mac and Windows – for example, the Apple Option key can be used to activate the Start menu on Windows, while the Command key can also serve as the Alt key on the Microsoft operating system. If you're a Mac user looking to take over the MX Keys Mini, the major downside is that you won't find a Touch ID fingerprint scanner on this third party keyboard.

As part of the company's commitment to sustainability, the MX Keys Mini is made with up to 30% recycled plastic, however the amount of recycled plastic in the lighter shades will be far less than the darker graphite color variant. That's because, according to the company, it's way too difficult to extract and recycle plastics from existing keyboards – which are often made from darker materials – and convert them to lighter colors like those found on the pink and light gray keyboard .

Typing and functions

Logitech MX Keys Mini side profile.

Many of the key functions of the larger MX Keys are carried over to the MX Keys Mini, including the ability to pair and use the keyboard with up to three different Bluetooth devices. The keyboard has alternate keys in the row of functions for switching between devices. Logitech claims the keyboard will work on a wide range of devices including Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, iOS, and iPadOS.

The company will also release a special Enterprise version that uses a more secure and proprietary Logi Bolt connection. This B2B model requires a special USB-A dongle, while the consumer model that you can find in many retail stores works with Bluetooth.

1.8 mm travel is sufficient for long sessions with comfortable typing.

Logitech didn't provide any key travel and pitch specifications for the MX Keys Mini, but they feel no different than the full-size original, advertised as 1.8mm of key travel. This makes the key travel comparable to what you'd find on some larger professional laptops and gaming laptops. Many smaller laptops in the 13-inch range have keys with 1.1 mm to 1.5 mm of travel, while some larger 15-inch notebooks have keyboards with 1.5 to 1.8 mm of travel. In any case, 1.8 mm of travel is sufficient for long sessions with comfortable typing.

For comparison, Apple's newest Magic Keyboard on the MacBook Pro has a 1mm shorter key travel that uses a new scissor switch implementation, while the company's older butterfly keys on some older Intel-model laptops only provided 0.7mm of key travel.

The MX Keys Mini feels like it was made for those who love laptop keyboards but prefer to work at their desks. While my MacBook Pro keyboard feels different when typing – Apple's keys are less stiff and louder – the similarly sized Logitech offers the same ergonomic experience. When I paired the Logitech MX Keys Mini with my Apple Mac Mini on my desk, it really felt like I was working on a mobile workstation.

Logitech MX Keys Mini can be connected to up to three devices.

If you are used to working on a laptop without a built-in numeric keypad, a similar arrangement in an external keyboard makes it easier to customize and helps with ergonomics if you have the right desk setup. An external monitor would be ideal, but even if you choose not to connect a second monitor, putting your laptop on a stand helps as you won't stretch your neck to look at your laptop's screen.

And when you add the right external keyboard to the setup, you get an even more comfortable PC environment with a larger key travel. Moving the keyboard closer to your body can also reduce arm fatigue.

Logitech MX Keys Mini comes with a dedicated emoji key.

And to accommodate more modern communication modes, the MX Keys are also equipped with some special keys that make it easier to get your message across. There's an emoji button that brings up an emoji picker so you can choose the best emoticon to use, for example, to express yourself in an email, and a new dictation button helps you control your operating system's voice-to-text engine to type with your voice.

power

If you consistently work on two or three different devices as part of your workflow, the MX Keys Mini is for you. Pairing multiple devices allows you to connect up to three devices without the need for a KVM switch and also saves desk space as you don't need a separate keyboard for your desktop and a second tablet, like an iPad Pro or SurfacePro 8.

Like its bigger brother, the MX Keys Mini offers a very comfortable typing experience with its full-size keys. Compared to the butterfly key switches on my aging MacBook Pro 13 inch, the keys of the MX Keys Mini are deeper, stiffer (since they require more actuation force) and a little quieter. A quieter keyboard could be useful if you share a small apartment with someone else and prefer to work at night.

The backlight turns on automatically when your hands approach the keyboard.

LED-backlit keys on a wireless keyboard aren't a new technology, but Logitech has made some smart upgrades to make this popular staple even better. Like the backlit keyboard on many modern laptops, the backlight can be adjusted manually – there are six levels of brightness, and you can also turn it off – or automatically based on the ambient light in the room.

Thanks to magnetic sensors, the backlight can also turn on automatically when your hands approach the keyboard. This feature may sound trivial, but it is extremely useful. On other keyboard models, the backlight turns off after a period of inactivity to save battery life. To turn the backlight back on, you need to tap any key on the keyboard randomly to wake it up.

If you press a non-character key, such as the Shift key or the Ctrl key, everything is fine. However, if you tap any of the character keys like a letter, you are accidentally adding gibberish to your open document and will have to delete any additions you made. Distorting the MX Keys Mini's magnetic field to wake up a backlight is an ingenious solution to a problem many didn't even know they had until they started using the Logitech keyboard.

Logitech MX Keys Mini supports Windows and Macs.

Since the keyboard has full-size keys, it didn't take me any time to get used to the keyboard and was able to type accurately and quickly right out of the box. My typing speed and accuracy on this model rivaled that of keyboards on Apple, Lenovos, and HP laptops, and I had no problems with typing accuracy. The deeper key travel feels more similar on Windows laptops than it does on Mac laptops.

As someone who mainly works on a laptop, the biggest criticism of the MX Keys Mini is that the keys feel a little too stiff. While key travel is generous, the Logitech keyboard's keys require greater actuation force before they move. The greater force required to operate it could result in increased finger fatigue, at least until you get used to the keyboard. It took me about a day to acclimate and once I did it, the MX Keys Mini delivered one of the better typing experiences with responsive switches outside of a mechanical keyboard.

Logitech did not provide precise actuation force measurements for the Mini, but in general the typing experience is very similar to that of the larger MX Keys. If you are experienced with the MX Keys you will feel right at home here. Compared to Apple's external Magic Keyboard that comes with the iMac, the MX Keys feel a little quieter when typing and require a little more force to operate.

Mac users who choose this keyboard will have to forego Touch ID support, a feature supported by some of Apple's newer external keyboards. However, this is not limited to Logitech as no third-party Mac keyboards currently support fingerprint recognition on Mac. Since most Windows systems rely on face scanning with Windows Hello, this may be less of a concern for PC owners.

Logitech MX Keys Mini charges via USB-C.

The MX Keys Mini comes with a single USB-C to USB-A cable for charging and can be connected to your PC or Mac via Bluetooth. The Mac edition comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable instead. tThe keyboard's USB-C port is used for charging only and you cannot connect it to your PC to use it as a wired keyboard. You can still charge the battery while using it via Bluetooth.

While I didn't experience any lag or latency from the wireless connection, if you're concerned about Bluetooth security or around, you can also opt for the MX Keys Mini for Business model, which works with Logitech's proprietary Bolt standard Make input delays. Logi Bolt, as it's called, also works with Bluetooth if you don't take the adapter with you when you travel.

In my weeklong review of the MX Keys Mini – this test was done entirely with the MX Keys Mini connected to a MacBook Pro via Bluetooth – I was unable to discharge the battery. During the day the backlight was generally turned off to save power and at night I let the keyboard automatically adjust the backlight to the available ambient lighting.

Despite the added convenience of a narrow keyboard, the MX Keys Mini is not designed for ergonomics.

Compared to a wider, full-size keyboard with a number pad, the MX Keys Mini's narrower keyboard makes working on long documents more convenient, although it may not be the ideal solution for a finance or accounting job. If you work with a lot of numbers or live in Excel spreadsheets, you're better off using a keyboard with a dedicated number pad like the full-size MX keys.

The Logitech team informed me that the narrower dimension was designed for ergonomics. It's supposed to reduce muscle fatigue by reducing your arms spread as widely and resulting in a more natural posture at the desk. But despite the added convenience of a slim keyboard, this keyboard is not designed for the same ergonomics as the split-design keyboard.

Another advanced software-based feature of the MX Keys and MX Keys Mini is called Flow. For Flow you need an MX series mouse, such as the MX Master 3 or MX Master Anywhere. Once these devices are paired on multiple computers, you can essentially copy and paste text, files, and documents between Mac and Windows devices. This helps simplify your workflow so that you don't have to rely on USB drives or cloud storage to access a document that is on another paired device. In practice, it works really well, adding to the support for pairing multiple devices.

Our opinion

Logitech doesn't shy away from experimenting with a proven formula to improve its existing products. By removing its popular MX keys while keeping the keys at full size, the company has made arguably the best keyboards on the market even better by making it more portable and focusing on ergonomics.

are there alternatives

At $ 99, the Logitech MX Keys Mini will cost the same as the full version when shipped next month. So you're making a compromise between ergonomics and a dedicated number pad for entering data in spreadsheets. There are plenty of other wireless and wired keyboards competing in the same place as the Logitech MX Keys series, but keep in mind that you'll be sacrificing some of the more advanced features – deep key travel, flow, and sophisticated backlighting – if you choose for cheaper models.

Some brand competitors include Apple's Magic Keyboard, which sells for the same price, or the new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, which adds a $ 50 premium. There's also Microsoft's Premium Designer Compact Keyboard, which costs $ 50 less than what Logitech has to offer.

How long it will take?

The MX Keys Mini is covered by Logitech's one-year limited hardware warranty, while the MX Keys Mini for Business with Logi Bolt support has an additional year of support.

A premium keyboard like the MX Keys Mini should last for many years. Unlike a laptop, there aren't many innovations in the keyboard area that will warrant an upgrade to a newer model anytime soon, so this device should last as long as the rechargeable battery can be charged.

Should I buy it?

Although expensive as a Bluetooth accessory, the MX Keys Mini is a solid investment that will help you stay productive and keep your body happy thanks to its thoughtful ergonomic design. It offers the great typing experience that the original MX Keys offered in a more compact package.

Editor's recommendations



27 Sep
Blog

Hot Wheels Unleashed Review: Banking Hard On Nostalgia

Hot Wheels Unleashed Review Unveiled

Hot Wheels Unleashed Review: Going Hard on Nostalgia

RRP $ 49.99

"Hot Wheels Unleashed starts very fast, but ends up as a flat kart racer."

advantages

  • Breathtaking look

  • Great track design

  • Innovative track builder

disadvantage

  • Simple racing mechanics

  • Loot boxes to unlock new cars

  • Pointless game modes

  • No change in gameplay

The kart racing genre is packed with standout titles, each with their own twists and turns. Mario Kart is the undeniable king, but tons of other franchises – Sonic and Crash Bandicoot, to name a few – have their own somewhat unique karting games. Hot Wheels Unleashed then rushes into the fray of this competition and screams, “Look how realistic our cars are!” Before promptly being blown away like a piece of paper on a racetrack.

