Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit Review: A lot of work goes into installing these affordable light panels

Smart LED light panels are all the rage right now and I can see why. A spectacular set of smart lights can instantly change the atmosphere of a space, whether it’s your office or your living room, adding that bit of flair to your smart home. When done right, you even get capabilities such as voice control through your phone or smart speaker over your intelligent lighting. Names like Nanoleaf and Govee are probably the first to pop up when thinking of wall lights with fancy ambient modes and color customizability options.

You’ll be pleased to know that there is an abundance of cheap alternatives in this category. Options like the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit cost almost half as much as the ones offered by name brands. There are a few tradeoffs that you’ll have to live with, but you still get access to premium features such as Google Assistant, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit integration.

As is the case with most Chinese products though, the software side is a little weak and the physical design could use some work too. Despite the option to extensively customize every single light module, Cololight had to compromise somewhere. My review is going to unravel these problems and assess whether this affordable set of wall light panels is worth your attention.

Cololight RGB Light

The Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit is accessible to all thanks to its low price tag. You get a satisfying color payoff, fun options in-app, and voice assistant support. Prepare yourself for a complex installation process and a finicky companion app though.

Pros:

Cons:

View at Amazon

About this review: We received the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit from Cololight for review purposes. Cololight had no input in the contents of this review.

---

Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit: Design and Hardware

Every module of the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit adopts a regular hexagonal shape. The Plus Kit comes with a power base, a base mount, a number of hexagonal light panels, and Alexa/Google Assistant/HomeKit support. You can purchase this set of smart lights with a single panel or opt for the 7, 9, 12, 15, or 20-pack. Compared to the Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagons which cost about $200 for a set of seven, the 7-pack of the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit is very inexpensive at $100.

To put things in perspective, the Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels go for $200, but that version includes 10 panels. The Pro version of the Cololight Hexagon Light is even cheaper as opposed to the Plus Kit, coming in at $90 for the 6-pack and $130 for the 10-pack. All it lacks is HomeKit support, which is a fine bargain if you’re not in the Apple ecosystem.

As expected, you can always purchase just a single Cololight Hexagon Light module and expand it later. As these smart wall lights are modular by design, there’s nothing stopping you from adding more panels, up to 255 panels in total, to your kit over time. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to purchase a 5V/2A power brick separately as there’s no wall charger included in the box. If you decide to upgrade over time, also stay mindful that you might need to purchase additional connectors separately.

An individual hexagonal panel measures 86mm by 74.5mm by 30.5mm in size. They are a bit smaller than one would expect, however, once you hook up the set of lights it doesn’t make much of a difference. What I don’t like is the chunky nature of these panels. Whether you choose to attach the lights to your wall or place them as a standing showpiece, the thick sides are clearly visible and don’t look good.

The Cololight Hexagon Light panels can output excellent levels of brightness and the color payoff is brilliant.

The lights themselves can output excellent levels of brightness, and the color payoff is brilliant for what you pay. The panels have a soft matte finishing on top. This gives a more edge-to-edge connected feel to the modules when they’re on and the shades appear to flow naturally. The matte coat also dulls the sharp brightness of the light panels, going easier on your eyes.

Each light module of the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit has a microphone built in for sound reactive modes. The only physical button can be found on the power base and pressing it changes the light modes. There are a total of 19 LED bulbs within every panel and you can individually select a custom color for each one. This applies to the dynamic modes as well. These features make it sound like a fun idea to mount the Cololight Kit on your walls, but the 3.5ft power cable interferes with such plans.

I had a really hard time trying to find a long enough extension in my living room and even after that was done, the mess of cables was bothersome to look at. To top it off, Cololight uses a propriety power base with a cable attached to it, so you can’t just purchase a longer USB cable to fix this issue. If you’re an unlucky gal like me and your space doesn’t have a wall outlet nearby, you’ll be stuck with an extension cord or might have to scrap your wall-mounting plans altogether.

Desks and tables are ideal spaces for placement as you don’t need to hang the panels so high up and you’ve probably got a power outlet at hand. Alternatively, you could just build a pattern you like and let it stand on the wide base included in the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit. I believe the latter is a better idea owing to the size of the cable and the complex construction process.

Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit: Setup and Software

To be very frank, setting up the light panels is a hellish nightmare. I expected the process to be fairly simple, but I ended up being way in over my head. Not only do you have to know exactly what shape you’re gunning for from the start, but you also need to plan where each power connector will be placed. If it doesn’t match the pattern from the one in the app, your lights will not display the dynamic modes accurately.

Just like the flow of water from one pool to the next, the lights follow the path of the connectors in the dynamic lighting modes. It’s not always necessary to follow the templates in the app but if you want to match the output from one of the dynamic modes, you have to follow the instructions. Even if you’re planning to create your own custom static or dynamic mode, you’ll need to select the pattern of the connectors and enter it into the app. I find this unnecessarily complicated and extremely user-unfriendly.

Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit templates in the Android app

All that confusing connection also means that before you connect the panels, you’ll need to set up the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit on your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi using your Android or iOS phone. The app installs and sets up fairly easily, but it can be a laggy experience. My Pixel 6 froze a couple of times during the process, leading me to start all over. I assumed that my Pixel was at fault, but testing with three other phones gave me the same result.

