Go Here to Read this Fast! Concord is going offline after just two weeks following disaster launch
Originally appeared here:
Concord is going offline after just two weeks following disaster launch
Go Here to Read this Fast! 3 underrated shows on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in September
Originally appeared here:
3 underrated shows on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in September
Growing up. It’s something we all do, and devices do too. While there’s been very little innovation in mainstream smartphones lately, foldable phones have been maturing over the last few years and finally seem to be coming into their own. It’s like they’re in the young adult phase of their lives, while the conventional “candybar” handset has largely been figured out. At least, on the outside, anyway.
If foldables are the products, then companies like Samsung and Google are the parents, and each of those two has taken a different approach. Samsung has been more experimental, letting its baby flail around in the playground, falling off swings and cracking its face. Google appears to have been more careful, perhaps sheltering its product before releasing it for the first time last year. And let’s not talk about the elephant in (or missing from) the room — Apple is probably waiting till its foldable is mature enough to skip straight to high school before exposing it to the world.
All that is to say the Pixel 9 Pro Fold feels like a glowed-up young adult, ready for reality. Though it would have been more apt to call this the Pixel Fold 2 (since it’s only Google’s second foldable), I can see why the company wants us to think of it as part of the 9-series. With the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the entire Pixel 9 lineup feels refined and well-equipped to take on the competition. And maybe even win our hearts.
One of my favorite things about the Pixel foldable is its aspect ratio. Compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which my colleague Sam Rutherford has described as more like a skinny baton, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold feels more like a conventional phone when folded. In fact, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is so much an extension of the Pixel 9 series that its 6.3-inch external display is pretty much the same size as the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro.
But because that panel is encased in a frame designed to house a hinge for the flexible internal screen, the Fold actually looks more similar in size to my iPhone 15 Pro Max. When I picked them both up, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold felt a bit heavier, but I guessed that it was probably close to the iPhone 14 Pro Max in weight. I was wrong — the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is actually 17 grams heavier than the iPhone 14 Pro Max and 36 grams more than the 15 Pro Max. More importantly, at 257 grams (9.06 ounces), the Pixel foldable is 18 grams heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 6.
It may not be the lightest foldable around, but the Pixel 9 Pro Fold certainly ranks among the thinnest. When open, its profile measures just 5.1mm (0.2 inches) thick, while Samsung’s Z Fold 6 is slightly thicker at 5.6mm.
Numbers alone don’t tell the entire story. Small dimensions look nice on paper, but the way the Pixel 9 Pro Fold feels to hold is a significant part of its evolution. Last year’s model felt a little unfinished, with a bit of a duct-tape vibe to its construction. This time, the device feels solid, thanks to its “aerospace-grade high-strength aluminum alloy” and “matte back with satin metal frame.” The external screen and rear are covered with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, helping it be more scratch-resistant.
Of course, as is usually the case with foldables, durability is a concern and something that we can only gauge with time. The good news is, Sam recently published a durability report after a year with the original Pixel Fold, and the device not only withstood the wear and tear of daily life, but also survived being in the general vicinity of an active toddler for 12 whole months.
Some quick final notes on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s design: If you’re right-handed, you might appreciate that the bottom right corner of the phone (when folded) is slightly curved. It rests nicely against your palm and is marginally more enjoyable than the experience for those who are left-handed, who might not like the sharper angle of the bottom left corner. I used the Fold in both hands and didn’t find this a major issue, but our videographer Hayato Huseman did not like the design for left-handed use.
I also have a minor complaint that the device is hard to open without first getting a fingernail in between the two halves, but I expect this will get easier in time. More annoying is the slight creak every time I open the phone, but this got smoother over time. On occasion, there’s also a mildly concerning rattle when I shake the Fold, which is something my friend Julian Chokkattu at Wired brought to my attention, so it sounds like a problem that isn’t unique to our unit.
I’ve asked Google if this is an issue with just our review samples or if it’s more widespread and according to the company “this is expected behavior that’s due to the telephoto camera VCM. You will likely notice this on Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL as well.” I will say that I hear a similar (though less pronounced) sound when I shake my iPhone 15 Pro Max the same way, so this could just be the optical image stabilization system moving about.