That's because Hot Wheels Unleashed, a fun kart racer, quickly shows its flatness when you start playing. Behind its extremely impressive graphics, Hot Wheels Unleashed is about as naked as it gets, offering an extremely simplified kart racing experience that had so much potential to be more and a bevy of ultimately boring content.

A brilliant start

The experience starts strong and goes from zero to sixty. When you start it for the first time, Hot Wheels Unleashed gives you three “blind boxes”, a tastelessly named loot box. Players are instantly given three cars to use in races, and the first glance at their stunningly rendered plastic and aluminum is all it takes to get someone hooked.

A Hot Wheels racetrack in Hot Wheels Unleashed.

Before it's fun or inventive, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a nice game to check out. Everything from the cars themselves to the tracks players drive is breathtakingly detailed. You can even look under the cars and find Mattel's name (copyrighted of course) and “Made In Malaysia” on the plastic. The game's vinyl tracks look spectacular and the sunlight that shines from them and the cars is eye catching. These are, of course, the visuals you would expect on a PS5 or PC. If you're playing the game on a last-generation console, the visual shock and awe may not be as expressive.

Regardless, I got sucked into the vibe of Hot Wheels Unleashed for the first two hours that I played it. The game is just fun to watch, and its racing mechanics are equally impressive, although that feeling quickly fades.

Racing in Hot Wheels Unleashed is awfully easy. There are no power ups on tracks, with the only quirk of the game being how it handles boosting. By drifting or simply driving along, your car builds up thrust, which you can then use to detach yourself from a car driver or to catch up with the leader.

However, not all boosts are created equal. Cars in Hot Wheels Unleashed are extremely varied, each with their own stats for speed, acceleration, braking, handling, and of course, boost. Some cars have individual boost charges while others have a counter that can be spent at any time. Of course, this system means you will be directed to every car that has impressive statistics. You can also upgrade any car with gears, either of the game's two currencies, but upgrading a vehicle from an ordinary tier to a legendary one is incredibly expensive.

Before it's fun or inventive, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a nice game to check out.

That being said, there is an unspoken genius in the track design of Hot Wheels Unleashed. Some races are wonderfully unique and open, with one thing left on my mind that forced me to run a 180 degree corkscrew to land my car after driving on an inverted maglev. Another section from another race made me pull off the track for a single turn, instructing me on where to go from a handful of traffic cones. Except you can drive outside of those cones in-game, so I'd pull a tight drift and completely bypass the usual corner in favor of my much faster shortcut.

In Hot Wheels Unleashed, a car with hot wheels jumps on a track.

So it's a shame that Hot Wheels Unleashed never makes full use of any of these concepts. If you try to skip a distance with a certain imagination, you will be sent back to the last checkpoint. Gravity and tricks almost never come into play, save for a few standout tracks. With more frequent use, these ideas could have made Hot Wheels Unleashed stand out from the rest. However, instead of accepting this weirdness, the game tries to be a no-nonsense racer and eventually becomes total boredom.

Slowly to the goal

The more I played Hot Wheels Unleashed, the more problems I saw with the game. Aside from the clear tendency to push players to specific cars instead of what they wanted, the game's main single player mode was quickly getting old. The mode called Hot Wheels City Rumble lets players go from race to race, which normally wouldn't get tiring in a game like Mario Kart.

Hot Wheels Unleashed's races, however, have little that defines them. Yes, the tracks are quite varied, only a handful have been repeated during my playing time, but at some point the races start to mix into a big jumble of vinyl and neon. Thankfully, there's a pretty good reason to stick with these races. If you win a race, players will be rewarded with gears, cosmetics, and coins that can be used to buy more blind boxes.

The Hot Dogs car from Hot Wheels UnleashedDriving a hot dog car is one of the best new additions to Hot Wheels Unleashed

However, these cosmetics are not for your cars; They are for one of the most redundant pieces of content in the game. Every player has a basement that can be adjusted to their hearts' content, and it's pretty much a man's cave for a Hot Wheels-obsessed millionaire. Players can customize this area to their liking with unlocked sofas, chairs, computers, walls, floors, and more. The attraction, I think, is that you can then race around in this area. However, it's hard to see the trophies in boxes or paintings hanging on the wall when your camera is two inches off the floor.

However, instead of accepting this weirdness, the game tries to be a no-nonsense racer and eventually becomes total boredom.

The only innovative feature of Hot Wheels Unleashed is the track construction. Right from the start, players can take full advantage of every single unique route in the game. It allows players to take advantage of the ideas that were given up by the game's developers, which I can only hope will happen in the end.

Our opinion

Aside from its stunning looks, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a toothless kart racer who relies too heavily on the nostalgic glasses and the Hot Wheels brand to wear instead of the solid ideas that are barely implemented in the end. What players get with Hot Wheels Unleashed is the same experience I had with many of my Hot Wheels as a kid; I was entertained for a couple of hours, then I got bored and threw it in a box.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the game. Those few hours have been full of spectacle because it's just impossible not to get caught up in the sights and sounds of the game. At some point, however, it takes more than driving a hot dog car over a vinyl strip to interest me.

Is there a better alternative?

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the king of kart racers and will likely remain so until Nintendo decides to make another Mario Kart title.

How long it will take?

Defeating Hot Wheels Unleashed's City Rumble mode will likely take 15-20 hours. Trying to collect every car in the game could bring that to over 30, by my estimate.

Should you buy it?

No. Hot Wheels Unleashed is all glitter with no substance and becomes dull too quickly to justify its price.

Editor's recommendations



26 Sep
Blog

Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless Review: An Icon Goes Wireless

A side view of the Corsair M65 wireless mouse.

Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless in the test: An FPS symbol becomes wireless

RRP $ 130.00

"The Corsair M65 RGB Ultra is the latest gaming technology in an iconic design."

advantages

  • Blunt, comfortable design

  • Optical mouse switches

  • Tilt gestures

  • 26K DPI sensor

disadvantage

  • Expensive compared to the wired version

  • Much heavier than other high-end mice

Corsair's M65 is an FPS (first person shooter) icon in the world of gaming mice. After seven years and several iterations, Corsair has shown that the M65 design is going nowhere. However, the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless is something new. It's the first time the design is wireless, and at a price that the range has never seen before.

While the M65 was never a budget option, the first wireless variant pushes the price down to almost double the wired version and eventually pushes the mouse over the $ 100 mark.

Still, the M65's comfortable design and tunable weight system make it a great choice for the serious FPS player.

draft

M65 Ultra Wireless on pink background.

Corsair has made a few versions of the M65 since its introduction in 2014. And the design has mostly stayed the same. It's a large, stocky mouse with a pronounced bump on its back that's perfect for palm and claw gripping. I use the palm grip and the M65 Ultra Wireless gives me just enough to hold on to.

Like previous versions, this one is equipped with an aluminum frame that gives the mouse a feeling of weight. In contrast to the previous Elite version, the M65 Ultra Wireless has a surface structured on both sides, similar to Corsair's Dark Pro RGB. I love the addition as it just adds a touch of grip to an otherwise matte design.

Even if 18 grams doesn't sound like a lot, it makes a big difference.

Just like its wired counterpart, the M65 Ultra Wireless comes with six removable weights. They are divided into three sections so you can choose to have internal weight, external weight, both, or neither. In addition to shifting weight from 110 grams to 128 grams, the weights are also distributed to adjust the center of gravity.

Even if 18 grams doesn't sound like a lot, it makes a big difference. The M65 Ultra Wireless is a heavy mouse to begin with, especially with all of the weights. There's a lot of scope for customization here, as long as you like a heavy mouse (something like the Razer Orochi V2 is better if you have a lighter variant).

Corsair M65 Ultra Wireless Weights.

The weight of the M65 Ultra Wireless also makes it feel like a unit. If you've used any of the last few iterations of the M65 you already know what I'm talking about. This is a beefy mouse that can withstand the pressure, unlike many ultra-light esport mice that feel like they'll fly away if you don't hold them tight enough.

Still, it's important to realize that weight isn't for everyone. Although the M65 has an adjustable weight, it's still heavy, just like the Logitech G502 Hero with its detachable weights. The M65 Ultra Wireless is also 13 grams heavier than the wired M65 Elite (although it's five grams lighter than the M65 Pro).

Sensor and buttons

The M65 Ultra Wireless comes with eight programmable buttons, which for me is perfect. It's a few more buttons than the Corsair Saber Pro Wireless, but still fewer than an MMO giant like the Logitech G600. In addition to left and right click, you have access to the forward and backward thumb buttons, up and down DPI adjustment, and the thumb sniper button, iconic for the M65 range.

Corsair M65 Ultra Wireless Sniper Button.

For left and right click, Corsair uses Omron's optical switches, as opposed to the mechanical switches you'll find on most mice (including the M65 Pro and M65 Elite). There are many details as to why optical switches are better than mechanical, but it comes down to the delay. Basically, a mechanical switch has a small “debounce delay” between being pressed and reaching its reset point.

Optical switches do not have this problem. They use light instead of a physical switch, which avoids debounce delays. All in all, the delay is so small that most people will never notice it. However, optical switches are technically faster. So if you need a health checkup who actually killed you from someone in Valorant, the M65 Ultra Wireless has one.

It's the feel of the optical switch that got me hung up. There are few mice with optical switches – namely the SteelSeries Prime and the Razer Basilisk V3 – so I'd recommend trying one of these in the store before picking up the M65 Ultra Wireless. It's not a bad feeling, but optical switches don't provide the same click as a mechanical switch – it's almost like there's a damper.

In addition to a switch upgrade, the M65 Ultra Wireless comes with a sensor upgrade. It features the 26K DPI Marksman sensor, just like the Corsair Saber Pro Wireless. That's even above the 25.6K DPI sensor on the Logitech G Pro X. As with the optical switches, a higher DPI sensor is technically more accurate, even if it's not relevant to most people.

Corsair M65 Ultra wireless sensor.

The query rate of 2,000 Hz is relevant. The change from 1,000 Hz – typical for wireless gaming mice – to 2,000 Hz reduces the response time to 0.5 ms. From the buttons to the sensor to the polling rate, the M65 Ultra Wireless is designed to give you even the smallest edge.

Connectivity and battery life

Like the Corsair Saber Pro Wireless, the M65 Ultra Wireless also features Bluetooth and Corsair's wireless slipstream technology. You can switch between them at the bottom of the mouse, which I did a lot when switching to a home theater setup with the M65 and my Logitech G915 TKL.

The M65 Ultra Wireless is exactly what I'm looking for in a wireless gaming mouse.