After painstakingly assembling your design to match the layout from the app, you have to then replicate the pattern with the backplates.

After you have painstakingly assembled your design to match the layout from the app, you can’t just throw in the towel and call it a day. Next, you’ll have to create the same pattern again using the plastic frames or backplates for support, complete with connector plates and everything. It is a laborious undertaking and I had to sacrifice many a nail in my endeavors. Once the frame is completed, it needs to be attached to the backside of the Cololight panels.

Without the frame, your light panels will just fall out of place. If you attempt to stick them on the wall as is, the entire rig will fall apart as soon as you pick it up. There are two options available to you for mounting on flat surfaces like walls and Cololight thoughtfully includes them in the Hexagon Light Plus Kit.

You get plenty of circular 3M adhesives as well as screws for nailing your panels in place. I can vouch for the durability of the adhesive — those sticky patches don’t budge. That does make it difficult to remove them though, and you should be prepared for some damage to the paint job after removal. So do keep this in mind.

The Cololight app is full to the brim with rich features. You get wonderful presets that can stay stationary, move, and ambiently change according to the music playing. The DIY mode is playful and allows you to exercise your creativity. You can also collectively give instructions to a bunch of different kits if you have multiple Cololight products. This can be done by creating a “Group” inside the Cololight app.

The slow response and laggy nature of the Cololight app take away from what it could have been.

Unfortunately, the slow response of the app takes away from what it could have been. Navigating through the options and modes is hard enough, but you also have to factor in its stability. The Cololight app seems to have a mind of its own and hangs far too often. Sometimes it crashes and other times it freezes. At times, you’re left with no other option except to restart the app. This especially happened with me a lot when I tried to use complicated functions such as creating my own custom dynamic mode.

Voice commands can be executed through Alexa, Google Assistant, or HomeKit. These are limited to simple instructions such as turning the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit on and off or changing the color to a single, static shade. As Cololight is owned by Lifesmart, you’ll have to look for Lifesmart under the Google Home app or any of the other compatible smart home management apps. This is not explicitly mentioned anywhere and I had a hard time figuring it out at first.

Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit: Should you buy it?

Overall, the performance of the Cololight Hexagon Light panels is more than satisfactory. They look mesmerizing and the colors are beautiful. You’ll especially enjoy the paper-like appearance of the light panels. The single button situated on the power base makes it easy to switch through the light presets without using voice assistants or the app.

The complicated setup process is what really takes the mickey out of this smart home product. It seems ridiculous and unnecessary that you need to follow the templates to a T to achieve certain results, down to the very connectors. Then there are the hard plastic backplates that require even more time and energy to construct and attach to your Hexagon Light Plus Kit. You can’t just build as you like the Nanoleaf Shapes or the Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels.

HomeKit integration gives Cololight a leg up, combined with the competitive price tag. Personally, I would rather pay a few bucks more just for a more stable app and an easier installation process. If you think that all that time and effort is worth the extra savings, then you should go ahead and grab the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit. Once it’s all fixed up and placed in a nice spot, the cascading smart lights will bring much delight.

Cololight RGB Light

The Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit requires a lot of patience. If you're up to the task, these pleasant ambient lights will serve you well. The buggy app, however, will not.

View at Amazon

The post Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit Review: A lot of work goes into installing these affordable light panels appeared first on XDA.

from XDA https://ift.tt/qIKBQf4
via IFTTT

Amazon Echo (4th Gen) Review: Still the King in 2022

The Amazon Echo is one of those products that truly kickstarted a whole category. The best smart speakers now come from far and wide, many using the same Alexa voice platform. Amazon wasn’t the first to bring a voice assistant to the world, in fact coming behind Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Alexa debuted in late 2014 on the original Amazon Echo. The Genesis moment. The rest is history. The competition is fierce but the Amazon Echo continues to not only exist but improve with each iteration. We’re now up to the 4th generation of the Amazon Echo and it looks a lot different from the first. The iconic cylinder is no more, Alexa as a platform has grown with each passing year, and in many homes, it’s become part of the family. My kids don’t really know of the Amazon Echo, they just know to talk to Alexa and ask for the Encanto soundtrack.

That ease of use is part of what has always made the Amazon Echo such a great device. Even if you’ve never owned one, you probably know who — or rather, what — Alexa is. It’s one of those technologies that transcended its hardware and found its way into the wider world. Now, the Amazon Echo is but a piece in the puzzle, Alexa is everywhere. On your speaker, on your wrist, on your TV, or in your car. But it all started on the Echo.

It’s now 2022, almost eight years on from the debut of the Amazon Echo. Google has some first-rate alternatives, Apple has its own, and third parties such as Sonos are onboard with voice assistants. Is there still a place for the Amazon Echo or has it been usurped by a younger, funkier alternative?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The latest generation of the original smart speaker continues to set the bar with a nice design, great sound and the sheer magnitude of possibilities from the Alexa ecosystem.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Amazon

Navigate this review:

• Pricing and availability
• Specs
• Design and features
• Audio
• Should you buy an Amazon Echo?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen): Pricing and Availability

Amazon has pretty wide global support for both the Amazon Echo and Alexa, selling through its own store. Even those using “international versions” have varying services available if not full support.

The Amazon Echo (4th Gen) is, unsurprisingly, available primarily through Amazon with a regular retail price of $100. You get a choice of three colors, too, with white, blue, and charcoal all available. You can also find them at third-party retailers, such as Best Buy in the U.S., for the same price.

