Oculus Quest Review - IGN

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A new reality.

By Whitson Gordon

Virtual reality is a total blast, but up until now, it hasn’t been very accessible to normal folks. The HTC Vive, for example, launched at $800 and required a beefy gaming PC to play, and the Oculus Rift also required a PC. The Oculus Quest changes that, offering a fully standalone headset with room-scale tracking for $400, with no wires and no gaming PC necessary. And sure, it comes with a few downgrades from PC-based systems, but all told, the Quest is loads of fun, and brings true VR to a whole new audience.

Oculus Quest - Design and Features

The $400 Quest looks like a minor update to the Rift, design-wise. You get an unembellished VR headset with rounded corners and four sensors on the plastic faceplate that track your movements for a full six degrees of freedom. This is in stark contrast to the Oculus Go, which—while it's also a standalone headset from Oculus—is a step down in just about every way. The Go only offers three degrees of freedom, allowing you to pivot, tilt, and swivel your head, but won't track your movements from side to side or up and down. The Quest's tracking is more like today's PC headsets than today's mobile headsets, and it has a completely different set of available titles. It may share some titles with the Go, sure, but it'll also share some games with the Rift—though not all Rift titles will support cross-play with the Quest.

The rest of the headset’s body is covered in tough fabric, with adjustable straps along the top and sides, so you can size it to your head. There’s an inter-pupilary distance (IPD) slider along the bottom left, so you can adjust the lenses to your eyes, and a volume rocker on the bottom right. The Quest has built-in speakers so you don’t necessarily need headphones, though I definitely recommend them—there are headphone jacks on both the left and right sides of the headset, though you’ll have to use your own ‘buds since none are included in the box.

Unlike the original Rift, which used plush foam around the eyepieces, the Quest uses a scratchy fabric, which I found to be a bit irritating on my face—though it’s possible this will soften up with use. The Quest also comes with a glasses spacer you can add in between the padding and the headset if you wear glasses.

The guts of the Quest are powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor running an Android-based operating system, and each eye has a resolution of 1600x1440 running at 72Hz. For comparison, that’s a higher resolution than the original Oculus Rift and HTC Vive (which  ran at 1080x1200), but a lower refresh rate (72Hz vs 90Hz on the Rift and Vive). This decreases the screen door effect somewhat, at the expense of a bit of smoothness—though I personally found the decrease barely noticeable.

Finally, the Quest comes with touch controllers that work just like the Rift’s, with two triggers on the handle as well as clickable joysticks and two buttons for your thumbs. The tracking ring can detect some finger movements as well, allowing the Quest to see when you’re extending an index finger or making a fist. I still find this a little clunky myself, but it is impressive nonetheless.

Oculus Quest - Setup and Requirements

Setting up the Oculus Quest is a breeze: just download the Oculus app to your phone, turn the headset on, and follow the on-screen instructions. It takes a few steps before you’re up and running, but those steps are mind-numbingly easy: charge the headset with the included USB-C cable, connect it to your Wi-Fi, put AA batteries in the controllers, stuff like that. You’ll probably also have to wait five minutes for the headset to update its firmware, but once that’s done, you’re ready to put it on.

Adjusting the headset is a bit confusing at first, since it tends to sit on top of your head in its out-of-the-box state. As a result, I—and other testers at IGN—found it would slide down our faces a bit too easily, thus blurring the in-game graphics. The key, I later found, was to undo the velcro on the top and pull the back of the strap all the way down my head, so it wraps around the bottom of my skull. Once I did that, it stayed on much more securely.

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There are no external sensors or base stations necessary.

The Quest recommends a 6.5 by 6.5 foot space for room scale play, but you can get by with something a little smaller if you need to (just don’t break any lamps). Oculus also recommends using the unit indoors—presumably for safety reasons, though potentially for tracking as well. There are no external sensors or base stations necessary, since the system is completely self-contained. Instead, the Quest uses in-headset sensors to track your movements across the room by “seeing” the world around you. The headset will warn you if it has trouble tracking because there isn’t enough light in the room, or anything like that.

Once you put the headset on, you’ll see the real world through its sensors, allowing you to “draw” your play boundaries around the room using your controller. This is incredibly quick and intuitive, and the Quest will recognize and remember your play space next time. That means once you do all this initial setup, you won’t have to do it again unless you bring the Quest somewhere new.