Without lighting, Corsair claims up to 120 hours of battery life when using Bluetooth (90 hours when using Slipstream). After 15 minutes, however, the mouse automatically sleeps, so you can use the M65 for weeks without charging. Compared to my Razer Viper Ultimate, I haven't felt the loading error nearly as often. And when I did, the USB-C port for charging meant I was rarely without a replacement cable.

The M65 Ultra Wireless is exactly what I'm looking for in a wireless gaming mouse. The quick switching between 2.4 GHz wireless and Bluetooth makes the mouse versatile for different setups and the battery lasts long enough to never feel like a problem. USB-C is a big win too, unlike mice like the Razer Viper Ultimate, which stuck with a micro-USB port.

software

Corsair's iCue software is one reason to choose the M65 Ultra Wireless. As with Logitech's G Hub and Razer's Chroma, iCue lets you customize RGB lighting and change key assignments, including assigning absurd macro functions to each of the keys. Once you have everything set up, you can save your DPI, lighting and macro profile on the mouse for use without iCue.

Corsair's iCue is an integral part of the M65 Ultra Wireless.

There's not much in terms of lighting as the M65 Ultra Wireless has a single zone for the logo on the back. However, iCue gives you access to custom lighting effects like rain or a temperature sensor. I have a penchant for static lighting in my rig, which iCue divides into a separate, simplified section.

The most fascinating part of iCue with the M65 Ultra Wireless is the gyroscope. The six-axis gyroscope enables the configuration of the lift detection, but also opens up the possibility of gestures. The M65 Ultra Wireless includes forward, backward, left and right tilt gestures that you can assign to any key or macro like a normal key.

Gestures in the Corsair iCue software.

And to my surprise, it works. I can't imagine ever using the tilt feature – immediately after setting it up, I accidentally frenzied the mouse after turning it upside down – but it works. There are also some uses for it such as For example, using Alt + Tab to scroll through windows or assign a key like PrintScreen that you might otherwise have to look for.

Corsair's iCue is an integral part of the M65 Ultra Wireless. It goes well beyond buttons and lighting, and gives you access to unique features like gestures and important settings, such as: B. when the mouse goes to sleep.

Our opinion

The Corsair M65 Ultra Wireless targets two other mice directly – the Logitech G Pro and the Razer Viper Ultimate. The Viper Ultimate is about $ 20 more expensive, while the M65 and G Pro are both $ 130. In terms of performance, there isn't much of a difference between these three mice, so it comes down to features and preferences.

The Corsair mouse has a number of advantages in this regard. The optical switches are faster, it contains a massive battery and comes with USB-C for charging. I also love the design and feel of the M65, though a lot of it depends on your hand size and the way you hold your mouse.

I would have liked a slightly cheaper price – around $ 110 like the Saber Pro Wireless – but the M65 still feels a step ahead of the competition.

Are there alternatives?

Yes, several. For high-end wireless FPS mice, the Razer Viper Ultimate, Logitech G Pro X Superlight, and Corsair Saber Pro Wireless are all options.

You can save a lot with a wire too. Corsair's wired M65 is $ 60 cheaper, and there are options like the SteelSeries Rival 3 for around $ 30.

How long it will take?

Omron optical switches do not have the same 50 million click lifespan as mechanical switches. Most optical switches, however, last longer than mechanical ones. The M65 Ultra Wireless should last 15 years or more, long gone when you're likely to want to switch to something new.

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. The M65 Ultra Wireless is an excellent wireless gaming mouse. It has the same premium features as similar mice like the Razer Viper Ultimate and the Logitech G Pro X Superlight. However, you can save a lot with inexpensive wireless options like the Logitech G305 or the wired version.

Editor's recommendations



25 Sep
Blog

Lenovo Smart Clock 2 Review: Your Smart Bedside Companion

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is a great upgrade.

Lenovo Smart Clock 2 in the test: Your smart companion at the bed

RRP $ 70.00

"The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is a great advancement of the Smart Clock product line that offers a lot of functionality and added value."

advantages

  • Full color LCD screen

  • Smart design

  • Base plate with USB-A and Qi charging function

  • MagSafe Compatible

  • Great value

disadvantage

  • No video streaming

  • Tricky touchscreen

  • Limited configuration via app

Lenovo produced the first Google Assistant smart display in 2018 and has been in this category ever since. While Google traditionally focused on the kitchen with its smart screens, Lenovo turned to the bedroom, first with the Smart Clock, then the Smart Clock Essential, and now that Smart watch 2.

It's true that Google’s newest Nest Hub (2 on your bedside table without the creepy "Sleep Watching" sign. Who's the king of the bedroom?

Simple, intelligent design

Lenovo hasn't evolved much of its design through the various iterations of its smart clocks. It still uses the same woven fabric cover on the outside, with an LCD screen on the front. This is a 4 inch LCD that is a bit small but is more than enough for a watch face. There are a variety of watch faces to choose from, including your Google Photos if you want. The touchscreen is a bit fussy and sometimes cannot register touches or perform the swiping movements that the operating system depends on.

For the same money, you could buy an alarm clock, a Nest Mini 2, and a Qi charging plate, and you still wouldn't get all of the features that the Smart Clock 2 brings to your bedside table.

The latest addition to this generation of Smart Clock is on the bottom. Together with the Smart Clock you receive a base plate with USB-A connection for charging another device and a MagSafe-compatible Qi charging plate for wireless charging of your smartphone. The charging plate charges with 5 watts, 7.5 W or 10 W and contains a magnetic circuit that you can touch on your MagSafe-compatible phones. MagSafe is a nice addition as it reduces the risk of accidentally taking your phone off the charger while you sleep.

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 can charge your smartphone wirelessly.

Speaking of knocking things off the plate, the clock is intelligently designed so that the power cord plugs into the clock itself and copper contacts on the underside connect and power the plate. This way the clock works without a base depending on how much space your bedside table has. Speaking of magnets, the clock also attaches to the base with magnets, which makes it pretty secure.

In addition, there are volume buttons on top of the clock and in between there is a touch sensitive area that you can use to stop or snooze your alarm clock depending on the configuration. Of course, you can also tell Google to take a nap or just stop your alarm clock. A mute switch on the back deactivates the microphone for the Google Assistant.

As for the sound quality, it's pretty good. A pair of 3W speakers will power the alarm clock and the music you play with it. There is very little bass at the lower end, but the rest of the sound range is adequately represented. It's roughly what you get from a Nest Mini 2.

Swipe and gestures

While you use the Google Home app to configure WiFi, its location in your home, and various video and audio services, most of the device setup is done on the device. Android Things powers the watch and is full of gestures and taps to configure everything you need. Most commands can be performed using “Hey Google” commands, such as: B. Setting alarms, adjusting the volume and switching on the night light.

Other options come from swiping from the bottom of the UI, while others come from swiping down from the top. The frustrating part is that these gestures aren't particularly intuitive, and most people don't use Android Things enough for these gestures to become second nature.

While I would never advocate a separate app for just one watch, I would like to see more features built into the Google Home app.

Your watch face also has a kind of ticker that you can swipe through to play music, view your reminders and calendar entries, set an alarm, and much more. Once you get used to it, it works pretty well, but the majority of my interactions with the watch came from the Google Assistant, which is both good and bad. On the one hand, it's great to go to bed and tell Google to set an alarm. On the other hand, it can get frustrating when you ask for an alarm clock at 7:15 am and it replies, "7:50 am, you got it!"

This is nothing new to the Google Assistant, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. Most of the time it works with no issues, but when there is one, it's annoying. I would also like to have more control over the watch, which is available through an app. While touching is a great way to manipulate settings, reaching over and touching the watch isn't a great experience. While I would never advocate a separate app for just one watch, I would like to see more features built into the Google Home app. It would be nice if you could set an alarm or adjust the dial there, for example.

No Netflix allowed

Finally, I have to admit that I was torn by this detail whether it is positive or negative, but this watch has a full color screen that cannot play video. What about it? You can stream audio to the watch, which is nice, but since there is a full color LCD screen, why can't I throw a movie to sleep? Perhaps this is just too little of a potential use for the watch, but it appears to be an oversight.

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't want Lenovo to allow me to watch a movie on a 4-inch screen. I understand, and maybe Lenovo will save me from myself by lack of compatibility. I can't disagree with the point. But I think overall I'd rather have a choice.

Our opinion

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 has a full color screen.

This is a nice update to the Lenovo Smart Clock line of devices. The pallet accessories in particular are our favorite. The Google Assistant is a great way to wake up and start routines. I would like a bigger screen, video capabilities, and a more intuitive user interface, but those omissions don't detract from the overall experience much.

You get loads of utility and functionality for $ 70. Not only is this a good product, but it is also a good value.

Is there a better alternative?

There isn't much competition in this area yet, but the next competitor actively battling for a spot on your bedside table is the Nest Hub (2nd generation). This device costs a little more, but adds portable sleep tracking to the package, which is sure to be compelling. It also offers video streaming capabilities and a bigger screen. If you want these additions, the Nest Hub (2nd Generation) is probably better off. However, if you don't mind not playing videos, or you want a smaller screen or a qi charging plate, this is a great pickup.

If you're completely completely unaware of the Google ecosystem, or are more connected to Amazon's, the Echo Show 8 or Echo Show 10 are both great choices. It all depends on your preferences.

How long it will take?

The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is well made and solid with a fabric cover. I don't expect any problems with this device in the long run. It has a one-year limited warranty available on Lenovo's support website.

Should I buy it?

Yes, this is a great pickup for the price. In fact, there is no clear winner between the Nest Hub (2nd generation) and this one. If you want a little more, you pay a little more. For the same money, you could buy an alarm clock, Nest Mini 2, and Qi charging plate and you still wouldn't find all of this device's features on your bedside table.

Editor's recommendations



25 Sep
Blog

1More ColorBuds 2 Review: Upping The Ante With ANC

1 More ColorBuds 2 real wireless earbuds.

1More ColorBuds 2 Review: Up The Upside Down With ANC

RRP $ 80.00

"A great set of buds is now even better with ANC and at a lower price."

advantages

  • Very convenient

  • Great sound with SoundID personalization

  • Good call quality

  • Good ANC

  • Wireless charging

disadvantage

  • Limited control

  • No EQ settings

  • Mediocre transparency mode

1More wired and wireless earbuds usually offer great sound at low prices. For a while, it was one of the few brands that did this reliably and offered an excellent alternative to Apple's iconic but expensive true wireless earbuds. But now there are tons of cheap, high quality options from companies like Wyze, JLab, Soundcore, EarFun, and Skullcandy. Even Jabra is now making a bunch of buds for well under $ 100, which means 1More needs to find new ways to stand out from the crowd.