Gather up, aspect ratio nerds, have we got an adventure in intricate numbers for you! Though last year’s Pixel Fold had a 5.8-inch external display with an awkward 17.4:9 aspect ratio, this year’s model is much more intuitive. It’s the same 6.3-inch 20:9 screen as the standard Pixel 9, making it a more familiar size and shape. I’m a little bummed that it has the 1,080 x 2,424 resolution and 60-120Hz adaptive refresh rate of the base Pixel 9, as opposed to the sharper panel on the Pro (which goes down to 1Hz), but it’s not a huge problem.
Sam pointed out that there is the teeniest change in the Pixel Fold’s internal screen. The original was just under 5.875 inches wide when held in landscape, and while the new Pixel Fold’s interior display is the same size in the same orientation, in portrait mode it’s actually 5.625 inches wide. This means the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s internal display has an almost square 1:1 aspect ratio that’s 8 inches wide diagonally, which is larger than its predecessor’s 7.6-inch panel.
This doesn’t dramatically improve things when you’re viewing widescreen content, and Sam would even call it a “very tiny downgrade” in that scenario. The new screen dimensions will make more of a difference when you’re gaming and multitasking than watching videos. The tweak appears to be more for compatibility, and I still had to live with empty space on either side of videos (in both portrait and landscape orientations) when I played YouTube clips in fullscreen mode.
I should point out that the internal display does actually go down to 1Hz, but has a lower pixel density thanks to its 2,076 x 2,152 resolution. I wasn’t ever blown away by either display, though, and merely found them perfunctory. They both go up to 2,700 nits of peak brightness, and are easy enough to read in sunlight, though the front screen can get up to 1,800 nits with HDR while the one inside only goes to 1,600 nits with HDR.
Google’s original foldable already had better cameras than Samsung’s latest, offering a longer optical zoom, sharper pictures and superior low-light performance. So though it’s slightly disappointing that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold doesn’t come with many hardware upgrades, what it does bring is still greater than the Z Fold 6. In fact, Sam says the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has the best cameras on any foldable you can buy in the US.
Google has kept the main sensor at 48 megapixels and upgraded the ultra-wide camera to enable macro focus. You’ll still find a 5x optical zoom on the telephoto camera, which is longer than the 3x option on Samsung’s Z Fold 6. What’s interesting is that with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Google had to tweak its camera hardware to “fit our unique ultra thin architecture,” which is a fairly impressive engineering feat.
When it came down to actual pictures, the Pixel consistently outshot the Z Fold 6, with Sam going as far as to say it’s “generally a tier level higher.” Colors are brighter and more accurate, and the telephoto hardware makes a noticeable difference in zoomed-in shots. That’s even before using Google’s Zoom Enhance software, too. Given Samsung has been using the same sensor for the main camera for the last three years, that doesn’t seem surprising, but it’s certainly a shame that those who shelled out $1,900 for the Z Fold 6 are stuck with poorer specs here. It’s strange too, considering Samsung’s main sensor is a higher-res 50MP.
It’s worth noting that Google’s primary hardware update also gave the Pixel 9 Pro Fold more of an edge, since being able to use its ultra-wide camera as a macro shooter made its close-up shots better than Samsung’s. Plus, Google continues to lead in low-light photography, producing sharper, more vibrant and better exposed images than the Z Fold 6.
In fact, software is where the Pixel cameras continue to shine. Google added new features like Add Me and Made You Look this year, with the latter being an exclusive to the Pro Fold. Makes sense, since that uses the internal and external screens. While you have the camera app open on the inside, tapping an icon above the shutter button lets you choose between dual screen, rear camera selfie or Made You Look. Selecting the last one brings up four options of different cartoon animations, and the respective character appears on the outside display. The chicken, or fish, or blob will dance around and make noises to get the attention of your subject. This is meant to work predominantly on children, though I imagine it’ll also pique the curiosity of cats and dogs. I tried it out mostly on adults, and got a slew of pictures of my friends looking incredulously at the camera. Basically this works for people aged one and up!