Oculus Quest - Gaming and Graphics Quality

The Quest’s menu is fairly minimal and easy to navigate—just point your controllers at an icon and squeeze to click. You can download new games from the app on your phone or from within the VR menu, and switch between standing and room-scale play with the tap of one button (which is great if you’re playing somewhere other than your main VR space). The Oculus Touch controllers are as comfortable as ever, and while I personally prefer the Vive’s more straightforward triggers, Oculus’ finger tracking and squeeze buttons do provide a bit more immersion once you get used to them.

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Gaming on the Quest is—simply put—awesome.

Gaming on the Quest is—simply put—awesome. As an HTC Vive owner, I was shocked to find that the Quest felt...well, remarkably similar to its more expensive, PC-based competitor. Moving around the room didn’t produce any noticeable tracking issues like heavy stuttering or floating hands. In fact, even Expert+ Beat Saber players are saying the tracking on the Quest is responsive enough for them, meaning it should be good enough for just about anyone. Playing VR without cables is incredible, and like I mentioned in my review of the Vive’s wireless adapter, it’s something you have to experience to appreciate. I never felt that VR cables were annoying until I experienced untethered room-scale VR, and now it’s hard to go back.

That said, there are some minor downgrades here, particularly in graphical fidelity. Space Pirate Trainer, for example, shows significantly more color banding and aliasing on the Quest than it does on the Vive, and while it certainly didn’t make the game any less fun, Rift and Vive owners will almost certainly notice some degradation. (It also stuttered a bit at launch, but seemed smooth enough after 30 seconds or so).

It seems that while the Quest’s screen is higher resolution than the Rift and Vive, many games may actually run at lower resolutions on the Quest, in order to optimize them for the lower-powered Snapdragon chip. Beat Saber’s developers noted these challenges in an interview with Ars Technica, saying they had to turn down certain graphical effects (like fog) in order to get the game running smoothly. Again, it’s not a big deal, but it is noticeable, and it may prevent certain graphics-intensive games from appearing on the Quest at all.

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I’ve yet to experience a VR headset that was quite this painless.

But honestly, I’m willing to overlook that for how seamless the Quest is. There’s a power button on the side, but I never even had to use it: when I popped the headset on, it would automatically light the eyes up and drop me where I left off so I was able to get playing right away. I’ve yet to experience a VR headset that was quite this painless. Usually they take a couple clicks or taps on your PC or phone to get things up and running, and occasionally—on my computer, at least—I’ll have to restart Steam or do something silly to get the Vive working. But with the Quest, you just strap it on your head and go—no clicks, no wires, no nothing. The transition is incredibly fluid, and I can’t overstate how pleasant the experience is. While I know the Quest is technically a downgrade over PC-based systems, the total experience feels like an upgrade, because it’s just that straightforward to use.

Battery life for VR is hard to test (because it's incredibly fatiguing to be in the headset for that long) but I can say that it was a bit better than I expected: After about an hour of play I usually found myself between 50 and 75%, meaning you can probably get a solid 2-3 hours of gaming (depending on what you're playing). That doesn't sound like a huge amount, but frankly, I tend to need a break well before that anyway, at which point I just pop it back on the charging cable. It could be annoying if you're running a bunch of friends through VR demos, though.

And at the end of the day, the best VR games like Beat Saber and Space Pirate Trainer don’t require graphical perfection to be fun. If you’re a hardcore VR enthusiast hoping to play demanding, full-scale games like Skyrim VR, the Quest might not be the device for you. But for everyone else, the Quest is a total game changer, finally making VR accessible to the masses.

One final note, per Oculus here is the list of launch titles for the Oculus Quest, though the company notes some of this may change prior to its May 21st launch.

• Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, Resolution Games
• Apex Construct, Fast Travel Games
• Apollo 11, Immersive VR Education
• Bait!, Resolution Games
• Ballista, High Voltage Software
• Beat Saber, Beat Games
• Bigscreen Beta, Bigscreen VR
• Bogo, Oculus
• Bonfire, Baobab
• Box VR, Fit XR
• Creed, Survios
• Dance Central, Harmonix
• Dead and Buried 2, Oculus Studios
• Drop Dead: Duel Strike, Pixel Toys
• Electronauts, Survios
• Epic Roller Coasters, B4T Games
• Face Your Fears 2, Turtle Rock Studios
• First Contact, Oculus
• Fruit Ninja VR, Halfbrick
• Guided Tai Chi, Cubicle Ninjas
• I Expect You To Die, Schell Games
• Job Simulator, Owlchemy Labs,
• Journey of the Gods, Turtle Rock Studios
• Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, Steel Crate Games
• Moss, Polyarc
• National Geographic VR Explore, Force Field VR
• Nature Treks, Greener Games
• Ocean Rift, Dr. Llyr Ap Cenydd
• Oculus Browser, Oculus
• Oculus Gallery, Oculus
• Oculus TV, Oculus
• Oculus Video, Oculus
• Orbus VR, Orbus Online
• PokerStars VR, LuckyVR
• Racket Fury: Table Tennis, Pixel Edge Games
• Rec Room, Against Gravity
• Robo Recall, Drifter Entertainment
• RUSH, Binary Mill
• Shadow Point, Coatsink
• Skybox VR Video Player, Source Technology Inc
• Space Pirate Trainer, I-Illusions
• Sports Scramble, Armature Studios
• SUPERHOT VR, SUPERHOT Team
• The Exorcist: Legion VR, Developer Wolf & Wood, Publisher Fun Train
• Thumper, Drool
• Tilt Brush, Google
• Ultrawings, Bit Planet Games
• Vader Immortal, ILMxLab
• Virtual Desktop, Virtual Desktop, Inc.
• Virtual Virtual Reality, Tender Claws
• VR Karts, Viewpoint Games
• VRChat, VRChat 53. Wander, Parkline Interactive

Purchasing Guide

The Oculus Quest will go on sale May 21st for $399. You can sign up to be notified when pre-orders go live on the Oculus site.

The Verdict

The Oculus Quest doesn’t have quite the graphical fidelity of its PC-based counterparts, but its sublime untethered don-and-play nature more than makes up for it.

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https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/04/30/oculus-quest-review

2019-04-30 17:44:01Z
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Instagram Is Hiding Like Counts From Followers In A Test To See If You’ll Feel Less Horrible - BuzzFeed News

Instagram will test hiding the like count from photos, and view counts from videos, in an effort to get users to pay attention to the content itself and not their associated engagement metrics, the Facebook-owned app announced on Tuesday.

In the test, followers won’t see total likes on photos, or views counts on videos, in their Instagram feeds or on when visiting a user’s profile. The account owner will still be able to access their own metrics and see the total likes or view counts for a specific post, although they will need to tap through a post to view those metrics. Instagram said that the “private likes” test would begin later this week for users in Canada at F8, Facebook’s annual developers conference.

Critics of social media companies have said that the public emphasis of such metrics as likes incentivizes negative behavior on platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, leading users to chase engagement to measure their self-worth. Many social media companies use algorithms that take into account a post’s likes or view counts, among other metrics, to determine how to distribute that content to other users.

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri told BuzzFeed News that the test wasn’t about incentivizing specific behavior, but “about creating a less pressurized environment where people feel comfortable expressing themselves” and focus less on like counts. “We do hear people worry about how many like counts they get,” he said.

Likes can also be an inaccurate way of measuring genuine engagement from users. There are online services that offer Instagram users to buy likes or comments, while BuzzFeed News has shown that real people have turned their own accounts into bots to exploit and benefit from mutual engagement.

Mosseri said he wasn’t taking the full removal of like counts or video views “off the table” in the future and noted that he was hoping to learn from this first test.

He also said he would have to think about hiding metrics in Stories, one of Instagram’s most popular features, in the future. Stories, ephemeral photos and videos that are broadcast to a user’s followers or certain groups, allow a post’s author to see how many people viewed that post (it does not display Story view counts to followers).

“Stories was, in part, the inspiration for this test,” Mosseri said.

Jane Manchun Wong, a technology blogger who reverse engineers popular apps to uncover unreleased features, first spotted the test earlier this month in an internal employee-only prototype.

Instagram’s test follows a similar one by Twitter. In an experimental prototype app called twttr, like and retweet counts are hidden in a tweet’s replies as a part of the company’s efforts to improve how people understand a conversation. Users must tap on each reply to see like and retweet figures.

As a follower, without seeing a like count, “I don’t have this piece of information to help me gauge whether this is a good reply I should read,” said Twitter senior product designer Lisa Ding in explaining the ‘twttr’ experiment to BuzzFeed News. “Does that make you read more? How does that change the way you interact in a conversation? That’s super interesting [to us].”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has spoken openly about potentially removing other metrics, like follower counts, as well. “The question we're now asking is, is that necessarily the right incentive? Is the number of followers you have really a proxy for how much you contribute to Twitter and this digital public square?" Dorsey said in a September 2018 interview with Inc.