The real magic about shopping for an Amazon Echo is grabbing one at one of the regular discount events. The biggest ones are Prime Day and Black Friday every year, but there will also be sporadic sales throughout the year and Amazon isn’t shy about providing big price cuts on them.

Amazon Echo (4th Gen): Specs

Specification	Amazon Echo 4th Generation
Audio	1 x 3-inch woofer, 2 x 0.8-inch tweeters
Connectivity	802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz) Zigbee Bluetooth Amazon Sidewalk
Ports	3.5mm audio jack
Controls	Voice-activated Play/pause Volume Microphone mute
Dimensions	5.7 x 5.7 x 5.2 inches
Weight	0.96kg
Colors	Charcoal White Blue
Price	$100

Design and Features: The center of your smart home

The latest generation of Amazon Echo moves away from the cylindrical design for the first time. Instead, you now get a sphere, and given the size, I liken it to holding a crystal ball as you extricate it from the packaging. The base is naturally flat, but otherwise, it’s a perfect Echo ball. The controls are still up top, the power connector is still around the back. But the ring light now runs around the bottom with the same iconic blue hue when you trigger it with the magic word.

The newest design for the Amazon Echo is a big departure, and it's a winner.

The move to a sphere means that it’s a lot wider than any of its predecessors. But I also think this design just looks better in the home. That’s subjective, of course, but having owned previous generations right back to the original, the newest is definitely my favorite in appearance. I’ve got the blue one to make a change from past years, and it’s OK. But I wish it was one of the others. It’s not a bad color, but it’s not the greatest shade of blue ever and it clashes with the aesthetics in basically each of my rooms. My tip would be to grab the white one, but maybe the blue does fit into your aesthetics.

The design is supposed to get out of the way and it does. If you need to touch it, you can, but 99% of the time you’re going to be using your voice. The power cable hooks up in the back so you have some possibility of neat cable management, right next to the 3.5mm jack. The Amazon Echo can be hooked up over cable to your existing music system to add some smarts and additional audio power.

Better than this though is the ability to create a stereo pair in the Alexa app. If you also own a Fire TV, this makes for an affordable, easy-to-use home theater setup that you never have to get up from the couch to control. It’s a similar ecosystem play to the Apple TV and the HomePod Mini, and you can’t deny how awesome it is. The last way to get audio out of the Echo is over Bluetooth. This feels more like Amazon couldn’t really leave it out, but it’s nicer to have it and not use it than the other way around.

Inside the Amazon Echo, you also find a Zigbee smart home hub. The most common way of using an Echo with your smart home is through Alexa. But Alexa requires a data connection, a local Zigbee hub does not. Zigbee also uses a different connection with a much lower data speed, so devices are both power efficient and don’t add to network noise on your home Wi-Fi.

I don’t have any Zigbee compatible devices on hand to use with the Amazon Echo, but there are some popular brands that support the technology. Philips Hue is probably the most well-known, along with the likes of SmartThings, Ring, and even some smart door locks. You might not ever touch it, but again, it’s good that it’s there for those who do want it. It makes the Amazon Echo a true smart home hub.

For everything else, there’s Alexa. You can mute the microphone whenever you don’t want the Echo to listen, but other times you just say her name, and away you go. This review isn’t long enough to talk about all the services and skills you can use with the Amazon Echo. Just know that it’s a lot. All the major smart home devices, most of the lesser-known ones, your Xbox, your Fitbit, there’s a ridiculous array of devices that can hook into Alexa.

It means the Amazon Echo can be what you make of it. You could just use it to listen to music and podcasts. Or you could use it to command and automate your entire home. That extends to home security, too, though Alexa Guard probably isn’t the first reason you’d be buying an Echo. Nor is the motion-sensing capabilities, but it sends a clear message about why smart home enthusiasts should look towards Amazon.

Audio: The Amazon Echo (4th Gen) packs a punch

For those who hunt for the highest quality audio, the Echo Studio exists. For those who just want something that sounds good, the Amazon Echo is generally excellent. That starts with what Amazon crammed inside this ball of fun. There’s a 3-inch (76mm) woofer paired with two 0.8-inch (20mm) tweeters, so you get a ton of bass. I’m not the biggest fan of overpowering lows, but generally, the output from the Echo is pleasing.

The Amazon Echo packs a punch with its three speaker setup delivering big sound.

On stock settings, you have a warm tone but you can lose a little clarity and volume from vocals. The sound doesn’t suffer from distortion at higher volumes and it’s a nice room filler. The Amazon Echo sounds like a much larger speaker than it actually is.

You do have some basic controls to tweak the audio, but they are pretty buried in the settings. Amazon could definitely do a better job at putting audio controls for your devices within easier reach. When you find them, though, you have sliders for bass, mids, and treble. Equalizer presets would be nice, but at least you can customize them manually.

If you find yourself looking for even more bass you can link the Amazon Echo to the Amazon Echo Sub. With a stereo pair and one of these, you’ll have a real room shaker.

The sound from the Amazon Echo is good, though, especially for something that costs just $100 and has all the smart features included. The Google Nest Audio perhaps sounds a little better for music, but the Echo will surprise you with how good it is.