The new ColorBuds 2 are an attempt to do that, with an attractive price point ($ 80) and several in-demand features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), wireless charging, and personalized sound profiles. Do these new buds go far enough? Let's check them out.

What's in the box?

1Additional scope of delivery of the ColorBuds 2 True Wireless Earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

It was good to see that 1More has gotten better with its packaging lately. While there are no magnetic closures on the box and no foam inside, there is still some plastic to deal with. Inside you will find the earbuds, their charging case, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable and silicone earbuds in four sizes (the medium-sized ones are pre-installed).

draft

1 More ColorBuds 2 real wireless earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

It's pretty hard to tell the difference between the ColorBuds 2 and the original ColorBuds. It's nice to see that 1More kept the same size and shape for the earbuds and charging case – we really appreciated the originals, so why fix what isn't broken?

The rounded contours and egg-shaped case feel smooth, and our black review unit has a nice satin finish that sets it apart from a sea of ​​glossy white and matte black products. The buds are easy to pull out of the case, and the magnets are just strong enough to lock them back in securely and hold them in place.

The touch controls can be fussy, but the ColorBuds 2 are responsive.

In keeping with the theme of consistency, the ColorBuds 2 adhere to the IPX5 water resistance of the original, which should offer sufficient protection against sweat or occasional splashing water. In fact, the biggest change cannot be seen at all: the egg-shaped charging case now supports Qi wireless charging.

Comfort, controls and connections

1 More ColorBuds 2 real wireless earphones in close-up.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The rounded shape of the ColorBuds 2 is not just for the look. In addition, it is very comfortable to wear. Unlike stem-based headphones or earplugs with large main bodies (ahem, Sony WF-1000XM4), nothing prevents the ColorBuds from sliding as far into your ear as you need to, balancing a good seal with avoiding it finding unwanted pressure.

The touch controls can be fussy, but the ColorBuds 2 are responsive. The large surface area helps ensure contact, but the shape of the case also makes it easy to grip the earbuds without accidentally triggering these controls.

I'm no longer a skeptic – SoundID works on the ColorBuds 2.

Unfortunately, 1More is a bit stingy when it comes to control gestures. You get a double tap and a triple tap on each earbud as well as a long squeeze gesture. That sounds enough until you get into the 1More Music app and find that you have some tough decisions to make. The long press is not customizable – it always controls switching between ANC and transparency mode – and the other two gestures cannot be set for each earbud. You have to choose from control groups: play / pause, skip tracks, volume and voice control. Select any two. I don't see why 1More ruined the single tap idea, but I've seen this on other true wireless earbuds. As strange as it is, it's not a problem unique to the ColorBuds.

1More music app.

1More music app.

On the flip side, you get in-ear detection with customizable auto-pause – when you pull out an earbud you can choose to pause and resume the music when you put the earbud back in, just pause, or do nothing at all.

Pairing the headphones is easy on both Android and iOS. Just open the bluetooth control panel, then open the charging case and select the ColorBuds when they appear in the list of available devices. Once paired, it's a reliable connection that also extends a good distance – I was able to place 9m between them and my Pixel 5 even with two walls in the way. This is significantly better than our experience with the original ColorBuds, but maybe that's because of an upgrade from Bluetooth 5.0 to 5.2.

Sound quality

1More music app.

1More music app.

Out of the box, the ColorBuds 2 have a pleasant, balanced sound signature with a lot of deep bass, clear mids and high frequencies. You also have the option of improving the acoustics by setting up a SoundID profile.

SoundID, developed by Sonarworks, combines the specific acoustic properties of a set of earphones like the ColorBuds with your personal hearing. It does this by walking you through a short series of A / B comparisons, indicating your preference for one of two different sounds (or none if you can't tell the difference). Once the test is complete, SoundID will use your settings to adjust the ColorBuds' EQ.

I've tried the SoundID system on other products like the Beats Solo 3 and wasn't very impressed with the results, but that was an app-based version of SoundID that delivered customized sound to otherwise normal headphones. For the ColorBuds 2, 1More put the SoundID tweaks into the earbuds themselves, and I think it makes a huge difference.

Enabling ANC can make all the difference in whether or not you are listening to your podcasts with ease.

For me, turning on SoundID not only improved the overall sound quality, it also expanded the soundstage and created better stereo imaging. I'm not quite at the point where I think all headphones and earphones should have SoundID, but I'm no longer a skeptic – it works with the ColorBuds 2.

Unfortunately, 1More has effectively outsourced EQ control to SoundID. If you don't like the factory sound signature, all you can do is set up SoundID and hope you prefer the results – there is no other way to adjust the EQ manually or through presets.

It's also worth noting that the ColorBuds 2 support both aptX and aptX Adaptive, two of Qualcomm's Bluetooth codecs that can deliver higher quality audio than SBC or AAC. The catch is, your phone has to support them. Unfortunately, iPhones don't support Qualcomm codecs, and support for aptX Adaptive is still limited to a handful of Android models.

Noise cancellation and transparency

1 More ColorBuds 2 real wireless earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Considering their price of under $ 100, the ColorBuds 2 have very good noise cancellation. It's not the kind of cone-shaped noise you get from something like the AirPods Pro or the Bose QuietComfort earbuds, but it's just as good and maybe even slightly better than other earbuds in the same price range as the Soundcore Life P3 and the Earfun Air Pro.

Noises like the roar of a loud fan aren't eliminated, but are greatly reduced, and in a noisy environment like a gym with ambient music and the noises of treadmills, turning on ANC can make all the difference in whether or not you're listening to your podcasts with ease.

The transparency mode, on the other hand, is weak. Compared to ANC mode, you will definitely hear more of your surroundings, but your voice will still be quite muffled.

Switching between the two modes is easy – a long press on one of the earbuds is enough.

Battery life

The battery life of the ColorBuds 2 is six hours for the earphones when the ANC is switched on and a total of 18 hours when you include the charging case. This goes up to eight and 24 hours if you stay in transparency mode (which counts as "ANC off"). When listening at 50% volume, these numbers are spot on.

It's not the kind of massive endurance we've seen in some earbuds (with up to 15 hours on a charge), but it will still get you through a full day of listening, which is really all most people need . If you run out of juice, a quick charge option gives you two additional hours of running time with just 15 minutes in the charging case.

Call quality

Man wearing 1More ColorBuds 2 true wireless earbuds.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

Telephoning with the ColorBuds 2 is generally good. In quiet places, your voice comes through very clearly and with almost no compression. If it gets a little louder, that may change as the earbuds try to cancel out certain noises, which can cause wobbling and distortion. Unless you're trying to hold a business meeting next to an active construction site, you should be getting perfectly acceptable calls.

Our opinion

With a compact and comfortable design, good sound quality and ANC that greatly reduces unwanted noise, this is it 1More ColorBuds 2 are very good value considering the price is under $ 100.

Is there a better alternative?

You'll have to spend a lot more to get a set of earbuds that beats the ColorBuds 2, but there are still some great alternatives for the same price:

  • Soundcore Life P3, $ 80: Longer battery life, adjustable EQ, more control options, but no in-ear detection.
  • Earfun Air Pro, $ 80: longer battery life, better sound quality out of the box, better transparency mode, but no controls or EQ adjustment, and no wireless charging.

How long will they last?

With an IPX5 rating, they shouldn't have a problem with moisture and rain, and the ColorBuds 2 appear to be well built using high quality materials. I suspect they will last as long or longer than other earbuds at this price point. The company supports its products with a one-year guarantee.

Should you buy it?

Yes, especially if you are looking for a very comfortable set of earbuds that sound great and offer decent noise cancellation.

Editor's recommendations



25 Sep
Blog

Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 Premium HR Review: Infinite Power

Sequent SuperCharger watch on your wrist with your hand in your pocket.

Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 Premium HR Test: Infinite performance, limited technology

RRP $ 482.00

"The Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 Premium HR Smartwatch never needs to be charged, but its intelligent functions do not make this desirable advantage optimal."

advantages

  • Innovative kinetic energy system

  • Doesn't need to be charged

  • Sapphire crystal

  • Great build quality and materials

disadvantage

  • Basic fitness tracking

  • Unreliable fitness data collection

  • Uncomfortable Eco Tide harness

The hybrid smartwatch is the alternative to a touchscreen smartwatch preferred by those who are unwilling to forego the traditional, analog watch look, but still want a certain level of connected capability. the Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 Premium HR takes this concept one step further as not only does it not look like a smartwatch, but it also uses a power system that shares more with an automatic watch than it does with an Apple Watch.

That means you never have to charge this smartwatch as it is powered by the movement of your body. It's very tempting, but what about the smart bit? It's just as important on a hybrid as it is on a full smartwatch, and if anything, it's much more difficult to implement well since the watch usually doesn't have a screen. The Sequent Supercharger 2.1 has the power, but also the intelligence?

draft

I wear the Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 Premium HR, the company's top model. It's made of 316L stainless steel with an aluminum ring around the 42mm case and sapphire crystal over the dial. It weighs around 77 grams with the bracelet and is a remarkable 14 mm thick. This version has a blue dial, but you can also get versions with a white or black dial. Flip the watch over and it has an open caseback showing the self-loading mechanism and its rotor, which I will come back to later, and in the middle is the heart rate sensor. The crown is quite large, has a rubber cover over the sides and the Sequent logo on the end.

Sequential SuperCharger clock.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Sequent attaches great importance to the fact that the watch is designed in Switzerland – the quality mark for traditional watches – but does not say that it is made in Switzerland, an important award. Nevertheless, it looks and feels very well made. The dial is pretty simple, with the brand name and markings, and the polished baton markers just mark the hour. The stick hands have unfilled middle parts, while the hand has a red arrowhead for the complication. It's all rather minimalistic and reminds me of countless watches from MVMT, Daniel Wellington and other fashion brands.

It definitely doesn't look like a normal smartwatch. First of all, there is no screen, and one complication doesn't immediately reveal its high-tech references. It is a multipurpose display that shows step count, power reserve and heart rate. However, you have to look carefully because the numbers are very small. There's also a similarly tiny LED indicator below the 12 o'clock marker that only works when the watch is syncing with your phone or when it is taking an action.

Sequential SuperCharger watch crown.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The watch looks and feels nice, and I like the open caseback with the rotor, which is not as beautiful as a mechanical movement but has a certain technical charm. I don't like the crown because it's too big, and the useless rubber part on the edge doesn't contribute to that either, as you don't have to turn the crown at all, which makes additional hold unnecessary. It's a thick watch too, and the tabs attached to the lower part of the case only emphasize the height.

