NASA and Axiom Space are finally ready to show what Artemis III astronauts will wear when they walk on the Moon. The two have unveiled a prototype spacesuit that crews will use for moonwalks near the lunar South Pole. As promised, the design is meant to accommodate a wider range of bodies, including women. It's also more flexible than past suits, and includes exploration-oriented tools.
The Artemis III mission is currently slated for December 2025. It will represent the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 touched down in 1972, and is poised to include the first woman to walk on the Moon as well as the first person of color. The two people who reach the surface will stay there for just under a week and carry out as many as four moonwalks that include rover expeditions and ice sample collection. Two other crew members will remain aboard an Orion capsule that will collect the crew when it returns using a SpaceX Starship.
This spacesuit isn't the only one NASA will necessarily use. Other vendors are competing for orders that would handle future Moon landings and International Space Station activities. However, it might be the highest-profile example — it'll be the one that helps NASA make history.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-is-the-spacesuit-nasas-artemis-astronauts-will-wear-on-the-moon-144528407.html?src=rss
We’ve all been there. Maybe you were neck-deep in a work project, or you hopped too far down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, but at a certain point you looked up and realized you were drowning in a mess of browser tabs, with no clear way to put them all in order.
Thankfully, there’s a variety of features you can use to tidy up your browsing space. We’ve broken down the most helpful tab management tips and tricks for the four most popular browsers (Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox), from lesser-known built-in tools to some useful add-ons from third parties.
How to organize tabs in Chrome
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Google Chrome is by far the most popular web browser in the world, but some of its built-in tab management tools may not be immediately apparent to some users. One trick is to use “tab groups,” which lets you cluster multiple tabs into groups that you can label and color-code. This makes it easier to distinguish between different topics, or simply separate work-related pages from the rest. Clicking a group’s label will collapse or expand all tabs within.
You can create a group or add tabs to an existing group by right-clicking on the one you want to move, selecting “Add tab to group,” then choosing where you want the tab to go. Alternatively, you can just click and drag a tab in or out of a group to add or remove it. All of this still works if you’ve selected multiple tabs simultaneously (which you can do by holding Ctrl on Windows, or Cmd on macOS, as you click).
If you right-click on a group’s label, you can change the name and color, ungroup all the tabs contained within it, close the group entirely or move it into a new window. You can also do the last of those by simply dragging the group label out of its current window. If you close a tab group accidentally, note that you can restore it from Chrome’s three-dot menu, hovering over History, finding the group’s name and clicking “Restore group”.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Regardless of whether you use tab groups, you can quickly search through all of your open tabs by using the “Search tabs” button. This is the downward-facing arrow in the top right corner of your window. You can also pull this up by hitting Ctrl + Shift + A on Windows, or Cmd + Shift + A on macOS. This will show you a tidy vertical list of all your open tabs, plus a handful that you’ve recently closed. You can close tabs directly from here as well, and the menu will break out any open tabs that are currently playing audio or video. You can also search through your open tabs directly from Chrome’s address bar. Just type “@tabs”, then hit the space bar or Tab to initiate it.
If you like to order your tabs by putting them in distinct windows, you can give each a custom name for better organization. If you have a bunch of work-related tabs in one window, for instance, you could call that one “Work”. To do this, pull up the window you want to name, right-click the empty space next to the new tab (or “+”) icon and select “Name window.”
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
From that same menu, you can also select “Bookmark all tabs” to bookmark all of your open tabs and put them in a particular folder. Hitting Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + D will bring you to this same function.
Tab management isn’t as big of a hindrance on smartphones, where you might only look at one tab at a time. Still, we’ll note that Chrome lets you create tab groups on Android by tapping the square “Switch tabs” button, then holding and dragging a particular tab over to whatever other tab you want to group it with.