Should you buy an Amazon Echo (4th Gen)?

The $64,000 question; should you buy an Amazon Echo in 2022? The answer is a resounding yes. For most people, the Amazon Echo is the perfect addition to their homes. If you’re a music fan it’s worth the extra spend over the Echo Dot for the added, well, everything. The new design is the best yet and while the blue is probably the worst looking, it’s not a disaster.

Perhaps the only thing really missing from the latest Amazon Echo is the LED clock found on the Echo Dot. It would be a nice little addition, even if it was an optional model that cost a little more. But on the whole, it’s really hard to pick fault with this thing.

Amazon’s eight years of making smart speakers show through. When the Echo first debuted and Alexa was new, it was exciting and a device to get enthusiastic about. To some degree that’s worn off. It’s the best at what it does, absolutely anyone can use one, it doesn’t cost a lot and you can’t really, truly find anything meaningful wrong with it. Honestly, the Amazon Echo is so good you could also say it’s actually a bit boring. But is there anything wrong with that?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The Amazon Echo is the best all-around smart speaker for most people with a nice design, great sound and the immense power of the Alexa ecosystem at its disposal.

See at Amazon

The post Amazon Echo (4th Gen) Review: Still the King in 2022 appeared first on XDA.

from XDA https://ift.tt/haWTMSI
via IFTTT

Amazon Echo (4th Gen) Review: Still the King in 2022

The Amazon Echo is one of those products that truly kickstarted a whole category. The best smart speakers now come from far and wide, many using the same Alexa voice platform. Amazon wasn’t the first to bring a voice assistant to the world, in fact coming behind Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Alexa debuted in late 2014 on the original Amazon Echo. The Genesis moment. The rest is history. The competition is fierce but the Amazon Echo continues to not only exist but improve with each iteration. We’re now up to the 4th generation of the Amazon Echo and it looks a lot different from the first. The iconic cylinder is no more, Alexa as a platform has grown with each passing year, and in many homes, it’s become part of the family. My kids don’t really know of the Amazon Echo, they just know to talk to Alexa and ask for the Encanto soundtrack.

That ease of use is part of what has always made the Amazon Echo such a great device. Even if you’ve never owned one, you probably know who — or rather, what — Alexa is. It’s one of those technologies that transcended its hardware and found its way into the wider world. Now, the Amazon Echo is but a piece in the puzzle, Alexa is everywhere. On your speaker, on your wrist, on your TV, or in your car. But it all started on the Echo.

It’s now 2022, almost eight years on from the debut of the Amazon Echo. Google has some first-rate alternatives, Apple has its own, and third parties such as Sonos are onboard with voice assistants. Is there still a place for the Amazon Echo or has it been usurped by a younger, funkier alternative?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The latest generation of the original smart speaker continues to set the bar with a nice design, great sound and the sheer magnitude of possibilities from the Alexa ecosystem.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Amazon

Navigate this review:

• Pricing and availability
• Specs
• Design and features
• Audio
• Should you buy an Amazon Echo?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen): Pricing and Availability

Amazon has pretty wide global support for both the Amazon Echo and Alexa, selling through its own store. Even those using “international versions” have varying services available if not full support.

The Amazon Echo (4th Gen) is, unsurprisingly, available primarily through Amazon with a regular retail price of $100. You get a choice of three colors, too, with white, blue, and charcoal all available. You can also find them at third-party retailers, such as Best Buy in the U.S., for the same price.

The real magic about shopping for an Amazon Echo is grabbing one at one of the regular discount events. The biggest ones are Prime Day and Black Friday every year, but there will also be sporadic sales throughout the year and Amazon isn’t shy about providing big price cuts on them.

Amazon Echo (4th Gen): Specs

Specification	Amazon Echo 4th Generation
Audio	1 x 3-inch woofer, 2 x 0.8-inch tweeters
Connectivity	802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz) Zigbee Bluetooth Amazon Sidewalk
Ports	3.5mm audio jack
Controls	Voice-activated Play/pause Volume Microphone mute
Dimensions	5.7 x 5.7 x 5.2 inches
Weight	0.96kg
Colors	Charcoal White Blue
Price	$100

Design and Features: The center of your smart home

The latest generation of Amazon Echo moves away from the cylindrical design for the first time. Instead, you now get a sphere, and given the size, I liken it to holding a crystal ball as you extricate it from the packaging. The base is naturally flat, but otherwise, it’s a perfect Echo ball. The controls are still up top, the power connector is still around the back. But the ring light now runs around the bottom with the same iconic blue hue when you trigger it with the magic word.

The newest design for the Amazon Echo is a big departure, and it's a winner.

The move to a sphere means that it’s a lot wider than any of its predecessors. But I also think this design just looks better in the home. That’s subjective, of course, but having owned previous generations right back to the original, the newest is definitely my favorite in appearance. I’ve got the blue one to make a change from past years, and it’s OK. But I wish it was one of the others. It’s not a bad color, but it’s not the greatest shade of blue ever and it clashes with the aesthetics in basically each of my rooms. My tip would be to grab the white one, but maybe the blue does fit into your aesthetics.

The design is supposed to get out of the way and it does. If you need to touch it, you can, but 99% of the time you’re going to be using your voice. The power cable hooks up in the back so you have some possibility of neat cable management, right next to the 3.5mm jack. The Amazon Echo can be hooked up over cable to your existing music system to add some smarts and additional audio power.