I can live with the height of the SuperCharger 2.1 and the design is simple but pleasing, but the Eco Tide band is bad. It's made from plastic waste from the ocean, which is excellent, but it's incredibly unforgiving on your wrist. I've been wearing it for several weeks and I think it hasn't gone soft at all – it's just as uncomfortable now as it was the first day. Even an imprecise double-pin attachment doesn't help, so that the watch either interrupts the circulation or falls over the side of your wrist. It attaches with quick release pins and at 22mm it's not difficult to swap out for a different bracelet, but this should be based on a personal style preference, not because the one that comes with it is inconvenient.

Sequent SuperCharger watch on the wrist.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 is a very modern looking watch that will definitely appeal to those who are drawn to the minimalist watches that are frequently advertised on Instagram and by YouTube influencers. Just don't order it with the Eco Tide tape.

power

Before we talk about the smart features, let's talk about the way the Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 is powered as it is far more technically impressive than anything else. Automatic timepieces convert kinetic energy from the movement of your body into power for the clockwork. The SuperCharger does the same thing, but instead of gears and springs, it uses a tungsten rotor to power a micro-generator.

Sequent SuperCharger watch case back.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

It's a neat, high-tech, sustainable, and very practical approach to running a piece of wearable technology. Sequent says the SuperCharger has "infinite" power reserve, and I've worn it for several weeks with a few days off, and the available power hasn't fallen below 95% according to the app. When you are not wearing it, the watch will go to sleep to save energy. With regular use, I doubt the SuperCharger 2.1 will ever lose power.

If you are not going to wear the watch for a long time and the battery is completely empty, a charging pad is included so that you can get it going again. Unfortunately, this requires the inclusion of charging points on the case of the watch, which are on the left and ruin the otherwise clean lines.

What is unusual is that you can “feel” the rotor inside the SuperCharger while it is turning. It's not distracting or making an audible noise unless you put it to your ear, but it's not something you find in an automatic mechanical watch. I liked the feeling very much, as it made the SuperCharger feel like a living being, but I've gradually got used to it and rarely feel it anymore.

The Sequent SuperCharger is really a smartwatch that you don't need to charge, and that will be a significant benefit for anyone who is put off by smartwatches in general due to the need for daily charging.

Intelligent functions

The lack of a charge is the Sequent SuperCharger's first step in becoming a successful smartwatch, but the smart functionality has to be just as compelling. This is not a competitor to the Apple Watch and makes no secret of the fact, but unfortunately it is also not a competitor to any other hybrid watch as the technology feels years out of date.

Sequent SuperCharger watch app that shows the number of steps.

Daily step count Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Sequent SuperCharger Watch app with training data.

Training data Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Sequent SuperCharger Watch app with settings.

Settings page Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

It has basic fitness tracking and doesn't provide notifications or have a haptic engine. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but the operation of the watch and its app feels old and clunky compared to the competition. Don't expect anything like individual training plans, information like cadence or an in-depth analysis of the data collected.

To start a workout, the crown must be pressed for two seconds until the LED flashes blue, the hands rotate and the LED glows purple. To end the session, press the crown three times. It's a bit more complex than it needs to be, but what's worse is that it doesn't seem very accurate. Despite completing the steps, the SuperCharger was unable to record several training sessions, and since the promised display in the app does not work – it is supposed to show a point in training mode in the Sequent app when it is active – it is very difficult to say Whether your entries were successful.

The heart rate recording is also random, with some sessions showing heart rate data and others not, and so is the GPS. It doesn't have a built-in GPS, so it relies on your phone's GPS. Even when the app was open on my phone, it couldn't get location data while taking a walk. When a workout was recorded, the app showed distance, calories burned, time, pace and steps. There's a sleep mode in the app, but it's listed as "Beta" and I find the strap way too uncomfortable to wear overnight anyway.

From the point of view of fitness tracking, the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 offers significantly more options for $ 50.

The complication on the watch face shows the step count during the day and heart rate data during a workout. It seems to coincide with my Apple Watch Series 6 for the most part, but it's pretty hard to tell because of the tiny numbers and even more tiny intermediate marks. When asked about my heart rate, for example, I can only really say “between 110 and 120 beats per minute”.

This uncertainty is exacerbated by the fact that the sensor does not measure your heart rate continuously. You can set it up for daily use in the app to read every five minutes, 30 minutes, or two hours, and it only seems to update every few minutes as you exercise. The app is not linked to Apple Health, Google Fit, Strava or any other fitness platform. From a fitness tracking perspective, the Xiaomi Mi Band 6 for $ 50 offers far more options than the Sequent SuperCharger for $ 482.

A fitness tracking system that is tedious to activate, has limited functionality, provides questionable accuracy, and does not offer the ability to share the collected data outside of the standard app is not very inspiring. It will absolutely not satisfy someone serious about fitness, and its cumbersome controls will prove annoying to someone who only uses it casually.

Price and availability

the Sequent SuperCharger 2.1 Premium HR as seen here costs $ 482. Alternatively, you can buy the watch without a heart rate monitor for $ 428, or an aluminum version instead of stainless steel without a heart rate monitor for $ 374. It is available from Sequent's own online shop.

Our opinion

The Sequent SuperCharger is ideal as a showcase for the kinetic energy system. The tech is really interesting and worked well during my time with the watch. Not having to charge a smartwatch is highly desirable, liberating, and by far the Sequent watch's greatest draw. Unfortunately, the far less successful smart features don't give me any reason to put on the clock. While it's okay not to show notifications, fitness tracking can't keep up with current smartwatches and fitness bands, isn't very intuitive, and isn't detailed enough for anyone serious about exercising.

It has the right references for a good watch – a modern Swiss design, sapphire crystal and a stainless steel case – plus that eternal energy, but without convincing intelligent functionality, the innovative way in which it is powered is wasted. For almost $ 500, a world of excellent and highly desirable watches opens up – smart and different – and the Sequent watch struggles to keep up.

I saw the original version of the SuperCharger 2018 at the Baselworld Watch Show and then tried the SuperCharger 2.0 for a short time in 2019. Now in 2021, even though the time has passed and the watch is getting a heart rate monitor, the SuperCharger 2.1 sadly feels like it's still stuck in 2019, and that's not good enough when the rest of the hybrid market is heading up and moved up.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes sir. If you specifically want a hybrid smartwatch, we recommend checking out Casio's G-Shock range. For example, the solar-powered G-Shock GBD-200 includes fitness tracking and notifications, while the GBD-H1000 adds GPS and a heart rate sensor. The Withings ScanWatch is even more health-oriented, has a minimalist design and is made of high-quality materials. The Skagen Jorn Hybrid HR has an e-ink screen to minimize power consumption, a heart rate monitor and other intelligent functions. All of them cost less than the Sequent SuperCharger.

If you really want more smart features, a full touchscreen smartwatch is the only way to go. We recommend the Apple Watch Series 6 or Apple Watch SE for iPhone owners or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 for Android phone owners.

How long it will take?

The stainless steel case and the scratch-resistant sapphire crystal ensure that the SuperCharger retains its appearance even with rough handling, it is also waterproof up to 50 meters and is covered by a generous 5-year guarantee. The app is available for iOS and Android. Provided the app is kept up to date, the Sequent SuperCharger should last for many years, helped by the lack of a battery that needs to be continuously charged every day.

Should you buy it?

No. Although the kinetic energy system is innovative, fitness tracking is too simple to be of any use and the high price tag is very difficult to justify.

Editor's recommendations



24 Sep
Blog

Gigabyte M32U Monitor Review: 4K Gaming Without the Fluff

The back of the Gigabyte M32U gaming monitor.

Gigabyte M32U monitor in the test: 4K gaming without fluff

RRP $ 800.00

"The Gigabyte M32U doesn't have much competition, but it still feels hard to beat for $ 800."

advantages

  • One of the few 32-inch 4K monitors with a high refresh rate

  • Excellent color accuracy after calibration

  • Two HDMI 2.1 ports

  • Built-in KVM switch

  • Inexpensive

disadvantage

  • Bad HDR performance

  • Below average status

  • Poor color accuracy before calibration

If you are looking for a 32-inch 4K monitor with a high refresh rate in Newegg, you will find three options: two listings for the Gigabyte Aorus FI32U and one for the Gigabyte M32U. Large 4K monitors with a high refresh rate are still a largely untapped space, with the world's LGs and Asus sticking to the tried and tested 27-inch format.

However, Gigabyte is quickly capitalizing on the as-yet unclaimed ground with these two new gaming monitors that have some unique features.

It's hard to separate the Gigabyte M32U from the Auros FI32U even if you ignore the identical specifications. They both use the same panel and offer largely the same features, but the M32U costs $ 200 less. It has the comfortable price of around $ 800 that many 4K 27-inch displays like the Acer Nitro XV273K or LG 27GN950 have settled on.

The case for the purchase of the M32U then looks tidy – it offers a high refresh rate at 4K for the same price as its 27-inch counterparts, but with a little more screen space. However, the story has a little more to offer. So if you're not using a 32-inch display over a 27-inch display, don't add the M32U to your cart just yet.

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Gigabyte M32U on the Digital Trends website.

Gigabyte monitors aren't known for their innovative design, and the M32U doesn't change that either. It's basically a stretched version of Gigabyte's budget 1440p monitors like the M27Q, with an identical stand but without the gamer flair normally associated with high-refresh rate 4K displays like the Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX.

Basically there is no RGB or branding associated with games. For that, you'll have to spend $ 200 more on the FI32U, which is exactly the same panel but from Gigabyte's Aorus line of products. It has a more angular look suitable for gaming, with some RGB accents on the back. In the case of the panel, however, it is identical to the M32U.

Panel and performance aside, the M32U doesn't feel like a well-spent $ 800. There's just a bit of metal in the base to break up the plastic monotony. The top of the back is a bit glossy, but otherwise it's a matte plastic finish all around that feels like function over form. And given the cost savings compared to the FI32U, that is what the M32U's focus is on.

The stand offers a few adjustments, including 130mm height adjustment, 25 degrees tilt, and 60 degrees swivel, but I was never able to adjust the monitor the way I wanted. The stand just doesn't allow enough height adjustment for my setup, as only the top third of the screen occupies my field of view at its highest point.

The size of a 32-inch panel makes up for it, but I wanted to throw the stand away almost as quickly as I set it up. Using the VESA 100 mounting holes on the back with a monitor arm transforms the M32U from a cheap-feeling monitor with a bad stand into a subtle display that's all about performance.

Connections and controls

Controller on Gigabyte M32U.

The port selection of the M32U is excellent, especially a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports. Even newer high-end monitors like the LG 34GN850-B have stayed with HDMI 2.0 and limit the 4K output to 60 Hz. With HDMI 2.1 you have access to 4K at 120Hz or 8K at 60Hz.