When you’re ready to edit your pictures, you’ll find the same suite of tools that are on the Pixel 9 Pro. That means things like Magic Editor, Reimagine and Autoframe are also available to spruce up your shots. I won’t retread ground we already covered in that review, but like we mentioned before, these generative-AI features are somewhat effective but occasionally problematic. I like using it to create more bushes or greenery in the background so I can center my friends in a candid photo, but find it concerning that Reimagine could be used to add “wrecks, disasters and corpses” to pictures, according to The Verge.
If you can stay away from the problematic AI tools, though, it’s heartening to see that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold can deliver photos that are as good as the ones I got from my iPhone 15 Pro Max. After all, you’re paying $1,800, you should be getting flagship-level cameras.
Neither Sam nor I have had more than a week with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, so it’s a little too early to talk about longterm performance and daily use. In general, though, so far we’ve noticed the new Fold runs smoothly and coolly, just like the other Pixel 9 Pros. That’s largely thanks to the Tensor G4 processor and built-in vapor chamber, and of course, maybe I just haven’t had the Fold long enough but it never got too warm.
I enjoyed watching YouTube with Threads open next to it on the internal screen, and the larger canvas also made Instagram pictures easier to scrutinize. I wish more apps were compatible with the bigger format, though, since my recent favorite games like Fruit Merge don’t expand to the full width and instead sit in the middle, flanked by two bars of empty space.
It’s also strange that flexing the screen, which is supposed to automatically switch compatible apps into a half-and-half layout, only works in landscape mode. That means if you open YouTube, bend the Pixel 9 Pro Fold slightly and flip it so the rear camera is on the top left corner, you’ll see videos take up the top half of the display. The bottom portion is where the title, description, comments and other videos sit.
This layout is intuitive, and makes sense in the landscape orientation where the clip you’re watching is propped up for easier viewing. I just wish there was an equivalent when you’re holding the Fold in portrait mode that would make the comments take up the right half of the display instead of the awkward column it currently uses.
Sam’s experience with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 leads him to find Samsung’s taskbar “a touch better for power users,” since you can set it to always stick around no matter what app you’re on. This makes it easier to launch apps in splitscreen or just jump between tasks. It’s also worth noting that Google doesn’t support stylus input, while Samsung does, and the latter’s DeX multitasking software is handy for productivity. The Pixel Fold doesn’t have such an interface where apps appear in floating windows, though I do like when compatible apps display extra columns or sidebars when they’re on the bigger screen.
Still, these are generally minor quibbles that feel easy enough to solve with software updates you might receive over time. If you’re not a power user or itching to use a stylus with your foldable, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is a solid option over the Galaxy Z Fold 6.
The Pixel 9 series has been delivering seriously good results on our video rundown battery test and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is no exception. When running on just the external display, the Fold clocked 27 hours and 9 minutes, which is basically the same as what the standard Pixel 9 got. When using just the interior screen, the Fold lasted 23 hours and 22 minutes, which is impressive for how much larger the panel is.
Those numbers are about two to three hours better than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which notched 25 hours and 19 minutes when folded and 20:07 when open. The new Pixel Fold also beat its predecessor and the OnePlus Open, as neither of those even passed the 20-hour mark on our test.
Although the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is only Google’s second foldable device, it’s already come a long way. It both looks and feels better than before, with a size and shape that is more similar to a standard phone when closed. When open, the device is easy to hold and provides a roomier canvas for light multitasking and gaming. Plus, compared to its main competition in the US, the Pixel Fold 2 (spiritually anyway) has a superior camera game and longer battery life. It’s also $100 cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, though it’s still pretty pricey at $1,800.
Google’s foldable line still has some quirks to work out, but that’s all part of growing up. For a device that’s only been around for two generations, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is a solid foldable for anyone looking to dip their toe into flexible phones that can double as tablets.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/pixel-9-pro-fold-review-a-grown-up-glowed-up-foldable-170043123.html?src=rss
Go Here to Read this Fast! Pixel 9 Pro Fold review: A grown-up, glowed-up foldable
Originally appeared here:
Pixel 9 Pro Fold review: A grown-up, glowed-up foldable
Sony’s new team shooter Concord is not going to be playable for much longer. Developer Firewalk Studios says it will take the game offline on September 6, just two weeks after its release, to “explore options, including those that will better reach our players.”