Mosseri said he was unaware of Twitter's beta tests that involve hiding engagement figures.

Jill Murphy, the editor-in-chief of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that studies the digital well-being of minors, said that the “race for more likes” leads kids to post more, instead of reflecting on the content of their posts. Minors, she noted, may not think of the long term ramifications of broadcasting every thought or piece of imagery on a digital record.

While she was optimistic about potential changes in how companies display engagement metrics, Murphy added that one tweak won’t be enough to move away from a culture where desire for approval is paramount.

“It’s great that the industry is starting to take real, specific steps, but is removing engagement enough?” she said. “Is that the only solution? Probably not.”

Last January, in response to mounting criticism that technology platforms do more harm than good, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would start focusing on “time well spent,” a phrase Zuckerberg defined as a “a responsibility to make sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being.” It’s unclear whether removing likes on Instagram will actually make people feel less horrible about the popularity of their posts, or if they’ll just switch their focus to other forms of validation on the platform.

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https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/instagram-hide-like-counts-in-test

2019-04-30 17:31:00Z
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Valve’s Index VR headset will officially cost $999, on sale tomorrow - The Verge

You may recall that Valve has its own virtual reality headset, the Valve Index, which it surprise-revealed one month ago. And you might even remember that Valve said preorders will begin tomorrow, May 1st, and ship this June. Now, Valve is fully detailing the Index headset for the first time, and revealing exactly how much it will cost: $999.

That’s a relatively high price by today’s VR headset standards — Facebook just announced the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S will ship May 21st for $399 — but Valve will also let you buy parts piecemeal if you need, which is rather nice. If you’ve already got a Vive or Vive Pro and / or don’t need the latest Knuckles controllers, you won’t necessarily need to spend that whole $999 to get started.

Here’s the whole price list right now:

And here’s your best look yet at the Valve Index, courtesy of Valve’s official photos:

Like the HTC Vive before it, which was co-designed with Valve, the Vive Pro will still be a tethered experience with a 5-meter cable that plugs into your beefy gaming PC, and one that uses the company’s laser-firing Lighthouse base stations to figure out where the headset is at any given time, and thus let you walk around a room’s worth of space in VR. It’s not using cameras for inside-out tracking; Valve says the twin stereo RGB cameras here are designed for passthrough (letting you see the real world through the headset) and for whatever the computer vision community can dream up.

Instead, Valve says the Index’s focus is on delivering the highest fidelity VR experience possible, meaning improved lenses, screens, and audio — which in this case actually includes a pair of 1440 x 1600-resolution RGB LCDs, rather than the higher-res OLED screens much of the competition is using. But Valve says its screens run faster — 120Hz, with an experimental 144Hz mode — and are better at combating the “screen door effect” and blurry-when-you-move-your-head persistence issues that first-gen VR headsets struggled with.

The Valve Index also has an IPD slider to adjust for the distance between your eyes, something none other than Oculus founder Palmer Luckey criticized the new Rift S for leaving out, and lenses that Valve says offers a 20-degree larger field of view than the HTC Vive “for typical users”.

Interestingly, Valve says the built-in headphones we saw in leaked images aren’t actually headphones — they’re speakers, and ones designed not to touch your ears, instead firing their sound towards your head. That’s similar to how Microsoft’s HoloLens visors produce audio, and it means that while people around you could theoretically hear what you’re doing, there’ll be less adjustment needed to get that audio aligned with your ears. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening.

Our sister site Polygon has an early hands-on with the Valve Index, which you can check out while I continue to flesh this post. Unfortunately, Polygon says that Valve is still being tight-lipped about its promised three full-length virtual reality games, meaning there aren’t currently any big Valve-exclusive titles to tempt you into VR quite yet.

Developing...

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/30/18524167/valve-index-vr-headset-price-pre-order-date

2019-04-30 17:10:06Z
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Valve's VR Index Controllers include 87 sensors to track your fingers and hands - PC Gamer

Valve's Index Controllers have a lot of sensors. The second half of its new Valve Index VR system, each controller uses a whopping 87 sensors, including optical, motion, capacitive and force sensors. All the better to detect what each of your fingers is doing, letting you pick up and drop objects, throw things around or even just squeeze without needing to press any buttons. 