DisplayPort is still better for PC gamers – and I'll get into why in a moment – but HDMI 2.1 was a delight during my time with the M32U. I used the HDMI ports on my PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and switched between them and my PC via the DisplayPort connection without the refresh rate loss in mind.

In addition to the two HDMI ports, you have access to a single DisplayPort 1.4 port, which offers a slight increase to a refresh rate of 144 Hz at 4K. Honestly, this is the dream port setup right now. DisplayPort 2.0 is a better option, but it's still not there after suffering some long delays.

Otherwise you can use USB-C as an input, as well as the three USB 3.0 ports on the back of the display. The M32U even has one more USB 3.0 port than the FI32U.

This is the dream port setup right now.

You can make good use of all of these ports too. Like its more expensive Aorus brother, the M32U has an integrated KVM switch. In short, you can control multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse connected through the monitor. The switch was a lifesaver for switching between my main machine and the test bench, and it saved me space and time on my desk when hopping between two machines.

Unfortunately, you have to use the on-screen display (OSD) to configure the KVM switch and that's not great. The OSD runs with a significantly lower resolution, which makes it look smeared on the otherwise sharp 4K panel. Navigating through the menu isn't bad, although the rotary wheel takes a bit of getting used to.

It's high up on the back of the monitor, and even after weeks of using the M32U, I'd have to search blindly to find it. It's a four-way toggle with a middle click, and I would push it in one direction many times while trying to use the middle click. You shouldn't spend too much time using the OSD, but I wanted a better controller.

picture quality

The M32U doesn't look great out of the box, but it's hard to expect much from a $ 800 32-inch 4K monitor with a high refresh rate. Typical of IPS panels, the contrast ratio isn't high and the display doesn't get too bright, which makes the panel feel like the budget option it compares to some of the higher quality 4K displays.

Still, Gigabyte is promoting 123% coverage of sRGB and 90% coverage of DCI-P3. Testing with my SpyderX Elite clorimeter found a slightly lower 87% coverage of DCI-P3, although that's not too far from what Gigabyte claims. I also measured a contrast ratio of 950: 1, which is only slightly different from the 1000: 1 ratio typical for IPS panels, as well as a peak brightness of 366.5 nits (Gigabyte lists 350 nits).

SpyderX on Gigabyte M32U.

Everything checked, but the bigger problem is color accuracy. Out of the box I measured a Delta-E (difference from real) of 2.32, which is outside the typical range for color work and reflects the poor out-of-the-box performance of the Eve Spectrum 4K. You are looking for a Delta-E value of less than 2 for a color-accurate representation. Calibrating the display with the SpyderX, however, cleaned up a lot and lowered the Delta-E value to 0.5.

This is an exceptional achievement for the price and more than acceptable for photo or video work. The color performance after calibration outperforms the LG 27GN950, a monitor for the same price as the Gigabyte M32U but five inches smaller.

The brightness uniformity wasn't great right away either, with up to 10% difference in the lower left corner which was 83% brightness. A quick glance at a black screen showed why, with the lower right corner showing just a hair of the backlight. Still, consistency was never a problem for me, and with the most sensitive work happening in the center of the screen, the M32U is still set up for creative work after calibration.

In terms of specs, the M32U is on par with competing 27-inch 4K displays like the Asus ROG Strix XG27UQR, only with a larger screen size. However, the Eve Spectrum 4K and LG 27GN950 show what can be gained by foregoing the screen size. Although smaller, both displays are the same price and have higher peak brightness.

With HDR enabled, the monitor looks like it is trying to cram too much dynamic range into too little space.

This is important for HDR. The M32U carries DisplayHDR 400 certification from VESA, not the DisplayHDR 600 certification of the Eve Spectrum and LG 27GN950. With HDR enabled, the monitor looks like it is trying to cram too much dynamic into a space that is too small, which is typical for DisplayHDR 400 monitors.

Worse, using HDR enables the M32U's local dimming function. There aren't too many dimming zones and they are slow to respond to changes. I shot a dimming test video that produced some notable stuttering as a white dot moves to different parts of the screen, showing that the dimming zones are slowly keeping up.

I ended up leaving out HDR when using the M32U with my consoles. It's not a bad picture, but I've never looked at the dimming zones or the eye-burning contrast that comes from a mediocre HDR implementation. IPS panels just aren't good for HDR, and the M32U doesn't break that shape.

Still, the M32U looks good with HDR turned off. Although 4K stands out a little more on a smaller screen size, at 32 inches, the pixel density is still high enough to produce crisp images and clean lines in text. Even when I held my face inches from the screen, I couldn't see pixels of black text on a white background.

Gaming performance

Control on Gigabyte M32U.

Pixel peeping is one thing, but when you take the M32U into games, it shows where it really shines. It just expanded my Destiny 2 habit and offers super sharp images at high frame rates. The 144Hz panel isn't as fast as the 360Hz Asus ROG Swift PG259QNR, but this monitor is limited to 1080p. Plus, I don't need an even higher refresh rate to know how bad I am at Valorant.

And 144 Hz is the gold standard for gaming monitors for good reason. Like jumping from 30 frames per second (fps) on an Xbox One to 60 fps on an Xbox Series X, you can't go back to 60 Hz after trying 144 Hz. It's particularly smooth. Even games on my PS5 felt choppy after a few hours playing at 144Hz on my PC.

Defeating champions in Destiny 2 looked great in 4K, especially with the ultra-smooth refresh rate.

Just because the M32U offers 144 Hz doesn't mean you can enjoy it in games. Native 4K is still a killer for most PC hardware. Even with an RTX 3090 and an Intel Core i9-10900K, I couldn't achieve more than 60 fps in Control or Assassin's Creed Valhalla when all the sliders were turned up.

The high refresh rate is more relevant in games like Destiny 2, which are less demanding. Defeating champions and melting down Gambit bosses looked great in 4K, especially with the ultra-smooth refresh rate.

Still, you need powerful hardware to use a display like the M32U. You should have at least an RTX 3070 or RX 6800 XT if you want to play the latest AAA games in native 4K. Or you can always cheat the resolution a bit with a feature like Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which lets the high refresh rate shine through in a game like Control.

Our opinion

Unless you're spending $ 3,000 on something like the Asus ROG Swift PG32UQ, you won't find another high-refresh rate 32-inch 4K gaming monitor. It's in a class of its own, but that doesn't make it the best by default. There's a far larger selection of 27-inch displays for the same price, many with better HDR and higher peak brightness.

However, if you have chosen 32 inches, there is no other option. The Aorus branded model is aesthetically better, but that's hard to justify with an extra $ 200 on the table. Gigabyte created a monitor that ticks the boxes in an area where there are very few monitors, and at an affordable price.

Just make sure to attach a Spyder to it before using the M32U for any serious work.

Are there alternatives?

No, outside of the Aorus FI32U, that's $ 200 more expensive. Many high refresh rate 4K gaming displays are fixed at 27 inches, including the Eve Spectrum 4K and the LG 27GN950. However, you can get higher brightness and better HDR performance if you sacrifice screen size.

How long it will take?

Given how demanding 4K still is for modern PC hardware, the M32U will last for years. The M32U will keep up until 8K becomes the norm or midrange GPUs can achieve high frame rates at 4K. HDR throws the bill, however, so you may need to upgrade in a few years if you want to use HDR in games.

Should I buy it?

If you need a 32-inch 4K gaming monitor, yes. The Gigabyte M32U is in a class of its own by default. However, you can get a better 27-inch 4K monitor for the same price, which is what I would recommend to most people.

Editor's recommendations



23 Sep
Blog

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 Review: Fast, But Flawed

Opened Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 sitting on the floor.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4

RRP $ 2,095.00

"The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is not a perfect performer, but there is a lot to like."

advantages

  • Excellent workmanship

  • Superior entry-level display

  • Solid performance

  • Good keyboard and touchpad

  • Very powerful configuration options

disadvantage

  • Performance was inconsistent

  • Battery life was average

Lenovo's most powerful non-workstation ThinkPad is the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, an earlier 15-inch laptop that served as a strong competitor to the Dell XPS 15 and other high-performance laptops in its class. The fastest components and the most aggressive thermal designs can be found in the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, something Lenovo took to extremes with the fourth generation.

Not only has the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 increased performance, but it has also joined the movement of the larger displays and features a slightly larger 16-inch 16:10 display, while at the same time being roughly the same size as the previous generation fits.

I tested a ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 with an Intel Core i7-11800H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, which costs $ 2,095. You can also choose up to a Core i9-11950H with vPro and an RTX 3080, which further improves the laptop's theoretical performance and even outperforms the impressive Dell XPS 17 in terms of pure performance. As I found out in this review, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is a fast premium notebook – but according to my tests it has some performance weaknesses that take away some of its clout.

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View of the lid of an opened Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 was 14.24 "x 9.67" x 0.72 "and weighed 3.75 pounds. The new Gen 4 model is 14.13 inches by 9.99 inches by 0.70 inches and weighs 3.99 pounds. Aside from adding a tiny bit of depth thanks to the taller display and a quarter pound of weight, Lenovo did what it set out to do: a 16:10 16-inch display the same size as the previous 15.6 – Pack inch display. Inch generation.

The thing is, it's still a lot bigger than the Dell XPS 15, which comes in at 13.57 "x 9.06" x 0.71 "and a slightly heavier 4.22 pounds. If you put the two next to each other, the ThinkPad looks huge in comparison. This is mainly due to the larger bezels of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, which also give it an old-school look with the modern, higher display. A new competitor, the MSI Creator Z16, also has a 16:10 16-inch display and measures 14.13 inches by 10.08 inches by 0.64 inches and weighs 5.07 pounds. Its bezels are a bit smaller than the ThinkPad's, but it's still deeper – just imagine.

All in all, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 looks like a large laptop, but it doesn't feel like it thanks to its light weight. It's made of an aluminum alloy on the lower chassis (with some plastic parts) and contains four layers of reinforced carbon fiber in the lid. I'm not sure how Lenovo kept the weight down without using a magnesium alloy, but they succeeded and the laptop sits comfortably in the hand. It has the usual soft-touch coating on the ThinkPad and is extremely comfortable to hold.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 looks like a ThinkPad.

It's also pretty stiff, with just the slightest flexing of the lid if you try hard enough, and without giving way to the keyboard deck or the bottom of the case. The Dell XPS 15 is all around stiff, which makes it feel more solid, but there is no significant difference. The Gen 4 model is at least as robust as the Gen 3, making it one of the class leaders in terms of build quality – and it offers the usual MIL-STD 810g certification for robustness.

Aesthetically, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 looks like a ThinkPad. It is completely black with just a few red accents in the X1 logo on the lid, the red LED dot on the "i" in the ThinkPad logo, the red TrackPoint stud in the middle of the keyboard and accents on the edges of the TrackPoint buttons. My test device came with a display with WQXGA resolution (2,560 x 1,600), so the lid was simply black.