You can no longer buy Concord digitally and Sony will refund everyone who bought the $40 game on PlayStation 5, Steam and the Epic Games Store. Those who bought a physical copy can return it to the point of purchase to get their money back.
“While many qualities of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize that other aspects of the game and our initial launch didn’t land the way we’d intended,” game director Ryan Ellis wrote on the PlayStation Blog.
While Sony hasn’t disclosed sales figures, all indications suggested that Concord was a flop out of the gate. The game debuted to middling reviews. It never had more than 700 concurrent players on Steam after its official launch, which is an abysmal result for a fairly high-profile game. Some analysts estimate that it sold just 25,000 copies across Steam and PS5 in its first six days — nowhere near enough to make it sustainable as a live-service game.
It’s very uncommon for a major publisher to pull a game offline so soon after its debut. The most recent one that springs to mind is Amazon’s Crucible back in 2020.
There are lots of reasons why Concord didn’t take off, from its so-so gameplay and lack of captivating characters to heavyweight competition from other free-to-play team shooters including Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone and Sony’s own Destiny 2. Firewalk (which Sony bought last year) may well try to retool Concord as a free-to-play game, but this is nothing short of a major failure for Sony as things stand.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/concord-is-going-offline-after-just-two-weeks-163134124.html?src=rss
Go Here to Read this Fast! Concord is going offline after just two weeks
Originally appeared here:
Concord is going offline after just two weeks
If you need another sign that it’s a very strange year for PC hardware, consider Dell’s latest XPS 13 revision with Intel’s just-announced Core Ultra 200V processors. It’s the third time Dell has revamped its popular ultraportable over the past year. First, it got the original Core Ultra chip in April, and then in July Dell released a Snapdragon-equipped Copilot+ variant. And, as is usually the case with PC hardware, it pays to wait.
The new processors sport a 48 TOPS (tera operations per second) NPU (neural processing unit) for AI tasks, as well as dramatically faster performance and efficiency cores. Intel also claims its new Xe2 GPU, which is built into the chips, is 32 percent faster than the previous Core Ultra, 16 percent faster than AMD’s HX 360 and a whopping 68 percent faster than Qualcomm’s 12-core X Elite chip.
And since the Core Ultra 200V is an x86 processor, it doesn’t have any of the app compatibility and performance issues i saw on the Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ XPS 13. The only major downside over the previous Intel XPS 13 is that you can’t upgrade the new system’s memory — Intel’s Core Ultra 200V chips feature built-in RAM, which isn’t upgradeable at all.
Outside of the new chip, Dell says this latest XPS 13 is the first laptop to feature a tandem OLED display, a technology which basically stacks two OLED panels atop each other for better brightness. The new XPS 13 should also be able to get up to 26 hours of battery life while streaming video on its 1080p+ screen.
You can pre-order the XPS 13 with Intel’s Core Ultra 200V chips today starting at $1,400.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/dells-xps-13-gets-its-third-update-in-a-year-with-intels-core-ultra-200v-160055759.html?src=rss
The race to build the most compelling AI PC processors continues with the launch of Intel’s Core Ultra 200V. At Computex in June, we learned these “Lunar Lake” laptop chips would feature a powerful 48 TOPS (tera operations per second) neural processing unit for AI work, and, surprisingly enough, they’d also sport up to 32GB of built-in memory for faster performance and lower power consumption. Today at Germany’s IFA trade show, Intel has given us an even closer look at its next-generation AI PC hardware.
According to Intel, the Core Ultra 200V will be “the most efficient x86 processor ever,” with up to 50 percent lower on-package power consumption. In addition to bringing memory directly on the chip, Intel also doubled the cache and core count (reaching 4MB and 4 cores) for its “Low Power Island,” which handles less demanding work. Performance per watt has also more than doubled across general performance and gaming, thanks tot he new Xe2 built-in GPU. (One example: Intel claims the Core Ultra 200V uses 35 percent less power than the previous generation, while also getting 32 percent faster performance.)