That feature isn’t available on iPhones and iPads, but you can still search through open tabs by hitting the same Switch tabs button, then selecting the Search icon in the top left corner. You can also bookmark one or more open tabs from the Switch tabs menu, after pressing and holding an open tab. For multiple tabs, press Edit, then Select Tabs, check off the tabs you want to bookmark, then hit Add To… > Add to Bookmarks.
How to organize tabs in Edge
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Microsoft Edge is built on the same codebase as Chrome, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that its tab management features are similar to those found in Google’s browser. It, too, has a tab grouping feature, which works in effectively the same way: Just right-click on one or more tabs and select “Add tab(s) to group.” As with Chrome, you can give each group a custom name and color, and you can quickly collapse or expand the tabs within each group by clicking its label.
Also like Chrome, hitting Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + A will pull up a tab search menu, which vertically lists your current and recently closed tabs and distinguishes any media-playing tabs. The “@tabs” address bar shortcut mentioned above won’t work here, but you can still assign custom names to windows.
Another way to access some of Edge’s tab-related tools is through the dedicated “tab actions” icon in the top left corner. To make this visible, click on Edge’s three-dot menu button, then go to Settings > Appearance > Customize toolbar, then activate the “Show tab actions menu” toggle. Here, you can pull up the tab search menu, a list of recently closed tabs, and a list of Edge tabs you have open on other devices.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
The tab actions menu also lets you turn on Edge’s “vertical tabs” mode. This moves your tabs from their usual spot above the address bar to the left side of the window. This view won’t be everyone’s favorite, but the wider space can make it easier to identify which tabs you have open. If you prefer to keep the tab actions button hidden, you can swap between the standard and vertical tabs views on Windows by pressing Ctrl + Shift + , (Comma).
Like other browsers, Edge also lets you save tabs as bookmarks (or “favorites”). But we’ll also give a quick mention to the browser’s “Collections” tool, which you can access by pressing Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Y or hitting the icon in the top right corner that looks like two squares and a plus sign. This is more of a native web clipper than a full tab manager, but if you want to stash web pages alongside images, text notes and the like, you can hit “+ Add current page” within a given Collection to add your current tab to it. On macOS, you can also right click a tab to add all open tabs to a Collection at once.
How to organize tabs in Safari
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Like Chrome and Edge, Apple’s Safari browser allows you to organize tabs into distinct groups. There are a few ways to set this up. For one, you can click the downward-facing arrow in the top left of the Toolbar. From here, click New Empty Tab Group, or select New Tab Group with # Tabs to put all the open tabs in your window into their own group. (The “#” is just whatever number of tabs you have open.) You’ll be prompted to give each group a custom name. You can find these same options under the File menu or by two-finger clicking any open tab.
Click the Show Sidebar button in the top right corner to view, rename, delete and rearrange your tab groups as needed. If you two-finger click a tab group’s name in the Sidebar and select Copy Links, you’ll make a neatly formatted list of all the links within that group, which you can paste into a doc or chat. The icon at the top of the Sidebar that looks like two overlapping squares with a plus symbol gives you another way to create a new tab group. You can also open the Sidebar by going to File > Show Sidebar or pressing Cmd + Shift + L on your keyboard.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
To add a new tab to a group, two-finger click the tab, select Move to Tab Group, then choose where you want it to go. If the Sidebar is open, you can also drag a tab into a group directly. To quickly swap between groups, click on your current group’s name in the top left corner, then select the group you want from the resulting dropdown menu. These tab collections will sync across multiple Apple devices if they’re connected to the same iCloud account.
The Sidebar can work somewhat like the vertical tabs view that’s available in Edge. If you hover over “# Tabs” at the top of the Sidebar or the name of any tab group, you’ll see a rightward-facing arrow. Click that, and you’ll see a vertical list of all the tabs nested within. You can access similar views for your bookmarks or Reading List at the bottom of the Sidebar. Safari doesn’t let you hide the horizontal tab bar like Edge, however.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Annoyingly, Safari doesn’t allow you to select and drag multiple tabs at once from the tab bar, so separating a chunk of tabs into separate windows can feel clunky. You can easily sort your tabs, however, by two-finger clicking one (or opening the Window menu), then choosing Arrange Tabs By. From here, you can reorganize all your current tabs by their page title or website.
