Good news for those patiently waiting for a Steam Deck. Valve has announced through its Twitter account that it has finished the last batch of Q2 shipments and is on track to begin shipping its Q3 reservations. In addition, Valve has revealed that it will also be shipping more than double its previous pre-order volume each week in Q3 2022.
Those who reserved a Steam Deck and are in the Q3 2022 reservation window can expect an email from Valve starting June 30. On top of this exciting news, the company has indicated that the production of the device has “picked up.” This means that going forward, the company will be shipping more than double the amount of consoles every week during the third quarter of 2022.
While optimistic, the company does state to be patient, as it will take some time for the wave of Q3 emails to go out. Naturally, if you are anxious and can’t wait, you can always log in to your Steam account to check the status of your reservation. Although this is great news for those that pre-ordered the device, there is still no word about the Steam Deck Docking Station that was delayed due to a parts shortage. Hopefully, Valve will shed more light on this soon.
Valve has made strides with its console, offering new Windows drivers, despite its stance on loading unsupported operating systems on its console. The firm has also partnered with iFixit, just in case you need to repair your device, it now offers official replacement parts. Furthermore, it has updated its firmware to version 3.2, bringing improvements to fan controls, refresh rate, and frame rate controls. Finally, the firm has continually increased compatibility with its existing game library. If you still haven’t ordered your Steam Deck due to the shipping delays, you might want to order it right away if you want to get it in time for the holiday season.
Fossil’s new Gen 6 Hybrid range of smartwatches is now available for purchase in various markets. Fossil unveiled the new range late last week and confirmed that it would be available in the US starting today. The company has now confirmed that the new Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid smartwatches will also be available in the Indian market starting today.
In case you missed our previous coverage, the new Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid range includes two designs — Machine and Stella. The Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid Machine comes in a single 45mm size variant with three color options — Black, Silver, and Smoke. The Gen 6 Hybrid Stella, on the other hand, features a smaller 40.5mm case and three different color variants, namely Rose Gold, Silver, and Two-tone. Both models come with a couple of band options, including a few silicone band styles, leather options, and even metal bracelets.
The Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid range offers support for a wide range of health and fitness tracking features, including SpO2 monitoring, heart rate tracking, workout tracking, sleep monitoring, and more. The watches also offer support for Amazon Alexa, smart notifications, and customizable watch faces.
Along with the new hybrid smartwatches, Fossil has also released a massive redesign for the Fossil Smartwatches companion app. The updated app brings more personalization features, at-a-glance metrics, and more. The update is already available for both Android and iOS users on the respective app stores.
Pricing & Availability
The Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid range will be available for purchase on Fossil’s website and offline retail stores starting today. In India, the watches will set you back ₹17,633 (~$225) for the leather and silicone strap variants and ₹19,173 (~$245) for the metal bracelet variants.
What do you think of Fossil’s new Gen 6 Hybrid smartwatches? Would you pick these over the Wear OS alternatives from Fossil or other OEMs? Let us know in the comments section below.
At I/O last year, Google revealed its plans to extend Fast Pair support to more device types, including speakers, Wear OS smartwatches, and cars from select manufacturers. The company followed up with an announcement earlier this year at CES to further bring Fast Pair support to even more products, like Android TVs, Chromebooks, and Matter-enabled smart home devices. Recently, the company shared another update about Fast Pair on Chromebooks, claiming that the feature would reach Chrome OS devices later this summer. Now, a new report reveals that Fast Pair support could soon make its way to Wear OS smartwatches as well.
Google recently updated the June 2022 Google Play System Updates changelog with the following entry under the “Device Connections” section (via 9to5Google):
[Wear OS] Fast Pair on Wear OS to allows previously paired headphones to be discovered and connected to wearables.
The fine print at the bottom of the page adds that the feature will become available through the Google Play services v22.24 update, which started rolling out to users last week. This means that users should be able to connect to previously paired headphones using a Wear OS smartwatch once the update becomes available widely. However, the update hasn’t rolled out to most users yet.
Google could be releasing the feature in preparation for the upcoming Pixel Watch, and it might not show up on other Wear OS smartwatches before Google’s own smartwatch hits the market. The Pixel Watch product page on the Google Store states that the watch will offer Fast Pair support to help users quickly “connect your earbuds, watch, and phone with each other.” However, it doesn’t reveal whether the feature will be available on other Wear OS smartwatches or not. The chances of Google limiting Fast Pair support to the Pixel Watch seem slim, as it will definitely be a useful addition for all Wear OS smartwatches.