According to Valve, not only does the finger tracking promise to increase immersion, it also opens up more ways for players to communicate non-verbally in multiplayer. I like the sound of that especially. I don't want to talk to people, but it would be very handy to be able to make more subtle gestures. And not just rude ones. It'll be interesting to see if they're precise enough for sign language users. 

With the dynamic sensor and pad assignment, finger tracking can be adjusted for different hand sizes, and Valve says the controllers have been designed for long-term comfort. Even the strap looks incredibly comfy. It's adjustable and uses anti-microbial tech fabric, which apparently means that they're more durable and less likely to get smelly if you sweat all over them after leaping around your living room for three hours. You could even stretch it to seven hours, as that's how long a charge should last.

Valve's not yet unveiled the roster of new VR games that will be able to take advantage of their potential, so it's a good thing they're backwards compatible. As well as the sensors, they've got a track button, thumbsticks, triggers and everything else required for VR games with more traditional control schemes. The controllers will also work with first and second generation base stations, just like the headset, as well as the HTC Vive. 

They sound very promising, though the cost means you're going to want to be pretty certain you'll get plenty of use out of them. The Index Controllers will set you back $279/£259 for a pair, or you can get them in a bundle with the headset for $999/£919. 

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https://www.pcgamer.com/valves-vr-index-controllers-include-87-sensors-to-track-your-fingers-and-hands/

2019-04-30 17:00:00Z
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Garmin refreshes its line of Forerunner GPS watches with five new models - The Verge

Garmin is updating its line of Forerunner GPS running watches today with an entirely new lineup of watches, ranging from the entry-level $199.99 Forerunner 45 to the $599.99 Forerunner 945, which is meant for professional athletes.

The Forerunner 45 (and 45S, which is a smaller version of the 45) have gotten the biggest visual changes of the lineup. They have the same round watchface as the pricier models in the Forerunner lineup, along with some new tracking features for planning exercises throughout the day and support for Garmin’s Coach function. Like all of Garmin’s Forerunner watches, there’s a built-in heart rate sensor and onboard GPS.

The 245 (and 245 Music, which is the same as the 245, but with the option to locally store up to 500 songs) is an updated version of the 235, and it gets newly added support for stress and sleep tracking, more sports to track, and an updated UI. It also adds a pulse oximeter sensor for even more fitness data.

Lastly, there’s the new Forerunner 945, the $599.99 flagship of the lineup. The 945 adds a pulse oximeter to measure oxygen absorption, Garmin Pay for contactless purchases, and full-color maps for navigating while out running. It can store up to 1,000 songs locally (from compatible services like Spotify or Deezer), and there’s a new tool for analyzing past workout history to improve future training. Garmin promises up to two weeks of battery life in smartwatch mode, up to 36 hours in GPS mode, and up to 10 hours with both GPS and music active.

The Forerunner 45 models will be available later in May. The Forerunner 245, Forerunner 245 Music, and Forerunner 945 are available now.

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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/4/30/18523783/garmin-forerunner-gps-watches-45-245-945-updates-pulse-running

2019-04-30 15:15:15Z
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Samsung Unveils a $16,000 Vertical TV for Viewing Instagram - PetaPixel

Samsung has announced an unusual new TV that’s designed for “the millennial generation.” It’s a 43-inch vertical screen that’s optimized for viewing the same social media content you enjoy on your phone. In case, you know, you’ve always wanted to browse your Instagram feed on the big screen.

The TV is called The Sero, which translates to “The Vertical” in Korean. It features a simple mirroring function that lets you synchronize your mobile device display with the TV via NFC.

Since many photos and videos captured on smartphones and shared on social networks these days are in vertical (AKA portrait) orientation, The Sero allows those photos and videos to be enjoyed on the full vertical screen (perhaps even with room for comments on the bottom).

What’s more, if you’d like to view anything in conventional landscape orientation, you can easily rotate the screen on the stand.

The Sero will be released in Korea at the end of May 2019 with a hefty price tag of ₩18.9 million, or about $16,300. No word yet on if/when it will be sold in the US or how much it would cost outside of Korea.

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https://petapixel.com/2019/04/30/samsung-unveils-a-16000-vertical-tv-for-viewing-instagram/

2019-04-30 15:23:00Z
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Amazon knocks $300 off Apple's latest iPad Pros, delivering new record low prices - AppleInsider

  Fresh markdows are in this Tuesday at Amazon, with Late 2018 11-inch iPad Pros falling to new record low prices. Save up to $300 instantly while supplies last.