To more comfortably see what tabs you have open, click the Tab Overview icon, which looks like two overlapping squares in the top right corner. This presents all your tabs in a grid as large thumbnails, which can make it easier to find a particular page. You can also get to this page by selecting View > Show Tab Overview, pressing Cmd + Shift + \ on your keyboard, or two-finger clicking on a tab group in the Sidebar.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
In the top right corner of this Tab Overview screen is a search bar. This function is also available on iPhones and iPads. The downside is this search will be limited to just the tabs in your current group, not those in separate tab groups or windows. Simply typing a keyword in the address bar will usually suggest a few relevant tabs you have open, too, but this isn’t comprehensive.
For sites you plan to revisit regularly, you can bookmark a tab by hitting Cmd + D, or going to Bookmarks > Add Bookmark. To bookmark multiple open tabs, select Bookmarks > Add Bookmarks for These # Tabs.
Many of these tricks are also available on Safari for iPhone and iPad. To create a tab group on an iPhone, hit the Tab Overview button, touch and hold a tab, then choose Move to Tab Group. Alternatively, just long-press the address bar while viewing a web page. To look through your tab groups or add all your open tabs to a group by tapping the downward-facing arrow at the bottom of the Tab Overview screen (or top right on an iPad).
How to organize tabs in Firefox
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Mozilla’s Firefox isn’t as popular as it used to be, but it remains worthwhile if you care strongly about data privacy, customization and independence from the usual tech giants. That said, its native tab management tools aren’t as robust as those in Chrome, Edge or Safari. There are many extensions you can add to close the gap – we’ve noted a few below – but by default, there’s no tab grouping feature, custom window names or vertical tabs mode.
You can still see a tidy list of each window’s tabs, however, by clicking the “List all tabs” button, which is the downward-facing arrow in the top right corner. Above that list you can also access a tab search function. If that’s too cumbersome, typing a relevant keyword in the address bar will display any corresponding open tabs at the bottom of the dropdown list that pops up. Alternatively, you can put a % symbol before or after a keyword search in the address bar to limit your search to just your currently active tabs.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
As with most browsers, Firefox lets you pin tabs, create bookmarks, close several tabs at once and drag multiple tabs into new windows simultaneously. To put all your current tabs into a bookmark folder, right-click on any tab, choose “Select All Tabs,” right-click again and choose “Bookmark Tabs.”
To open all bookmarked tabs in a folder, go to your bookmarks menu or bookmarks toolbar (depending on where it’s saved), right-click, then select “Open All Bookmarks.” If you want to search for a specific bookmark, put a * symbol before or after a keyword query in the address bar to limit a search to solely your bookmarks.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
For a little extra organization, note that Firefox also lets you assign custom tags to your bookmarks. You can add these in the menu that pops up whenever you click the star icon for a specific web page, or by clicking Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + O to bring up your full bookmarks library then adding tags as needed. You can also get to the latter by hitting the three-line menu button on the right side, then selecting Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks.
After setting this up, you can look for a bookmark just by typing out the tag(s) in the address bar. You can also make it so a search in the address bar only pulls from bookmarks you’ve tagged by adding a + symbol.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
You can see a clean-looking list of several recently closed tabs on the Firefox View page. To access this, just click the little Firefox logo pinned in the top left corner. It’s still possible to reopen your last closed tab with the usual Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + T shortcut as well.
Finally, we’ll also make note of Firefox’s “Containers” feature. This is aimed more at privacy than reducing tab clutter: The idea is to separate your browser cookies between distinct clusters of tabs, so you can log into multiple accounts for one website in the same window, or make it so a site can’t see any information about tabs outside of its specific container. Using containers distinguishes your tabs by different color codes, though, which gives it a modicum of organizational value.