It’s clear that Intel is gunning directly for Qualcomm, whose Arm-based Snapdragon chips have traditionally been more power efficient than x86 processors. Intel even claims it has a lead in battery life. In one test performed on the same laptop model, the Core Ultra 7 268V lasted for 20.1 hours in the UL Procyon Office Productivity benchmark, compared to 18.4 hours with a Qualcomm X Elite chip. The Snapdragon system still maintained a lead in a Microsoft Teams 3×3 test, lasting 12.7 hours compared to the Intel 268V’s 10.7 hours.
In practically every way, the Core Ultra 200V is a rethinking of Intel’s traditional x86 processor design. For example, the company has given up on its Hyperthreading technology, which virtually allowed a single CPU core to support multiple task threads. Instead, Intel is optimizing the new chips for single-threaded performance. The company claims the Core Ultra 200V’s P-cores (performance) are 14 percent faster than the last generation, and its E-cores (efficiency) are a whopping 68 percent faster.
Unlike Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, Intel’s Core Ultra 200V processors can also run legacy x86 software without any issue. There’s no emulation slowdown or Arm incompatibility to worry about. While I was impressed by the Snapdragon X Elite chips on the Surface Pro and XPS 13 Copilot+ systems, Windows on Arm performance issues remains, like their inability to play games with strong anti-cheat protection like Fortnite. If you’re at all worried about running older software or games, it makes sense to stick with an x86 chip for the next few years.
While the Core Ultra 200V series tops out with 8-core 8-thread processors, Intel says it’s up to three times faster than its previous chips when it comes to performance per thread. And if that’s not boastful enough, Intel also claims its new Xe2 GPU is 32 percent faster than before, 68 percent speedier than Qualcomm’s 12-core X Elite chip and 16 percent better than AMD’s HX 370. The Xe2 also adds an additional 67 TOPS of AI compute performance, in addition to the NPU’s 48 TOPS.
When it comes to AI, Intel claims the Core Ultra 9 288V’s NPU is 79 percent faster denoising in Adobe Lightroom compared to its previous chip. The Snapdragon X Elite 78-100, meanwhile, was 66 percent slower than Intel’s last chip. As always, we’ll need to do our own testing to confirm the company’s figures, but it’s clearly not being shy about its potential performance leads.
The Intel Core Ultra 200V family tops out with the Ultra 9 288V, which features eight cores (4P + 4E) with up to 5.1GHz Max Turbo speeds on the P cores. That model also comes stacked with hte most powerful 8-core Xe2 Arc 140V GPU and 32GB of RAM. While all of the 200V chips feature 8-cores, their respective GPU, NPU and RAM all scale down across the line. The bottom-rung Core Ultra 226V, for example, sports a 7-core Arc GPU, 40 TOPS NPU and 16GB of RAM.
Just like Apple’s M-series chips, the Core Ultra 200V’s built-in memory means you won’t be able to upgrade your memory down the line. That’s a particular shame, as we’re finally easily upgradable LPCAMM2 memory making its way to notebooks. At least Intel isn’t forcing anyone to permanently live with 8GB of RAM, though.
Intel Core Ultra 200V systems will be available on September 24th from major manufacturers like Dell, ASUS and Acer.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/intels-core-ultra-200v-chips-aim-for-ai-pc-dominance-160029852.html?src=rss
When the presumed iPhone 16 lineup is officially announced at the Apple event in less than a week (here’s how to watch it), it will include iOS 18, which Apple already detailed at its developer conference earlier this year. But if you’re not planning to upgrade to a newer iPhone model this year, you could be left behind with an operating system that’s no longer supported by Apple.
Generally each year, some older iPhone models are removed from Apple’s iOS eligibility list. Last year, for instance, the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X were left off the compatibility list. That meant those iPhone owners couldn’t update to iOS 17 and missed out on some notable features.
We’ll help you find out if your iPhone will support iOS 18, as well as Apple Intelligence. Not sure what’s coming with the new update? Here’s a summary of the biggest announcements from WWDC, including an overview of iOS 18.