Choose one of the 4K + WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) displays and you get a carbon fiber fabric to add some pizzazz to the lid. Overall, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 has an attractive and bold look, and if you like the ThinkPad aesthetics, this is your one for sure. The XPS 15 looks more modern and slimmer overall, and overall more attractive, especially with the white fiberglass keyboard deck, but the ThinkPad aims at and achieves its own appearance.

The MSI Creator Z16 has a more straightforward aesthetic in the case. Nevertheless, it integrates RGB lighting into the keyboard, making it the exact opposite of the conservative ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, at least when you open the lid and switch on the keyboard lighting.

Charging connector, 2 micro USB ports, HDMI port and headphone jack on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Hinges on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 Aptop.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 ports: SD card slot and 2 USB ports.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Connectivity remains a strength, with a proprietary power port (that supports a 230 watt power adapter), two USB-Cs with Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size HDMI 2.0 or 2.1 port (depending on the model), and a 3, 5mm audio jack on the left and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a full-size SD card reader on the right. Wireless connectivity is provided by the latest and fastest Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, and you can configure WWAN support through an optional nano-SIM slot.

power

Lenovo didn't mess around when developing the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4's performance profile. You can configure up to a Core i9-11950H with vPro in the CPU department and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q in the GPU department. There is no other 15- or 16-inch laptop that I know of that is as powerful outside of slot machines.

My test device was equipped with a Core i7-11800H and an RTX 3060 and thus more powerful than the Dell XPS 15 and identical to the MSI Creator Z16. Unfortunately, Lenovo sent me a machine with only one 16 GB RAM stick installed, which limits the memory to single-channel performance. As we shall see, this had effects that were not immediately apparent.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

In Geekbench 5, the ThinkPad does well enough, just behind the MSI Creator Z16 and the Dell XPS 15. It beats the MSI and Dell by a few in our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420 MB video as H.265 Seconds. And it was also clearly ahead of the XPS 15 and the Z16 in Cinebench R23. So far, so good. Only the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with its Ryzen 7 5800H – a fast processor for compute-intensive tasks – stood out in our comparison group.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 was in the midfield in PCMark 10, faster than the XPS 15, but slower than the Z16. It was able to keep up in the areas of essentials and productivity of the test, but lagged behind the MSI Creator Z16 in content creation (but before the Dell XPS 15). Again, according to the benchmarks reported so far, there were no red flags in terms of performance.

If you buy this laptop, make sure you tick Dual Channel RAM in the configurator.

However, when I switched to the Pugetbench benchmark running in Adobe Premiere Pro, things got a little strange. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 achieved an extremely low value of 432 in this test, which uses both CPU and GPU. The Dell XPS 15 with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti achieved 509 in standard mode (and 590 in performance mode), the MSI Creator Z16 was faster at 732, only reaching 54.5 compared to the 119.1 from MSI and 74.8 from Dell.

It turned out that the single-channel RAM caused such a low score in this benchmark. Lenovo tested an identical device with two 16 GB RAM sticks and dual-channel storage and gave it 642 points. To be honest, that's still low for the CPU and GPU, especially with 32 GB of RAM, well below the MSI Creator Z16 (also with 32 GB) and only a bit better than the XPS 15 in performance mode. But it's better than my test device. If you buy this laptop, make sure you tick Dual Channel RAM in the configurator.

I was happy with the performance of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 until I hit the Pugetbench results. This laptop is intended for developers running CPU and GPU intensive applications like Premiere Pro, and the ThinkPad didn't do as well as I expected even when configured with faster RAM performance. I have no idea how well the Core i9 version might do, and you can increase the overall performance in these apps by opting for an RTX 3070 or 3080. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 will likely be the fastest laptop in this comparison group when it is at full capacity. Note, however, that if configured similarly, it won't be the fastest laptop when compared to the competition. Note that if you choose to mirror, you can add a second solid-state drive (SSD) to the machine for additional storage or redundancy.

Laptop 3DMark time spy Cinebench R23 Underdog Bench 5 Handbrake
(Seconds)		 PCMark 10 Fourteen days
(1080p epic)		 Civilization VI (1080p Ultra)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (Core i7-11800H) 6691 1519/10497 1520/7353 99 6251 85 fps (1920 x 1200) Wouldn't run
Dell XPS 15 OLED 2021 (Core i7-11800H) 4540 1513/9979 1544/7692 101 6024 50 fps 73 fps
MSI Creator Z16 (Core i7-11800H) 6322 1444/9615 1540/7625 103 6486 59 fps (1920 x 1200) 92 fps
Dell XPS 17 (Core i7-11800H) 7039 1525/10145 1568/8801 n / A 6209 78 fps 104 fps
LG gram 16 (Core i7-1165G7) 1390 1394/4137 1573/5454 213 4827 13 fps n / A
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (Ryzen7 5800H) 9175 1430/11195 1460/7227 99 n / A 101 fps 114 fps

Considering the RTX 3060 and the fast CPU, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 should be a good entry-level gaming device. That's how my tests went for the most part. Unfortunately, the ThinkPad Civilization VI would not run without a crash, so I am unable to report any results for this game. In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 hit 53 frames per second (fps) in 1080p and high graphics, much slower than the MSI Creator Z16's 82 fps, but that gap narrowed as I went up in resolution and graphics. At 1600p and ultra-high graphics, the ThinkPad managed 39 fps compared to 45 fps on the Z16.

I saw similar results with Battlefield V, where the ThinkPad achieved 69 fps at 1080p and medium graphics compared to the MSI at 81 fps. Then the ThinkPad was faster at 1600p and ultra graphics at 56 fps versus 43 fps. Finally, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 massacred the MSI Creator Z16 in Fortnite, reaching 85 fps at 1200p and epic graphics versus 59 fps. The same discrepancy was shown for the rest of the tested resolutions and graphics settings.

You will find that the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is a competent, but not class-leading gaming laptop for modern titles at reasonable resolutions and graphics settings. You can probably play most games at 1600p with medium to high graphics, as long as you are willing to accept lower frame rates or turn things down a bit, and you get very playable performance. You may find some inconsistencies like I did, but overall you will be able to play along with your work.

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The display of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 laptop.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Lenovo offers several 16:10 16-inch displays for the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4, WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) IPS, WQUXGA (3,840 x 2,400) with Dolby Vision and WQUXGA touch display with Dolby Vision. My test device equipped the entry-level WQXGA display, which is better for battery life, but not as sharp. When I used the laptop during the test, I found the display a delight, with lots of brightness and contrast, and colors that pop but didn't seem inaccurate. It's not an OLED, but it was excellent for an IPS display.

My colorimeter agreed. It's incredibly bright at 468 nits, well above our 300 nit threshold, which is better than the 385 nits of the MSI Creator Z16's IPS WQUXGA panel and the 381 nits of the Dell XPS 15's 3.5K OLED display The contrast of the ThinkPad was very good for an IPS display at 1,240: 1 (above our preferred contrast ratio of 1000: 1), whereas the MSI was disappointing at 800: 1 and the Dell was spectacular at 381,130: 1 (typically OLED) .

The ThinkPad also stood out among the entry-level IPS displays with a color width of 82% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB. You probably get better colors with the WQUXGA options, but those numbers are good enough that developers could use this display. The MSI was better with 91% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB, and thanks to its OLED technology, the Dell again did excellent with 99% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB. The colors of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 were also very accurate with a DeltaE of 0.81 (less than 1.0 is excellent), with MSI achieving 0.76 and Dell 0.46.

Loudspeaker on the right of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The ThinkPad's two upward-facing speakers on either side of the keyboard produce a lot of volume when turned all the way up, and there was no distortion. The mids and highs were clear and there was a hint of bass. The Dell XPS 15's quad speakers are better, but the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4's audio system is sufficient for Netflix on its own. However, you will need headphones for the best quality music.

Keyboard and touchpad

Open the lid and you will find the typical ThinkPad keyboard. It has a lot of travel at 1.8mm, molded keys with large keycaps and good key spacing, and switches that are snappy and precise. It feels like most ThinkPad keyboards, and my only complaint is that the keys take more pressure than I want to press. I find it more tiring during long typing sessions than the lighter keyboard on the Specter range from HP or the Dell XPS 15, and I found that the keyboard on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 also has a lighter stroke than I preferred. If you don't mind, or maybe even prefer, a stiffer mechanism, then this keyboard will appeal to you.

The keyboard of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The TrackPoint knob in the middle of the keyboard works well as usual, but the keys take up the same space on the touchpad. You'll be happy if you like this cursor control method, but I'd rather skip it and have a bigger touchpad. Speaking of which, the touchpad is a decent size, but nowhere near the massive version of the Dell XPS 15. It was sleek and responsive, with Microsoft Precision touchpad support, but I wish it was bigger given all the palm rest space.

Windows 10 Hello passwordless login is provided by a fingerprint reader built into the power button that works quickly and logs you in immediately when you turn on the device. There is an optional infrared camera for facial recognition that my test device did not have. There's also the Lenovo ThinkShutter physical webcam privacy slider, which is old-fashioned compared to some electronic versions you'll find on some other laptops like the HP Specter, but it works.

Close-up on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 webcam.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Battery life

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 has a 90 watt hour battery, which is a lot. The 16-inch WQXGA display should have better battery life than the UHD + version, but the components aren't particularly energy efficient. In addition, except for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9, the battery life of the ThinkPad was disappointing and I wasn't expecting too much.

The ThinkPad managed just under 7.5 hours in our web browser test, well below the 10 hours we like to see. Nevertheless, the MSI Creator Z16 (also with a WQXGA display and 90 watt hour battery) only lasts 5.3 hours. The Dell XPS 15 with its 3.5K OLED display and 84 watt hours was more powerful with nine hours. In our video looping test, which played a local Full HD movie trailer, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 lasted just over nine hours, again better than the eight hours of the MSI, but behind the 11 hours of the XPS 15.

If you keep your workload low, you might make it by evening, but I wouldn't count on that.

I also ran the PCMark 10 Applications battery test, which is the best indicator of productivity battery life. The ThinkPad lasted 8.75 hours, a low score compared to the average laptop that lasted 10 hours or more in this test. The XPS 15 was worse at eight hours, and we didn't run the MSI through this test. In the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 managed just under 90 minutes, compared to the XPS 15 with three minutes less (again we did not run this test on the MSI Creator Z16). In my experience, this test shows how hard a laptop works on battery rather than absolute longevity, and the ThinkPad is one of those laptops that seem to maintain speed even when switched off.