The new, lower prices reflect an additional $25 to $100 discount on select models, with overall prices on the latest iPad Pros starting at $674.99. In addition to savings on tablets, Amazon is also issuing steep price cuts on MacBook Pros and even budget-friendly iPads. For a complete rundown of the latest offers, be sure to check out Amazon's Apple deals page, as well as our own Apple Price Guide, with the latter offering price comparison shopping across top Apple authorized resellers.

Brand-new markdowns

Plus save $125 to $200 on other 11" iPad Pros

12.9" iPad Pros (Late 2018) are also on sale

$999 13" MacBook Pros

Additional Apple Deals

AppleInsider and Apple authorized resellers are also running a handful of additional exclusive promotions this month on Apple hardware that will not only deliver the lowest prices on many of the items, but also throw in discounts on AppleCare, software and accessories. These deals are as follows:

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https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/04/30/amazon-knocks-300-off-apples-latest-ipad-pros-delivering-new-record-low-prices

2019-04-30 14:54:00Z
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Apple Says Aperture Won't Run in Future macOS Versions After Mojave - Mac Rumors

In a new support document, Apple has indicated that its legacy photo editing suite Aperture will not run in future versions of macOS after macOS Mojave. The support document provides users with steps to migrate Aperture libraries to Apple's newer Photos app for Mac or Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Apple ceased development of Aperture in June 2014 and removed the software from the Mac App Store in April 2015 after the launch of the Photos app for Mac. However, the application continues to function on macOS Mojave for users who still have it installed, albeit with some performance limitations.

As part of the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit, certain media files created using older formats or codecs will also be incompatible with future versions of macOS after macOS Mojave. Apple has shared instructions on how to convert incompatible media in iMovie libraries and Final Cut Pro X and Motion projects.

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https://www.macrumors.com/2019/04/30/aperture-wont-run-beyond-macos-mojave/

2019-04-30 12:41:00Z
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Garmin's fitness watches are getting period-tracking via an update - Engadget

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Garmin

Garmin has added a feature for tracking menstrual cycles to its line of connected wearables and smartwatches. Women can now track their menstrual cycle and log symptoms through the Garmin Connect app. They can opt-in to receive reminders for periods and fertility windows on their Garmin smartwatches or wearables. With its new period tracker, Garmin joins other major fitness tracking apps such as Fitbit and Apple Health in giving their female users an option to track their reproductive health.

Garmin's period tracking feature was developed by an all-female team, from engineers to marketing. "In this way, we could ensure we were authentically addressing a women's actual wants and needs," said Susan Lyman, Garmin's vice president of global consumer marketing in a press release.

Technology has a dubious track record in addressing women's "actual wants and needs" when it comes to their bodies. Fitness trackers have been late to the game in adopting features specifically designed for women's health. While separate apps aimed at women's menstrual cycles are almost as old as smartphones, they vary highly in quality and ease of use. Women who sought a comprehensive picture of their health all in one place -- from their menstrual cycle, sleep and calories burned -- didn't have that many options until recently. Following complaints, Apple announced it would be adding a period tracking feature in 2015; an entire year after it debuted their HealthKit. Fitbit only launched a period tracking feature back in July, and its features are pretty lacking.

One notable perk of Garmin's period tracker is that it will allow women to customize their cycles based on whether they're regular, irregular or nearing menopause. Period apps are easily thrown off by irregular or short periods, but hopefully Garmin's new period tracking feature will better accommodate this.

Source: Garmin

In this article: femtech, fitness tracker, fitness tracking, garmin, Garmin Connect, gear, menstruation, period tracking, wearables

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/30/garmin-menstrual-period-tracking-software-update/

2019-04-30 11:00:37Z
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Energizer's giant battery phone reached just 1 percent of its funding goal - Engadget

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Remember the comically enormous phone that Avenir Telecom showed off under the Energizer brand at this year's Mobile World Congress? Its subsequent crowdfunding campaign has crashed and burned, as The Verge points out.

The P18K Pop, as the name suggests, had an 18,000mAh battery (for reference, a typical smartphone has 3,000mAh) and consequently was about the thickness of three iPhones.

The phone got lots of attention and headlines, but as has been proven time and again in tech, those don't necessarily translate to sales. That lesson has come down on Avenir Telecom like a tonne of bricks (or brick-sized phones) now that the phone's crowdfunding page, which ambitiously asked for £927,873 (about $1.2 million), has closed at just 1 percent of its target.