We have good news: If you had an eligible phone last year when you updated to iOS 17, that device should still be compatible with iOS 18, according to Apple. That means you won’t have to buy a new phone to check out most of the new software features.
iPhone SE (second generation or later)
iPhone XR
iPhone XS
iPhone XS Max
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Put another way, if you have an iPhone from the 2017 model year or earlier (iPhone 8 or iPhone X), you can’t upgrade to the latest iOS, but your phone should continue to work — albeit without the latest bells and whistles.
While your older device will still be able to support the latest iOS, chances are that you won’t get to try the Apple Intelligence beta yet. Unless you have an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max — the top-end 2023 models — your iPhone isn’t eligible. It’s a safe bet that the new iPhone 16 models will be fully Apple Intelligence compatible, but we’ll have to await the official details at the September 9 event.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/your-iphone-might-not-be-compatible-with-ios-18-here-are-the-eligible-devices-161649447.html?src=rss
Originally appeared here:
Is your iPhone compatible with iOS 18? Here are the eligible Apple devices
There’s a big trend in electric SUVs right now, and it probably isn’t what you think. It isn’t a longer range. It’s not more advanced battery construction, super-fast charging or even NACS plugs. No, the real trend in electric SUVs is being delayed. Porsche’s electric Macan took its sweet time going to production, as did its sibling the Audi Q6 E-Tron, which was also delayed for months.
Volvo’s EX90 has suffered from the same fate. Originally slated to be on the market in 2023, it, plus its corporate cousin the Polestar 3, are only now finally starting to stumble out of Volvo’s manufacturing facility near Charleston, South Carolina. Finally, Volvo let me behind the wheel of a pre-production model on a test drive to see whether it was worth the wait.
Was it? Yes and no, but I’m happy to say it’s mostly yes.
Let’s start with what it is. As the name implies, the EX90 is something of a battery-powered counterpart to the brand’s XC90 SUV, the biggest in its lineup. Like the XC90, the EX90 is a three-row SUV with seating for six or seven, depending on configuration, a big, upright stance, and, of course, more safety features than you can shake a stick at.
But Volvo didn’t just gut an XC90 and slap a big battery pack in where the engine, exhaust, and fuel tank once lived. This is a dedicated EV platform, an all-new one, designed from the get-go to be electric. It houses a 111-kilowatt-hour battery pack (107 kWh usable) and has a pair of electric motors, one at the rear and one at the front, delivering all-wheel drive.
Whether you go for the base, the $79,995 Plus, or the more luxe $84,345 Ultra trim, you get the same dual-motor configuration making 402 horsepower and 568 foot-pounds of torque. If that’s not enough, you can spend $5,000 more for the Twin Motor Performance option, which turns the wick up to 510 hp and 671 lb-ft of torque. Both versions are rated for up to 310 miles of range on the EPA test, depending on which options you select.
Interestingly, though, the two models have exactly the same motors and other related hardware. What do you get with the extra $5,000 then? A different set of software and a little white badge on the back that says “TWIN PERFORMANCE.” Welcome to the future.
However, it isn’t just the drivetrain that differentiates the EX90 from the internal combustion XC90. The EX90 is actually noticeably smaller. It’s still big, at 16 and a half feet long, but that’s more than three inches shorter in length and an inch shorter in height than the XC90, plus nearly two inches narrower.
The result is a machine that feels just a little cramped compared to Volvo’s current big-boy SUV.
At six feet tall, I could barely squeeze into that third row. There just wasn’t anywhere for my feet or knees to go. The second row was much more comfortable, with plenty of headroom, but I still wouldn’t call it spacious, with nothing like the generous legroom found in the second row of a BMW iX or even a Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Thankfully, I spent most of my time in the front seats, which are excellent. Volvo offers a pair of interior fabrics, Dawn Quilted Nordico, which has a leather-like feel, or Tailored Wool Blend, which feels like a higher-end woven upholstery. My favorite is the latter, by far. Those seats offer generous adjustment and a surprisingly comprehensive massage. Ventilation is about the only thing missing, and that is a bit of a shame.
The rest of the interior is quite stark and clean. The white trim over the charcoal fabric on the machine I drove looks fantastic, as does the raised grain on the wooden dash insert, let down only a bit by the unfortunate bands of chrome running around it.