Better than this though is the ability to create a stereo pair in the Alexa app. If you also own a Fire TV, this makes for an affordable, easy-to-use home theater setup that you never have to get up from the couch to control. It’s a similar ecosystem play to the Apple TV and the HomePod Mini, and you can’t deny how awesome it is. The last way to get audio out of the Echo is over Bluetooth. This feels more like Amazon couldn’t really leave it out, but it’s nicer to have it and not use it than the other way around.

Inside the Amazon Echo, you also find a Zigbee smart home hub. The most common way of using an Echo with your smart home is through Alexa. But Alexa requires a data connection, a local Zigbee hub does not. Zigbee also uses a different connection with a much lower data speed, so devices are both power efficient and don’t add to network noise on your home Wi-Fi.

I don’t have any Zigbee compatible devices on hand to use with the Amazon Echo, but there are some popular brands that support the technology. Philips Hue is probably the most well-known, along with the likes of SmartThings, Ring, and even some smart door locks. You might not ever touch it, but again, it’s good that it’s there for those who do want it. It makes the Amazon Echo a true smart home hub.

For everything else, there’s Alexa. You can mute the microphone whenever you don’t want the Echo to listen, but other times you just say her name, and away you go. This review isn’t long enough to talk about all the services and skills you can use with the Amazon Echo. Just know that it’s a lot. All the major smart home devices, most of the lesser-known ones, your Xbox, your Fitbit, there’s a ridiculous array of devices that can hook into Alexa.

It means the Amazon Echo can be what you make of it. You could just use it to listen to music and podcasts. Or you could use it to command and automate your entire home. That extends to home security, too, though Alexa Guard probably isn’t the first reason you’d be buying an Echo. Nor is the motion-sensing capabilities, but it sends a clear message about why smart home enthusiasts should look towards Amazon.

Audio: The Amazon Echo (4th Gen) packs a punch

For those who hunt for the highest quality audio, the Echo Studio exists. For those who just want something that sounds good, the Amazon Echo is generally excellent. That starts with what Amazon crammed inside this ball of fun. There’s a 3-inch (76mm) woofer paired with two 0.8-inch (20mm) tweeters, so you get a ton of bass. I’m not the biggest fan of overpowering lows, but generally, the output from the Echo is pleasing.

The Amazon Echo packs a punch with its three speaker setup delivering big sound.

On stock settings, you have a warm tone but you can lose a little clarity and volume from vocals. The sound doesn’t suffer from distortion at higher volumes and it’s a nice room filler. The Amazon Echo sounds like a much larger speaker than it actually is.

You do have some basic controls to tweak the audio, but they are pretty buried in the settings. Amazon could definitely do a better job at putting audio controls for your devices within easier reach. When you find them, though, you have sliders for bass, mids, and treble. Equalizer presets would be nice, but at least you can customize them manually.

If you find yourself looking for even more bass you can link the Amazon Echo to the Amazon Echo Sub. With a stereo pair and one of these, you’ll have a real room shaker.

The sound from the Amazon Echo is good, though, especially for something that costs just $100 and has all the smart features included. The Google Nest Audio perhaps sounds a little better for music, but the Echo will surprise you with how good it is.

Should you buy an Amazon Echo (4th Gen)?

The $64,000 question; should you buy an Amazon Echo in 2022? The answer is a resounding yes. For most people, the Amazon Echo is the perfect addition to their homes. If you’re a music fan it’s worth the extra spend over the Echo Dot for the added, well, everything. The new design is the best yet and while the blue is probably the worst looking, it’s not a disaster.

Perhaps the only thing really missing from the latest Amazon Echo is the LED clock found on the Echo Dot. It would be a nice little addition, even if it was an optional model that cost a little more. But on the whole, it’s really hard to pick fault with this thing.

Amazon’s eight years of making smart speakers show through. When the Echo first debuted and Alexa was new, it was exciting and a device to get enthusiastic about. To some degree that’s worn off. It’s the best at what it does, absolutely anyone can use one, it doesn’t cost a lot and you can’t really, truly find anything meaningful wrong with it. Honestly, the Amazon Echo is so good you could also say it’s actually a bit boring. But is there anything wrong with that?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The Amazon Echo is the best all-around smart speaker for most people with a nice design, great sound and the immense power of the Alexa ecosystem at its disposal.

See at Amazon

The post Amazon Echo (4th Gen) Review: Still the King in 2022 appeared first on XDA.

from XDA https://ift.tt/haWTMSI
via IFTTT

Skyline is an in-development Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works

You can do a lot with an Android smartphone, and the number of emulators that you can get for modern and retro systems alike is incredible. From age-old systems like the NES right up to the Nintendo 3DS, you can play them all from the comfort of your phone. Emulating more recent systems, such as the Nintendo Switch is, a bit more difficult. However, following a conceptual Nintendo Switch emulator launch and then a shady emulator that required a particular gamepad to use, Skyline is the first proper Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works, and you can test it out already.