Avenir's Indiegogo page attracted just 11 backers, who contributed a total of £11,602 (about $15,000). The campaign perks ranged from a single P18K handset at £425 ($549) to a three-pack at £1,227 ($1587).

The P18K Pop included a pop-up selfie camera (hence the 'Pop' in the name), which pleasingly made the handset look like an Energizer battery. It also packed a treble rear camera with depth sensor, Android 9.0 Pie and even an FM radio.

The crowdfunding campaign promised the phones would be delivered in October this year, but it appears that won't be happening now. The huge target does suggest it was all a marketing stunt, however: it's hard to believe the company truly believed they could raise over $1 million with a phone that wouldn't fit in a clutch bag, never mind a pocket.

Still, the failure of the phone to raise anything more than eyebrows should be borne in mind next time a survey claims consumers want battery life above all else.

Via: The Verge

Source: Indiegogo

In this article: avenir telecom, crowdfunding, energizer, gadgetry, gadgets, gear, indiegogo, mobile

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2019-04-30 09:50:26Z
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Apple earnings; Tech weakness; Growth recovering - CNN

The company is expected to report declines in revenue and profit following the closing bell on Tuesday. Analysts expect revenue in the three months ended March to fall 6% to $57.4 billion, while net income is forecast to decline by 20%.

Apple's (AAPL) biggest problem is the iPhone, which has fallen from grace since customers started balking at expensive upgrades and buying cheaper phones from Chinese competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi.

Investors are hoping that CEO Tim Cook can find another way to boost growth. Services such as Apple Pay, Apple Care and Apple Music could be the company's next big focus.

2. Tech weakness: Google (GOOGL) and Samsung (SSNLF) both disappointed investors with their quarterly earnings.

Samsung said Tuesday that its operating profit plunged 60% in the quarter to 6.2 trillion won ($5.3 billion). Sales for the three months ended March dropped 14% to 52.4 trillion won ($45 billion).

The dismal report comes a week after Samsung delayed the launch of its highly anticipated foldable smartphone after several reviewers reported defects. Shares fell less than 1% in Seoul.

Google parent company Alphabet posted $36.3 billion in revenue for the first quarter after the US market closed on Monday. About 85% of that revenue came from its core advertising business.

Overall revenue increased by just 17% from the same period a year earlier, missing Wall Street estimates and raising concerns that Google is feeling the competition from Facebook (FB) and Amazon (AMZN).

Shares in Alphabet fell 7% in extended trading.

3. Good news from Europe: Eurozone economic growth accelerated in the first three months of the year to 0.4%, double the rate posted in the previous quarter. Growth was 1.2% on an annualized basis.

It's the latest evidence to suggest that the world's biggest economies are more resilient than many economists thought.

China topped expectations by posting first quarter growth of 6.4%, and the US economy grew at a much better than expected rate of 3.2%.

4. More from Milken: The Milken Institute's annual Global Conference continues in Los Angeles. This year's theme is "Driving Shared Prosperity."

Speakers scheduled for Tuesday include Citadel founder Ken Griffin and White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

CNN Business will have live coverage from the event.

5. Global market overview: US stock futures were little changed.

European markets opened lower. Stocks in Asia were mixed. The Shanghai Composite added 0.5% despite disappointing manufacturing data in China.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished at record levels on Monday after posting small gains. The Dow eked out a gain of less than 0.1%.

Before the Bell newsletter: Key market news. In your inbox. Subscribe now!

6. Earnings and economics: Baker Hughes (BHGE), BP (BP), ConocoPhillips (COP), Eli Lilly (LLY), General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), MasterCard (MA), McDonald's (MCD), Pfizer (PFE) and Phillips 66 (PSX) are releasing earnings before the open.

Apple (AAPL), Denny's (DENN), Groupon (GRPN) and Mondelez International (MDLZ) are up after the close.

US consumer confidence and pending home sales are due at 10:00 a.m. ET.