The highlight of the dash, though, is the 14.5-inch portrait touchscreen that sits upright in the middle. On it, you have access to the Android Automotive system that controls the entirety of the user interface, including the 9.0-inch gauge cluster behind the steering wheel and the projected heads-up display.
Volvo’s interface here looks similar to what they started offering about five years ago, but it’s so much more comprehensive and responsive to use than before. Google Maps running natively is a great experience, as is being able to do things like adjust vehicle settings via voice with Google Assistant. The inevitable Gemini integration should only make it more powerful.
Android Automotive also gives access to numerous media apps, including Tidal, which offers Dolby Atmos streaming. For the first time, Volvo has a sound system capable of taking advantage of it. A new Bowers & Wilkins system with a whopping 25 speakers fills the cabin with rich, crisp sound. It’s available as part of the Ultra trim, which nearly makes it worth the upgrade cost over the base EX90 on its own.
The EX90 I test drove was outfitted with the company’s largest wheels, 22 inches, and those were wrapped in sticky, European-spec summer tires instead of the more moderate all-season tires American EX90s will feature. Despite those two factors, the EX90 offers superb ride quality.
It was smooth, quiet, and comfortable over every separation joint on the highway and the few broken bits of asphalt I could find. Only a hint of wind noise at the highway speed betrayed the fact that I was moving through space and time and not just the latter. All that conspires to make it an even better soundscape for each of those 25 speakers.
The suspension is tuned for compliance, and the EX90 tends to float a bit after striking larger bumps or the like. But, despite that, it was still reasonably engaging on tighter, twistier canyon roads. I wouldn’t say it was sharp or necessarily sporty, but it was genuinely fun.
It turns well and has minimal body roll for such a tall thing, thanks in part to situating that big battery pack down in the floor. And, yes, it has plenty of acceleration. Perhaps too much, actually. The throttle pedal is a bit sharp, which may have rear-seat passengers with sensitive stomachs turning green. Perhaps another reason to skip the white interior, lovely as it is.
The one-pedal driving mode is likewise quite sharp, promptly bringing the EX90 down to a complete stop. If that’s not to your liking, you can disable it. When off, the EX90 is happy to coast along. There’s a third option, too: Automatic. Here, the car coasts most of the time, but if there’s a car ahead, it’ll more aggressively apply regen to maintain distance.
That’s just one aspect of the car’s advanced driver systems, which were a bit hit-or-miss.
The most interesting styling cue of the EX90, an SUV that is very smart and sophisticated looking but rather understated, is the sensor pod perched above the windscreen. Inside lives a Luminar Lidar pod, scanning the road ahead and generating a 3D point map of every obstacle. Or, at least, it will.
Right now, that little bit of roof decor is just that. But Volvo said they’ll light that sensor up and start collecting data via software update next year. At some point in the future, it’ll start integrating better into the car’s adaptive safety system, basically acting as another point of reference to augment the other sensors.
What’s in there now feels more or less like Volvo’s current machines. The Pilot Assist system provides comprehensive active lane-keep assistance, meaning it’ll keep the car centered in the lane. Volvo has also added an automatic lane-change feature, but you still need to trigger it manually with a full press of the turn stalk. It’s all good enough, but a decided step behind the hands-off systems available from Ford, General Motors, and BMW. I also had some issues during my drive, with the lane-centering system refusing to engage on secondary roads.
There were other problems, too. The car uses UWB (ultra-wide band) connectivity with smartphones to work without a key, but our car struggled to detect the phone, leaving me stuck for a few minutes of annoying fiddling every time I got out of the car. It also struggled to detect that my hands were on the wheel, going so far as to disable the active steering system at one point because it thought I wasn’t paying attention. (I was.)Finally, the entire active safety suite threw errors twice, once requiring a technician with a laptop to fix.
After all the delays for the machine, I have to admit I was expecting a more polished experience. That said, I’d suggest not holding that against the EX90. I’m confident Volvo’s engineers can fix these issues before the SUVs start showing up at dealerships, which Volvo says will happen sometime before the end of the year.
That the active safety suite lags behind the competition is a bit unfortunate, but surely Volvo has bigger plans for the EX90. The company didn’t throw that Lidar sensor on the roof just for looks. Those things are expensive.