To roll back a little bit, Skyline has been in development for over a year now, and only recently did some games become playable. As I was told by one of the developers, Skyline is extremely specific to just Android devices and has been built from the ground up following that philosophy — all while making use of community projects to assist its development. For example, Ryujinx is used as a reference throughout the project thanks to its accuracy, and the shader compiler used in Skyline is a fork of yuzu’s. Both the teams behind Ryujinx and yuzu have provided assistance in Skyline’s development, with the Skyline team also being granted a license exemption when it comes to yuzu.

At the moment, the developers tend to focus on getting one game at a time running. The first was Sonic Mania, the second was Celeste, and now the third that’s currently undergoing work is Super Mario Odyssey. This is because when one game runs nearly perfectly, incidentally, other games will start to work, too.

The Skyline app

The Skyline app itself is pretty bare-bones, though it has all of the features that you need. You can set a theme, the layout, performance statistics, change how logs are saved, username, language, and more. There’s also controller support with support for more than one, so that you can play multiplayer with friends. All you need is to ensure that you have your production keys and title keys along with your games, and you can get those by dumping your keys with Lockpick RCM on your Nintendo Switch.

Game compatibility is hit or miss

Currently, Skyline isn’t in a completely playable state right now — in fact, far from it. A lot of games don’t work, and the playable section of the compatibility list is rather short. That being said, we tested out both Super Mario Odyssey and Celeste to give you an idea of what to expect, and it’s quite impressive, to say the least. We also tried to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons but it didn’t run. Note that while the below recording’s audio is out of sync, the audio was not out of sync when playing.

Celeste

Celeste is a fun platformer that’s available on a lot of platforms, though not on Android. It runs between 40 and 60 FPS on my OnePlus 10 Pro with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, making it perfectly playable. It’s a lot of fun, though the touch controls are a little bit dodgy, though that’s because the game requires pretty precise input.

Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is a game that is the latest focus of the Skyline team’s efforts. Currently, it can kind of show the menu, but the world itself doesn’t load on my OnePlus 10 Pro. 3D games are harder than 2D games to emulate, so it could be a while before you see this one running properly on a device.

Download and install Skyline

If you want to give Skyline a try, be sure to join the team’s Discord to see the latest APKs available for download, and read the rules before talking on the server as well. You will need a GitHub account, and typing “.rl ftx1” in the bot commands channel will give you a link to download the latest APK for your device. Otherwise, you can build the app yourself from its source code on GitHub by following the team’s build instructions.

The post Skyline is an in-development Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works appeared first on XDA.

from XDA https://ift.tt/skTUv9d
via IFTTT

Skyline is an in-development Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works

You can do a lot with an Android smartphone, and the number of emulators that you can get for modern and retro systems alike is incredible. From age-old systems like the NES right up to the Nintendo 3DS, you can play them all from the comfort of your phone. Emulating more recent systems, such as the Nintendo Switch is, a bit more difficult. However, following a conceptual Nintendo Switch emulator launch and then a shady emulator that required a particular gamepad to use, Skyline is the first proper Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works, and you can test it out already.

To roll back a little bit, Skyline has been in development for over a year now, and only recently did some games become playable. As I was told by one of the developers, Skyline is extremely specific to just Android devices and has been built from the ground up following that philosophy — all while making use of community projects to assist its development. For example, Ryujinx is used as a reference throughout the project thanks to its accuracy, and the shader compiler used in Skyline is a fork of yuzu’s. Both the teams behind Ryujinx and yuzu have provided assistance in Skyline’s development, with the Skyline team also being granted a license exemption when it comes to yuzu.

At the moment, the developers tend to focus on getting one game at a time running. The first was Sonic Mania, the second was Celeste, and now the third that’s currently undergoing work is Super Mario Odyssey. This is because when one game runs nearly perfectly, incidentally, other games will start to work, too.

The Skyline app

The Skyline app itself is pretty bare-bones, though it has all of the features that you need. You can set a theme, the layout, performance statistics, change how logs are saved, username, language, and more. There’s also controller support with support for more than one, so that you can play multiplayer with friends. All you need is to ensure that you have your production keys and title keys along with your games, and you can get those by dumping your keys with Lockpick RCM on your Nintendo Switch.

Game compatibility is hit or miss

Currently, Skyline isn’t in a completely playable state right now — in fact, far from it. A lot of games don’t work, and the playable section of the compatibility list is rather short. That being said, we tested out both Super Mario Odyssey and Celeste to give you an idea of what to expect, and it’s quite impressive, to say the least. We also tried to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons but it didn’t run. Note that while the below recording’s audio is out of sync, the audio was not out of sync when playing.

Celeste

Celeste is a fun platformer that’s available on a lot of platforms, though not on Android. It runs between 40 and 60 FPS on my OnePlus 10 Pro with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, making it perfectly playable. It’s a lot of fun, though the touch controls are a little bit dodgy, though that’s because the game requires pretty precise input.

Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is a game that is the latest focus of the Skyline team’s efforts. Currently, it can kind of show the menu, but the world itself doesn’t load on my OnePlus 10 Pro. 3D games are harder than 2D games to emulate, so it could be a while before you see this one running properly on a device.

Download and install Skyline

If you want to give Skyline a try, be sure to join the team’s Discord to see the latest APKs available for download, and read the rules before talking on the server as well. You will need a GitHub account, and typing “.rl ftx1” in the bot commands channel will give you a link to download the latest APK for your device. Otherwise, you can build the app yourself from its source code on GitHub by following the team’s build instructions.