7. Coming this week:
Tuesday — Eurozone GDP; Fed meeting starts; China manufacturing PMI; GM (GM), GE and Apple earnings
Wednesday — Fed decision; Yum Brands (YUM) and CVS (CVS) earnings
Thursday — Bank of England policy update; Under Armour (UA) and Dunkin' (DNKN) earnings; weekly jobless claims; Caixin China manufacturing PMI
Friday — Jobs report; Eurozone inflation, Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) earnings

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/30/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

2019-04-30 10:08:00Z
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Energizer’s 18,000mAh phone-battery monster is an Indiegogo flop - The Verge

The Energizer name figured prominently at Mobile World Congress this year, courtesy of a prototype Android smartphone that was about an inch thick, consisting mostly of a giant battery. The 18,000mAh Energizer Power Max P18K Pop was a preview of something Avenir Telecom, the company licensing the battery brand’s name for use on phones, wanted to mass-produce and bring to the market by this summer. After that successful MWC debut, the P18K Pop turned up on Indiegogo with an early-bird price of $549, a promised delivery window of October 2019, and an optimistic goal of $1.2 million in total funding.

Today, Avenir’s Indiegogo campaign for the Energizer battery-with-a-phone-in-it concluded with a whimper, having accumulated a scant $15,005 in pledged support. Since the campaign fell 99 percent short of achieving its original goal, and all funding was conditional on it being fully funded, the entire exercise seems to have been for naught. Then again, given how many companies use crowdfunding platforms primarily as marketing levers, there’s a reasonable argument to be made that Avenir Telecom maybe never really believed it would be able to go beyond the prototype stage with its P18K Pop.

The calculus for the company can be read as simply as “let’s do something to grab people’s attention, throw it on Indiegogo with an unlikely funding goal, and only in the event that people go wild over it should we build anything.” People did find the Energizer-branded brick-phone-battery hybrid fun and exciting to gawk at, but when it came time to put money toward turning it into a real product, enthusiasm was evidently far less abundant.

Ah well, at least now we know there are limits to our desires for ever bigger batteries.

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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/4/30/18522236/energizer-huge-battery-phone-p18k-pro-indiegogo-price-fail

2019-04-30 08:01:03Z
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Google Calculator gets dark theme with update to v7.6 [APK Download] - Android Police

Regular readers will be well aware by now that Google is in the process of adding a dark mode to all of its core Android apps, including Phone, Contacts, Messages, and so on, supposedly in preparation for the holy grail — a system-wide dark mode. An app of slightly lesser importance is the Google Calculator, but it's receiving the dark mode treatment nonetheless.

Version 7.6 is currently rolling out to users. At first glance, it appears as though nothing much has changed, except for a little pill to make it clear you can pull down to see the app's history. If you tap the overflow (three-dot) menu, you'll find the new 'Choose theme' option, which allows you to select Light, Dark, or Set by Battery Saver.

Blinded by the light.

Light is as before, Dark is as you would expect (sorry, it's very much a dark gray and not true black), and the final choice will keep things bright until battery saver mode is triggered. And that's about all there is to it.

 

You merely adopted the dark.

It's worth also noting — as it wasn't something we were really aware of before — that if the display ratio of your device is sufficiently tall, you'll get the advanced equation options above the number pad rather than in a slide-out panel. Google Calculator version 7.6 is gradually rolling out now via the Play Store but you can download it from APK Mirror right now.

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https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/04/29/google-calculator-gets-dark-theme-with-update-to-v7-6/

2019-04-29 17:36:00Z
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Apple may include USB-C charger and Lightning cable in the box with new iPhones - The Verge

There have been plenty of rumors about what type of connector Apple will equip its new iPhones with now that the iPad Pro and its MacBook line use USB-C. We’re finally starting to get a clearer picture of what that reality might look like come September. According to Japanese blog Mac Otakara, the new iPhone models, of which there are rumored to be three in line with last year’s release, may not contain USB-C ports, as we’ve been hearing. They might, however, ship with a faster 18W USB-C charger and a Lightning to USB-C cable.

That would make a lot of sense. Apple may not be ready to ditch Lightning just yet, but it looks like the company could try making iOS users’ lives a little bit easier. It’s always been a mystery why Apple ships new smartphones with the same 5W cube charger it’s included for years, despite designing its handsets since the iPhone 8 with fast-charging capabilities.

Last year’s iPad Pro redesign brought USB-C to Apple’s tablet line, and with it came a faster 18W charger. Right now, to take advantage of that charger with your iPhone, you’d need to spend nearly $50 on the 18W charger and the Lightning to USB-C adapter, as noted by MacRumors. But shipping that setup in the box is a smart way to bring faster charging to the newest iPhones while still retaining the Lightning port to help ease the transition in the future. Additionally, this would mean you’d finally be able to plug your phone into your Mac laptop without needing to purchase a new cable.

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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/4/29/18522700/apple-iphone-usb-c-charger-lightning-adapter

2019-04-29 17:15:06Z
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