Which brings us to the price. Again, the EX90 starts at $79,995 for a dual-motor version with up to 310 miles of range, which puts it in the same ballpark as the Rivian R1S or the Tesla Model X, two other premium three-row SUVs. However, the upcoming Polestar 3, built on the same platform but lacking the Lidar sensor on the roof and the third row of seats out back, starts at $5,000 less.
Is the Volvo worth the extra cost? We’ll have to wait until we get some seat time in its corporate cousin until we can say for sure. Stay tuned for that.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/volvos-ex90-suv-was-mostly-worth-the-wait-153035616.html?src=rss
While you can do pretty much anything on your phone or tablet, sometimes having a dedicated device is the way to go. Opting for an ereader can help reduce eye strain compared with looking at a smartphone screen for hours on end. The battery will last longer too, and you won’t have notifications popping up to distract you. So if you’re someone who reads digital books and hasn’t picked up an ereader yet (or you’re tired of lugging around bulky paperbacks), it’s worth considering Amazon’s entry-level Kindle.
The Kindle has dropped from $100 to $85. While that’s not an all-time-low price, it matches the offer that we saw during Amazon’s Prime Day sale in July.
The standard Kindle is our pick for the best budget ereader. With its six-inch, 300dpi E Ink display, it’s the lightest and most compact model in Amazon’s lineup at the moment.
The Kindle comes with 16GB of storage, which makes it handy for audiobooks. When you buy both an ebook and an audiobook from Amazon, you can swap between the two easily enough on your Kindle. Thanks to the Whispersync feature, you can read for a bit in a park then continue where you left off with the narrated version while you’re on your way back home.
You can customize the reading experience by adjusting factors like the margins, font and text size, and even save your preferences as a theme or preset. While page turns are speedy, we felt that the touchscreen gestures didn’t always consistently carry out the intended action. It’s also worth bearing in mind that unlike other Kindles, this one has no waterproof rating, so you’ll want to be careful with it at the beach or pool.
Meanwhile, there’s one other thing worth noting here. This model debuted in 2022 and Amazon is expected to host its annual fall hardware event in the coming weeks. The Kindle is due for a refresh so we may see an updated model there. That said, if you’re just looking for a relatively inexpensive ereader, this is a solid deal.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazons-kindle-is-back-on-sale-at-its-prime-day-price-145649848.html?src=rss
While you can do pretty much anything on your phone or tablet, sometimes having a dedicated device is the way to go. Opting for an ereader can help reduce eye strain compared with looking at a smartphone screen for hours on end. The battery will last longer too, and you won’t have notifications popping up to distract you. So if you’re someone who reads digital books and hasn’t picked up an ereader yet (or you’re tired of lugging around bulky paperbacks), it’s worth considering Amazon’s entry-level Kindle.
The Kindle has dropped from $100 to $85. While that’s not an all-time-low price, it matches the offer that we saw during Amazon’s Prime Day sale in July.
The standard Kindle is our pick for the best budget ereader. With its six-inch, 300dpi E Ink display, it’s the lightest and most compact model in Amazon’s lineup at the moment.
The Kindle comes with 16GB of storage, which makes it handy for audiobooks. When you buy both an ebook and an audiobook from Amazon, you can swap between the two easily enough on your Kindle. Thanks to the Whispersync feature, you can read for a bit in a park then continue where you left off with the narrated version while you’re on your way back home.
You can customize the reading experience by adjusting factors like the margins, font and text size, and even save your preferences as a theme or preset. While page turns are speedy, we felt that the touchscreen gestures didn’t always consistently carry out the intended action. It’s also worth bearing in mind that unlike other Kindles, this one has no waterproof rating, so you’ll want to be careful with it at the beach or pool.
Meanwhile, there’s one other thing worth noting here. This model debuted in 2022 and Amazon is expected to host its annual fall hardware event in the coming weeks. The Kindle is due for a refresh so we may see an updated model there. That said, if you’re just looking for a relatively inexpensive ereader, this is a solid deal.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazons-kindle-is-back-on-sale-at-its-prime-day-price-145649848.html?src=rss