The post Skyline is an in-development Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works appeared first on XDA.

from XDA https://ift.tt/skTUv9d
via IFTTT

OnePlus Nord N20 5G Hands On: Pretty phone with some questionable choices

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G is in the house, and there’s a lot to love here for an inexpensive Android phone. The successor to the Snapdragon 690-powered Nord N10 5G, the Nord N20 has a Snapdragon 695 with an improved CPU and the same GPU. Aside from the internal improvements, there’s a better camera, a 60Hz AMOLED display instead of a 90Hz LCD, and 33W SuperVOOC charging. It also comes with an all-new design, which actually reminds me a bit of the OnePlus X (that’s right; we’re going back to those days).

There’s a lot to unpack here. It’s a lot of good, some bad, and frankly, most of the bad goes away when you factor in the price point for the intended market.

Navigate this article:

• OnePlus Nord N20 5G: Specs
• OnePlus Nord N20 design and display
• OnePlus Nord N20 5G has a 64MP f/1.8 camera, which needs work
• 33W SuperVOOC charging is lightning fast
• Performance is solid, but incremental
• Conclusion

OnePlus Nord N20 5G: Specifications

Specification	OnePlus Nord N20 5G
Display	6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED 60Hz refresh rate
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 695
RAM & Storage	6GB RAM + 128GB storage Expandable up to 512GB
Battery & Charging	4,500mAh 33W wired fast charging
Security	In-display fingerprint scanner
Rear Camera(s)	Primary: 64MP Monochrome: 2MP Macro: 2MP
Front Camera(s)	16MP
Port(s)	USB Type-C
Audio	N/A
Connectivity	5G 4G LTE Wi-Fi Bluetooth
Software	OxygenOS 11 based on Android 11

About this hands-on: OnePlus US shared the OnePlus Nord N20 5G with us for review. OnePlus did not have any input in this hands-on.

OnePlus Nord N20: Design and Display

I want to be clear that in my opinion, this is the most beautifully designed OnePlus device that we’ve seen in a very long time. I wish this was the OnePlus 10 Pro; it looks so good. The Nord N10 5G looked like a plasticky version of a premium OnePlus device, with smaller camera housing. In other words, if you held a Nord N10 next to a OnePlus 9 Pro, it was clear that the Nord was the cheaper sibling.

That’s not the case anymore. The Nord N20 has a flat back and flat sides, something we haven’t seen in a OnePlus device since the Snapdragon 801-powered OnePlus X. Indeed, despite the 8-series processor, the X was the firm’s first attempt at the mid-range, so the throwback is fitting.

The blue color sparkles in the light, and it’s delightful to look at. This is a device that looks and feels premium.

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G keeps the headphone jack. I didn’t test it out, because frankly, I haven’t used a headphone jack in years. But the option is there for users who want to, and that is what matters.

Just like its predecessor, the Nord N20 doesn’t have my favorite OnePlus feature, the alert slider to turn on and off notification sounds. On the OnePlus 10 Pro and other flagships, it has settings for sound, vibrate, and silent. You won’t find it here, so you have to toggle the sound states from the software as you do on every other Android device.

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G has a 6.43-inch 2,400 x 1,080 AMOLED display, which has a 60Hz refresh rate. Thanks to the AMOLED technology, you get true blacks and more vibrant colors than the backlit LCD that was on the N10. However, as tends to be the case with budget phones like this, that comes with a trade-off. The screen is indeed prettier, but it doesn’t have the 90Hz refresh rate that we saw on the N10.

I don’t want to go too deep into the refresh rate, because frankly, this is a sub-$300 phone and the scope of this article is not to compare it to the 120Hz screen on the OnePlus 10 Pro. That would be silly. The OLED screen is beautiful, but it’s not as smooth as the screen on the N10. Devices outside of the US do come with a better positioned 90Hz AMOLED that would have been a good upgrade for this Nord series, but the US market has fewer options when you go down the budget. So you get a 60Hz AMOLED instead. The phone also comes with a hole-punch cut-out, which is a bit smaller than the one on its predecessor.

Ultimately, I love the design of this device, and for the price, I like the display as well. This is a phone that feels good to carry, and I reckon that average consumers shopping in this price range will agree on these points as well.

OnePlus Nord N20 5G has a 64MP f/1.8 camera, which needs work

Alright, I’ve praised the design, so now it’s time to look at something that doesn’t work. That’s the camera. I have no doubt that OnePlus will improve this with a few updates in the first few weeks of availability, but you should not rely on that happening.

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G has a 64MP main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, and that’s it. There’s no ultra-wide sensor, and no telephoto lens. It has a couple of sticker cameras, including a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens, both of which will provide zero value to you throughout the lifetime of the phone. We call them sticker lenses because they may as well be stickers, and they only serve the purpose of allowing the OEM to say that it’s a triple-lens camera.

First, let’s go straight into samples, including some from the 16MP front camera.

I didn’t go too crazy, since this is just a hands-on article and I’ve only had the phone for a short period. You’ve got some low-light photos from when I was out to dinner, and some nighttime photos. There are some issues here. First, we’re going to compare one of these photos to one taken with the iPhone 13 Pro. Yes, I know it’s silly to compare a $300 phone to a thousand-dollar phone, but this isn’t about hardware quality. It’s about the color reproduction.