At I/O last year, Google revealed its plans to extend Fast Pair support to more device types, including speakers, Wear OS smartwatches, and cars from select manufacturers. The company followed up with an announcement earlier this year at CES to further bring Fast Pair support to even more products, like Android TVs, Chromebooks, and Matter-enabled smart home devices. Recently, the company shared another update about Fast Pair on Chromebooks, claiming that the feature would reach Chrome OS devices later this summer. Now, a new report reveals that Fast Pair support could soon make its way to Wear OS smartwatches as well.
Google recently updated the June 2022 Google Play System Updates changelog with the following entry under the “Device Connections” section (via 9to5Google):
[Wear OS] Fast Pair on Wear OS to allows previously paired headphones to be discovered and connected to wearables.
The fine print at the bottom of the page adds that the feature will become available through the Google Play services v22.24 update, which started rolling out to users last week. This means that users should be able to connect to previously paired headphones using a Wear OS smartwatch once the update becomes available widely. However, the update hasn’t rolled out to most users yet.
Google could be releasing the feature in preparation for the upcoming Pixel Watch, and it might not show up on other Wear OS smartwatches before Google’s own smartwatch hits the market. The Pixel Watch product page on the Google Store states that the watch will offer Fast Pair support to help users quickly “connect your earbuds, watch, and phone with each other.” However, it doesn’t reveal whether the feature will be available on other Wear OS smartwatches or not. The chances of Google limiting Fast Pair support to the Pixel Watch seem slim, as it will definitely be a useful addition for all Wear OS smartwatches.
A fax machine in 2022 sounds out of place. But in reality, a good chunk of people still use them to send faxes to one another. You’re likely to see a fax machine in old organizations such as government-established departments that are hellbent on sticking with their traditional ways of working. But the truth is, you don’t necessarily need an age-old fax machine to send a fax. Thanks to the power of the internet, you can now send a fax from Gmail and that’s exactly what we’re going to tell you. So, how do you send a fax from Gmail? Let’s find out!
How to send a fax from Gmail
The first thing you need to do is find a reliable fax service to use with Gmail. You can find one in the Google Workspace Marketplace. To do this, follow the steps given below:
Firstly, log in to your Gmail account on your preferred web browser and look for a “+” button on the right sidebar. You can see this button from anywhere within Gmail, I navigated to the ‘Scheduled’ email page just to avoid revealing the piles of emails in my Inbox.
Clicking on the “+” button will open the Google Workspace Marketplace in a pop-up window. Use the search bar to find a suitable fax service to use with Gmail.
We’ll use the ‘FAX.PLUS’ add-on for this tutorial as it appears to be among the most popular ones for this task.
Click on the Install button from the main listing page and grant the necessary permission for it to work. Once installed, you should see it in the sidebar alongside the previously installed add-ons.
Now, let’s see how you can use the add-ons to send a fax in Gmail:
Now, simply click on the FAX.PLUS add-on icon to open a small window on the sidebar. Here, you’ll see an empty field in which you can type the recipient’s fax number. It starts with a + followed by the international dialing code, followed by the fax number that you’re trying to reach. Fill this space with the correct fax number without any spaces in between and click on New Fax.
Clicking on New Fax will open the familiar email window with the fax number added as an email address. Here, you can also add other email IDs to the CC and BCC fields if you wish to send the document to someone via regular email.
The message body of the email acts as your cover sheet whereas any documents you wish to send your recipient as fax should be added as an attachment.
Once you’ve added everything you need, simply click on send as you would for a regular email and it’ll be sent as a fax.
Well, that’s how you send a fax from Gmail in 2022. Upon successful delivery, you’ll get a confirmation email notifying you about the same. It may take up to 5 minutes, so wait for the confirmation email before sending another one.
FAX.PLUS and its alternatives
FAX.PLUS is one of the most popular fax services used with Gmail to send a fax. One of the best things about this particular service is that it allows you to send a maximum of ten pages for free. You’ll have to pay once you exhaust your limit but the pricing is very reasonable, starting at $4.99 for the basic plan that lets you send up to 100 pages per month. You will, however, need at least a basic plan to be able to receive a fax. You can also choose to splurge on the most expensive tier and get additional features such as Slack and Zapier integration too.