Overall, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 was not a bad battery performance in view of the 16-inch WQXGA display and the high-end components. It's unlikely to get you through a full day of work on a single charge, and the Power Brick is pretty big to take with you, but that's the price you pay for so much power. If you keep your workload low, you might make it by evening, but I wouldn't count on that.

Our opinion

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 lives up to its title. It's the most powerful ThinkPad you can buy, and in a completely different class from most ThinkPads designed for standard productivity performance. Since you can configure it with a Core i9 and an RTX 3080 Max-Q, there is no other non-gaming laptop in the same class that can compete with bare specs.

At the same time, the performance is less than it should be, at least in the one benchmark that provides the best example of the laptop's performance in creative apps from practice. And its gaming performance is inconsistent. If you can live with these limitations, you'll love the look and feel and build quality, probably love the keyboard and touchpad, and even the entry-level display is excellent. You will just be a little unsure how the laptop will work in your given workflow.

Are there alternatives?

A solid alternative in terms of its aesthetics and build quality, the Dell XPS 15 offers good performance and a stunning 3.5K OLED display option. It's about the same price as configured, so you're sacrificing some performance for the XPS 15's superb design.

The MSI Creator Z16 is another option that has better performance in most tests (except for some games), but not as good battery life. With a similar configuration, it's more expensive at $ 2,549, but you get better Premiere Pro performance that creators will like.

After all, the Apple MacBook Pro 16 is a solid choice in the 16-inch class, but the Intel version won't keep up with the ThinkPad, especially if you configure the Lenovo to the maximum. The rumored M1X MacBook Pro might be worth considering, however.

How long it will take?

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is well built and should be in use for years. The components are up to date and should keep Windows 10 (and 11) running. However, the 1 year warranty is very disappointing for this class of notebooks.

The one-year warranty is disappointing for such an expensive notebook, but it still offers on-site service.

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. If you're a ThinkPad fanatic and looking for the fastest model you can buy, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 won't disappoint. If you're not a ThinkPad fan, your decision will be a little tougher – but in the end, this is a viable option compared to the competition.

Editor's recommendations



21 Sep
Blog

Fitbit Charge 5 Review: A Truly Advanced Fitness Tracker

Tap a Fibit Charge 5 awake.

Fitbit Charge 5: A Truly Advanced Fitness Tracker

RRP $ 180.00

"The new and improved Fitbit Charge 5 offers everything you could want from an advanced fitness tracker."

advantages

  • Stylish and comfortable design

  • Solid battery life

  • Loaded with advanced health metrics

  • Onboard GPS with multiple modes

  • Supports Fitbit Pay

disadvantage

  • Sometimes slow swiping of inputs

  • Some basic fitness / wellness tools are missing

  • Fitbit Premium is required for some functions

The last Fitbit Charge Tracker I used before the Charge 5 was the much less innovative Charge HR of the first generation. After wearing the Charge 5 non-stop for a week, I was impressed how drastic the experience is with Fitbit's most advanced tracker ever. Even when compared to the previous generation Charge 4, the Charge 5 takes the overall wearable fitness tracking experience up a few notches.

The new design makes this tracker more comfortable and appealing, but also offers an extensive list of functions that go with the brand's best-equipped smartwatches. Above all, the Charge 5 is the very first Fitbit fitness tracker that works with the Fitbit EKG app and thus joins the ranks of the Fitbit Sense smartwatch. For loyal Fitbit fans or first-time fitness tracker users, the redesigned Charge 5 has a lot going for it in a super portable and easy-to-use format.

Design and comfort

It's fair to say the Charge 5 has received a makeover. Unlike the box-shaped models in front of it, the Charge 5 takes up one side of the rounded angles of the Fitbit Versa 3 or the Apple Watch Series 7. These softer lines make the Charge 5 more current and desirable to wear day after day. The Charge 5 also increases the quality with higher quality materials than the synthetic resin and rubber of the previous model. You will find a more robust and better looking tracker made of aluminum, glass and resin with a silicone strap – and an aluminum buckle in the sports strap version.

The interchangeable straps are soft, flexible, and adapt to smaller wrists – as dainty as 5.1 inches – that I can't find firsthand on wearables. Both the standard and especially the sports band I tested felt like the first bands to fit my 5.5 inch wrist. I barely realized I was wearing the tracker because it was so light and fitted so well. I only took it off before taking a shower. It was also very comfortable to sleep due to the quick access sleep mode feature and the overall lightweight construction.

As for the display, Fitbit says the Charge 5 is twice as bright as the Charge 4 in daylight. While it suffers from the glare of the Corning Gorilla Glass case in direct sunlight, the screen quality is a significant step up from even at maximum brightness the grayscale touchscreens of past charge trackers.

I barely realized I was wearing the tracker because it was so light and fitted so well.

Despite the glare issue, the display is impressive. Although the screen is small with a 1.04 inch viewing area, it feels kind of spacious. It was easy to interact with and lacked major responsiveness issues. When wiping from left to right, I noticed very little inertia.

power

The Charge 5 is a dedicated fitness tracker, so expect support for some automatic workouts like running, walking, and biking that it offers. The Charge 5 supports a total of 20 training modes, seven of which have GPS tracking.

The Charge 5 proved to be a great motivator to schedule daily walks as my form of exercise while I dropped out of my almost daily running routine due to an injury. It automatically tracked several of my 30 minute to 1.5 hour hikes and walks with no issues. When I started running from the tracker, GPS tracking was slightly delayed, but it never took more than a minute or two to catch up.

Training days displayed on a Fitbit Charge 5.

Yoona Wagener / Digital Trends

Reminder to move on a Fitbit Charge 5.

Yoona Wagener / Digital Trends

Summary of the day view on a Fitbit Charge 5.

Yoona Wagener / Digital Trends

I compared the tracking accuracy of my walks with a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2. The Active 2 is definitely more of a smartwatch, but it fits the fitness and wellness focus of the Charge 5. The Active 2 records GPS much faster than the Charge 5 and has a responsive start / stop function, which the Charge lacks, but the two were on track in terms of performance to record my daily walking workouts. The Charge 5 met the Active 2 step for step size, average heart rate and total time.

The Charge 5 has an ambitious list of wellness specs.

While trackers are much more wellness focused than smart features, I've found that the best fitness trackers combine the two in meaningful ways. The Charge 5 does this with features like Google Fast Pair with Android phones and contactless payments with Fitbit Pay. This tracker also offers notifications for calls, SMS and emails, as well as a quick reply feature for Android users. Notifications came instantly from my iPhone and were easy to see and clear with a few taps of the finger.

Advanced features

The Fitbit brand is arguably more about wellness than fitness alone, and the Charge 5 has an ambitious list of wellness specs. In addition to the usual 24/7 heart rate monitoring, sleep cycle tracking, and active minutes and zones that most Fitbits offer, this latest tracker also offers blood oxygen saturation (SPO2) monitoring and electrodermal activity (EDA) analysis of stress levels. While more basic features like climbing floors and manual heart rate tracking would have been nice too, the Charge 5 focuses on the latest wellness technology.

Charge 5 will soon have support for the Fitbit EKG app, which allows you to take heart rhythm measurements right from your wrist. It will also provide a new Daily Readiness Score for premium members. This score analyzes your sleep and heart rate variability and looks for signs of fatigue to let you know whether your body is ready to exercise or rest. The Daily Readiness Score seems to be similar to what I've seen on Garmin smartwatches targeting multisport and triathlon tracking, which I've found to be pretty accurate and helpful for training.

EDA scan runs on a Fitbit Charge 5.Yoona Wagener / Digital Trends

software

The Charge 5 provides a clear summary of the daily statistics that is easy to see. However, like other Fitbit wearables, it is very tied to the companion app for insights into how you've slept, exercised, or moved according to the tracker. The app is also key for customizations like setting up Fitbit Pay, changing the watch face, and participating in challenges. Fortunately, the Fitbit app is very clean and not intimidating, though you may need to dive into a few hidden features if you're not familiar with the layout.

You can examine each data tile and learn more, or remove (hide) it if you are not interested in keeping track of it. None of the data appears overloaded with information. Sleep data can be particularly detailed without feeling inaccessible, and provides an overall assessment and breakdown of sleep stages. The app also offers tools to help you change your habits, such as: B. Setting a smart alarm (to wake you gently 30 minutes before the alarm clock) or assessing how stressed you feel.

Tap a Fibit Charge 5 awake.Yoona Wagener / Digital Trends

The premium subscription unlocks the deeper health data you may want to keep an eye on, such as: B. Your heart rate variability, skin temperature fluctuations and saturation of blood oxygen content (SPO2). It also gives you access to Premium's one-stop-shop wellness features, with everything from guided exercise programs to tips on how to get rid of sugar for good. Regardless of whether you pass on a premium membership or continue with it, the app interface is easy to navigate and offers the opportunity to be more concerned with your data and habits.

Battery life

Like the Charge 4, the Charge 5 also promises a potential one-week battery life. Using the dynamic GPS mode, which is based on your phone's GPS unless you have it with you, and turning off the screen that is always on are some of the battery saving features I took advantage of during my week of testing.

I experienced a solid 5.5 days which seems like a fair result as I've used the built-in GPS multiple times. While a full week would have been ideal, this battery power surely outperforms some smartwatches that only last two days. It also took about 90 minutes to charge. This charging time is tracked with Fitbit's estimate of up to two hours to charge the battery.

Price and availability

the 5. charge Retails for approximately $ 180 and ships in late September. It is available in a standard model in three different color options (black / graphite, moon white / soft gold and steel blue / platinum) and small and large ribbons.

Our opinion

The Fitbit Charge 5 is a stand-out fitness tracker that improves everything Fitbit trackers are good at. Its compact and fashionable design makes it an ultra-portable 24/7 accessory. But in addition to the modern and sleek look, it's packed with wellness features and data that you can immerse yourself in with the easy-to-use Fitbit app.

Is there a better alternative?

You will have a hard time finding a match at all of the same levels as the Charge 5. If you like the look of a traditional watch better and you're tied to a specific smartphone operating system, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 or Apple Watch SE might be compelling. If you're on a budget, the Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 better mirrors the look of the Charge 5, with a modest but helpful range of exercise modes, sleep tracking, and a possible 15-day battery life depending on usage.

How long it will take?

The Charge 5 is more advanced than any previous batch. Thanks to material upgrades, advanced wellness support and waterproof protection (for swimming up to 50 meters), you should be in good shape for several years. If something unexpected happens, the Charge 5 comes with a one-year warranty.

Should you buy it?

Yes, this is one of the best fitness trackers from a brand specializing in fitness and wellness. The Charge 5 is attractive, easy to carry, and a great choice for anyone looking for a tracker with the latest Fitbit innovations.

Editor's recommendations



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