OnePlus Nord N20 5G	iPhone 13 Pro

To be clear, I originally had no intention of shooting this shot with my iPhone at all, and to be clear, it’s the iPhone that’s accurate while the Nord is completely washed out. The reason I pulled out my iPhone was that I saw the results on the Nord and realized just how bad they were. It’s really bad.

Here’s the issue. In my opinion, smartphone cameras require a lot of trust. Even with a $300 smartphone, the user is going to use that camera, and they need to know what they’re getting when they take that phone out of their pocket to get that shot. The biggest flaw is taking a picture and not knowing if you’ll get the desired result. Other pictures looked fine. This one looks horrible.

Other shortcomings of the camera are pretty typical for a mid-ranger like this one. The nighttime photos don’t handle tricky lighting very well, and it’s tough to focus on certain parts of images like flowers.

33W SuperVOOC charging is fast

This year’s OnePlus 10 Pro ships with 80W SuperVOOC charging (and 65W SuperVOOC in the US), but we shouldn’t ignore just how fast 33W SuperVOOC is on a sub-$300 device. The Nord N10 supported Warp Charge 30T, and I’ve noticed relatively slow charging speeds from plugging the 33W SuperVOOC charger into it. Frankly, that’s neither here nor there, as the charger does come in the box, so you probably won’t use a Nord N20 charger to charge a Nord N10, or vice versa.

I did compare the charging speed to that of the OnePlus 10 Pro, which actually uses 65W SuperVOOC in the United States, so to be clear, 80W charging isn’t being used here.

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G took 73 minutes to charge from 0-100% for its 4,500mAh battery, which is pretty great. With double the wattage, the OnePlus 10 Pro takes half the time, which shouldn’t be surprising. You also get up to 80% in less than 45 minutes, so you’re still getting a lot of juice in a short amount of time.

Performance is solid, but incremental

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G packs a Snapdragon 695 chipset and 6GB LPDDR4x RAM, along with 128GB UFS 2.2 storage. This is a modest improvement over the Snapdragon 690 that was in the Nord N10, especially given that the predecessor had the same RAM and the same amount of storage, although the storage in the N10 was UFS 2.1. You continue to retain the microSD slot on this device as well.

	Geekbench single-core	Geekbench multi-core	AnTuTu
OnePlus Nord N10 5G	605	1,847	345,671
OnePlus Nord N20 5G	687	1,956	375,885

Given the price, I feel like you’re getting more than you pay for here. The biggest competitor in the space is going to be Motorola’s Moto G, and I don’t think they’re as competitive as they used to be. Even the latest Moto G costs $100 more than this, packing an HD 90Hz display, 6GB RAM, and a Dimensity 700.

Also, strangely, the Nord N20 runs Android 11, which seems like an odd choice given that Android 13 is around the corner. OnePlus is promising one major update, which will then bring this device to Android 12 in the future. The device should have launched with Android 12 in 2022, which would then give any water to the update promise — otherwise, OnePlus is just playing catchup. The company does promise a total of three years of security updates as well.

Conclusion

There is a lot that I love about the OnePlus Nord N20 5G, and there’s some that I don’t. Let’s start with the bad.

The camera is unacceptable. The reason that it’s unacceptable isn’t to do with low-light performance or general image quality. If that was the case, it would be a matter of managing expectations. It’s unacceptable because you won’t know if you’re going to get a good photo or not. Things might be fine most of the time, but then you’ll go to shoot the wrong color in the wrong lighting, and suddenly, you won’t be able to capture that memory the way you remember it.

The display feels shaky if you’re used to a higher refresh rate, but that AMOLED screen sure does look pretty. And I have to say, if I’m choosing between this 60Hz AMOLED display or the 90Hz LCD of the Nord N10, I’m picking this one. Your opinion may differ, and yes, a 90Hz AMOLED would have served the best of both worlds.

And of course, the design of this phone is just stunning. I wasn’t kidding when I said I think this is the prettiest phone since the OnePlus X. It’s a touch of Pacific Blue iPhone 12 Pro with the frosted back, a touch of the LG Velvet with the lack of a large camera housing, and yet it’s still definitively OnePlus. You’ll feel good about carrying this around. 33W SuperVOOC charging is pretty sweet too. A lot of companies still aren’t including charging with this wattage in flagships, let alone lower mid-tier devices.

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G is available now from T-Mobile for $282 full price, or free if you add a new line. At that price, it becomes hard to see faults even though some choices on the phone can be considered questionable. The US smartphone does not have a whole lot of good options under $300, and if you care about the experience beyond the simple spec sheet, the OnePlus Nord N20 ticks that box and lets you get a phone that seemingly works for what it says it can do. The previous Nords have done well in the US market, and there’s nothing really here that fundamentally impedes this one from doing so again. So if you are in the market for a budget smartphone, the OnePlus Nord N20 is worth considering.

OnePlus Nord N20 5G

The OnePlus Nord N20 5G looks to succeed the Nord N10 in the US market, but makes some curious decisions in the process like a lower refresh rate but AMOLED display, Android 11, and more.

Buy at T-Mobile

The post OnePlus Nord N20 5G Hands On: Pretty phone with some questionable choices appeared first on XDA.

from XDA https://ift.tt/5jBNGEk
via IFTTT