While FAX.PLUS is a fairly popular online fax service, it’s not the only one that you can use with Gmail. There are a bunch of other options to consider like MyFax, eFax, FaxZero, and more. We suggest you take a look at some of the popular ones on the market and compare the pricing to find the one that suits your need. But if you don’t see yourself sending a lot of fax on a regular basis, then we think FAX.PLUS itself is a great option. You won’t have to spend anything as long as you keep things under ten pages.
Now that you know how easy it is to send a fax from Gmail, which online fax service are you going to use? Let us know by dropping a line in the comments below.
Have you ever been thinking about buying a new monitor and wishing the store had one with a 16:18 aspect ratio? Of course not. No one has. But LG thought we needed one, and here we are with the new DualUp Monitor; and I’m shocked at how easy it is to call it one of the best monitors around.
First of all, it’s actually just a good monitor, with a wide color gamut and accurate colors out of the box. It’s got a high resolution too, so it’s really not missing anything.
And then there’s the aspect ratio, which lends itself nicely to any content that scrolls vertically. You can also nicely stack two windows on top of each other.
The LG DualUp Monitor is available now for $699.99
The LG DualUp Monitor went on sale in mid-June, and comes in at $699.99. There are no options for this item, such as colors or different configurations, so that’s really all you need you know. You can get it from vendors like Amazon, Best Buy, and LG.com.
LG DualUp Monitor: Specs
27.6-inch SDQHD (2560 x 2880) Nano IPS Display
3-Side Virtually Borderless Design
DCI-P3 98% (Typ.), sRGB 135% (Typ.), 1.07B Colors
HDR 10, Color Calibrated
300nits (Typ.) Brightness
HDMI 2.0 x2, DisplayPort 1.4 x1, USB 2.0 1up, USB 3.0 2down, H/P out
USB Type-C x1 (Power Delivery 90W)
Live Color Low Blue Light, Ambient Light Sensor
PBP (2 Source, 1 Source)
Ergo Stand
Extend/Retract 210mm, Swivel -335~335°,
Height 130mm, Down Height 35mm, Pivot 90° (Counterclockwise),
Tilt -25~25° Adjustable Stand
7W x 2ch Stereo Speakers (with Waves MaxxAudio)
The screen: What can you do with a 16:18 display?
The LG DualUp has a 27.6-inch 16:18 display, which is the size of two 21.5-inch 16:9 displays stacked on top of each other
It’s really good for vertical scrolling and for putting two wide apps on-screen at once
Display quality
As far as screen quality goes, it’s really good. I wanted to come right out of the gate and say that, because it’s really easy for companies to try something radically new, and in the effort to get there, abandon all of the rest of the things on the checklist of items that are needed for a good product. That’s not what happened here. The DualUp has an all-new form factor and it’s still a great monitor.
It supports 100% sRGB, 87% NTSC, 91% Adobe RGB, and 94% P3, which is pretty great overall.
Brightness maxed out at 344.3 nits, which is impressive since LG only promises 300 nits. It also exceeds the promised 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and it well exceeds the promised 700:1 minimum contrast ratio. As far as display quality goes, there’s some underpromising and overdelivering going on here.
The LG Ergo Stand
It supports USB-C, DisplayPort, and HDMI, as you’d expect, and interestingly, it comes with the LG Ergo Stand instead of a standard desktop monitor stand. At first, I hated that it didn’t come with a traditional monitor stand that sits on a desk, since that’s just what I’m used to.
However, the Ergo Stand grew on me rather quickly. It makes the screen easy to adjust, and it doesn’t take up space on my desk, freeing up room for other things (obviously it’s junk but we won’t talk about how consistently messy my desk is).
The LG DualUp changes what I want in a monitor.
Also, it’s nice and easy to adjust the height and angle of the screen, and you can rotate it too. However
you want to use it, you can. It’s really useful if you adjust your workflow throughout the day. For example, I use a standing desk, and I use it in different positions when standing and when sitting. I also adjust it sometimes for calls, since this is a tall display, and webcam angle can be an issue.
You can also rotate the display. It’s not uncommon for someone to take a 16:9 monitor and turn it to 9:16, but this monitor is actually designed for that portrait orientation. You can still rotate it from 16:18 to 18:16 if you want something just a bit wider.
The unique 16:18 form factor
Like I said in the very beginning of this article, I never imagined that I’d like a display with an aspect ratio like this, but here we are. It’s quite good. There are two key use cases. The first that I noticed was vertical scrolling. I’m a writer, so when I have a long draft, I can see more of it at a time than I can with a standard 16:9 display. You have to remember that in any CMS, there are also other blocks of things besides just the text editor, so more space means a better writing experience.
This goes for reading too, or just general web browsing. If you’re reading this review on an LG DualUp Monitor, you’ll just be able to see more at once. It also just feels natural to read in portrait orientation; I think that’s something that we’ve figured out with phones and tablets.
I was amazed at how easily the DualUp fit into my workflow.
The other key use case is snapping windows side-by-side, meaning top and bottom. This screen is 27.6 inches measured diagonally with a 16:18 aspect ratio, so it’s the same as two 21.5-inch monitors on top of each other. The downside is that a 21.5-inch monitor is really small, so that’s the width that you’re getting here.
But what’s cool is that you can put two 16:9 apps on top of each other. Now, of course you could do that with two monitors, but thanks to how snapping in Windows 11 works, you can adjust the sizes. Maybe you want the top window to take up two thirds of the screen and the bottom one to be smaller. With one monitor, it’s easier to do that.
Ultimately, the LG DualUp Monitor is really flexible and useful. I was amazed at how quickly and easily it fit into my workflow.
Should you buy the LG DualUp Monitor?
The LG DualUp Monitor is certainly unique, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
You should buy the LG DualUp Monitor if:
You do a lot of vertical scrolling, whether that’s from reading, writing, and so on
You find stacking apps on top of each other useful, at different sizes
You should NOT buy the LG DualUp Monitor if:
You need a monitor that’s wider than a 21.5-inch 16:9 screen
You want something more traditional
As mentioned earlier, the cool thing about stacking apps on top of each other on a monitor like this is that you can resize them. For example, the app on top can take up two thirds of the screen, something you can’t comfortably do with dual monitors. Of course, the big drawback is that the LG DualUp is the size of two small monitors.
Honor has been making earphones for years, and I reviewed the Honor Magic Earbuds in the first half of 2020. They were a pair of distinctly average earphones and came about essentially as a rebrand of the Huawei FreeBuds 3i. The company has been making earphones since, and while I’m confused about the naming lineage, what I can say is that the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro are a pretty fantastic pair of earphones that I’ve grown to love.
For the technical specifications, the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro feature a coaxial dual-driver design with an 11mm loudspeaker, active noise canceling, fast charging, and temperature monitoring that’s limited only to some regions. They come in both white and gray and offer up to four hours of battery life per earbud with ANC switched on. They also support being connected to two devices at a time for fast switching, use Bluetooth 5.2, and feature wireless charging and fast wired charging.
Basically, these are a premium set of earphones that I feel comfortable crowning as one of the best wireless earphones, and it’s hard to find fault with them. I think they’ll make an excellent addition to any smartphone ecosystem, and in this review, I think you’ll see why.
5-minute charge adds 2 hours of combined playback time
Other Features
Active noise cancellation support (48dB peak)
USB Type-C port for charging
In-ear thermometer (region dependent)
Touch controls
Colors
White
Gray
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro: Design
The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro don’t exactly pack a unique design, but it’s kind of hard to do something unique with earphones. Samsung achieved something different with the company’s Galaxy Buds, and Huawei’s FreeBuds Pro had a more squared-off design. Aside from that, they all more or less look the same, and it’s no different here. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just an observation. As for this colorway, I’m a massive fan of the more “smoky” look. That does set it apart from the likes of Apple’s AirPods, and it’s also just an aesthetic preference.
There are multiple sensors on each earbud — a proximity sensor and an AI temperature reader. It’s hard to make a unique design for earphones, and as someone who has used a lot of truly wireless earphones, a lot of them do look the same.
They’re comfortable to use for long stretches of listening
The touch controls are finicky, thanks to the small stem on the earbuds. They’re kind of difficult to use at times and can misunderstand touches rarely, though they work and you eventually get the hang of them after a while.
That aside, the design is functional and they’re comfortable to use for long stretches of listening. The silicone tips fit nicely in my ears, and I didn’t need to change a size up or a size down like I’ve had to with some earphones, such as the OnePlus Buds Pro. There are a smaller set and a larger set that come in the box.
Honor Earbuds 3 Pro: Audio, Battery, and Software
No matter what, the most important aspect of any pair of earphones is how they actually sound. I’ll always forgive a pair of earphones for lacking in features if they have good sound because that’s what people are probably actually buying them for. Given Huawei’s previous proficiency in audio (between the Huawei Sound and the Huawei FreeBuds Pro), I figured that some of that sound tech would have made its way to Honor, too. As it turns out, it definitely has.
I loved the Huawei Freebuds Pro, and I’ve used a lot of earphones since then, too. I’ve used some of the best offerings from Samsung, OnePlus, and the Nothing Ear 1 earphones to name a few, and so far, none of them quite match up to the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro, and they successfully top the Huawei FreeBuds Pro, too. In essence, I think these are my favorite earphones that I have currently.
The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro sound incredible, and they're comfortable to wear for long periods of time
The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro sound incredible, and they’re comfortable to wear for long periods of time. If you want to check out the playlist I’ve been primarily listening to with these earphones, you can check that out here on Spotify. Songs such as EDEN‘s Modern Warfare balance the low-end with the rest of the mix perfectly, with Honor successfully straying away from the heavy focus on the low-end that we often see in cheaper earphones. One of my favorite songs of all time, Float On by Modest Mouse, is also done a massive service, coming through as clean as ever.
In terms of audio quality, Honor is very much a winner here. The Honor Earbuds 3 Pro sound fantastic, and are fundamentally just a solid pair of earphones. There’s no overpowering bassline, but it’s very clearly present, and the highs and mids remain firmly in check. For a pair of earphones, they do a solid job of not having a totally narrow sound either, the soundstage comes across a lot wider to me than some other earphones I’ve used like the Galaxy Buds 2.
When it comes to active noise canceling, the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro also manages to do an impressive job. They successfully block out audio from around me pretty well and have served me well on public transport like the bus and the train. They do have a transparency mode, but it’s not great and a bit mediocre — generally the case when it comes to earphones, anyway. I’ve never really used a transparency mode that I’ve actually liked, and that includes the AirPods Pro. I’d rather just take them off entirely.
If you want to modify settings on these earphones, you’ll need the Honor AI Space app. It’s just like the Huawei AI Life app if you’re familiar with it. You can update your earphones, change gestures, run a “fit test” (though these don’t tend to be great, either), or change the noise-canceling mode. There’s no iOS app though, so Apple users beware.
Removing an earphone from your ears will automatically pause the music playing and turn off ANC, though you can turn that feature off from the app if you want. Putting the earphone back in your ear will continue playback. You can also listen with one earphone at a time with your gestures still active too.
As for battery life, the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro have been completely adequate. They boast only four hours of playback with ANC on, but I think that will suit most people, anyway. I haven’t run into a situation yet where my earphones were almost dead and I needed to throw them back into the case just to charge up, and I don’t think I’ve really ever had that experience with any pair of earphones.
Are the Honor Earbuds 3 Pro worth your money?
They're pricey, but they've earned that price tag
Coming in at £169 in the U.K. and €199 in Europe, these are an expensive pair of wireless earphones. However, they’re also one of the best pairs that I’ve ever used. They’re pricey, especially when compared to the rest of the competition, but they’ve also earned that price tag as a premium set of earphones.
The biggest criticism I can make of these earphones is the absence of aptX technology. They support the AAC codec so they still offer higher bit-rate streaming than SBC, Most people won’t care about the tech specs either; if they work, they work, and these do.
If what you want is a solid pair of earphones with excellent sound, then these are the earphones to get. It would have been nice to test the AI temperature monitoring to compare it to an actual thermometer, but the feature isn’t active in Ireland. Honor says that it’s not active in “United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czech, Finland, and Romania,” though given it’s also not available in Ireland, I suspect that it may be inactive in the European Union as a whole. I’m absolutely in love with these earphones for the sound quality though, and that’s what matters most.