You’ll need to install this as an extension on macOS, but once it’s set, you can add one or more tabs to a container by right-clicking it, selecting “Open in New Container Tab,” then choosing the container you want. There are four presets by default; to create a new container, click the three-line menu button and select Settings. Then, look for the Tabs submenu, click the “Settings…” button next to “Enable Container Tabs,” click “Add New Container,” then choose the name, color and icon you want.
Third-party tab extensions
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
All of these built-in browser tools should make navigating tab hell a little more manageable, but if you’re still not quite getting what you need, there are tons of third-party extensions and add-ons that can help. Perhaps the most popular is OneTab, which is available for Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Safari. This adds a little icon by your address bar that, when pressed, quickly collapses all open, non-pinned tabs in your window into an orderly list of links on a separate page. From there, you can then open and delete tabs individually or all at once, drag them into different groups of links you’ve previously OneTab’d, or turn a list of links into one shareable URL. There are other add-ons along these lines, but OneTab is clean, fast and dead simple to use. Plus, it can help make your browser a bit less of a memory hog.
Tab Session Manager for Firefox, Chrome and Edge works similarly. It saves all of your open tabs at once, regardless of whether they’re in different windows. It doesn’t close your tabs; instead they’re displayed as a vertical list in a dropdown menu. You can add tags to specific clusters of tabs, sync “sessions” between devices, and search for tabs right from its menu. You can also access tabs from windows you’ve closed.
Firefox users can particularly benefit from tab managing add-ons. Tree Style Tab, for instance, adds a detailed vertical tabs view, while Window Titler lets you add custom tags to windows. And Simple Tab Groups may not be quite as intuitive as the built-in tab grouping tools built into Chrome, Edge or Safari, but it still provides that sort of functionality in Firefox.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-organize-browser-tabs-150011935.html?src=rss
If you know someone who fell for an online scam last year, you're far from alone. The FBI reports that Americans submitting incidents to the agency lost $10.3 billion to internet scams in 2022, a steep jump from $6.9 billion in 2021. While there were fewer complaints (800,944), certain ripoffs were still very problematic. Investment scams were the most common and costliest schemes. Related fraud losses jumped from nearly $1.5 billion in 2021 to $3.3 billion, and most of that value came from cryptocurrency scams — losses surged from $907 million to almost $2.6 billion in 2022.
There were some bright spots. While investment scams were the on the rise, ransomware complaints fell sharply. There were just 2,385 complaints about these digital extortion attempts versus 3,729 the year before, and they led to a relatively modest $34.3 million in losses. And while phishing was the most prevalent scam type with over 300,000 complaints, the damages were limited to $52.1 million.
The FBI warns that its figures don't represent the entirety of online scams in the US. Not everyone who was the victim of a ransomware attack reported it to the bureau, Executive Assistant Director Timothy Langan says. However, he says the reports help law enforcement spot trends and otherwise deal with threats. The Investigators have better sense of what they need to address, even if they don't have the full picture.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fbi-says-americans-lost-10-billion-to-scammers-in-2022-144514762.html?src=rss
Just under three and a half years after Ryan Reynolds bought into Mint Mobile and became the public face of the provider, the Deadpool star is set to make a windfall from his investment. T-Mobile has announced an agreement to buy Mint Mobile's parent company Ka’ena for as much as $1.35 billion in cash and stock.
The final price will depend on Ka’ena’s performance for a certain period before and after the deal closes, which is expected to happen later this year. Ka’ena also owns Ultra Mobile, a provider focused on international calling, and wholesaler Plum.
Reynolds is believed to own between 20 and 25 percent of Mint, according to The New York Post. He'll stay on in his creative role as Mint spokesman. Mint was founded in 2015 and spun out from Ultra in late 2019.
Mint, which has run on T-Mobile since its inception as a mobile virtual network operator, found success thanks to its charismatic pitch man and budget-conscious pricing. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert confirmed in a YouTube video regarding the news that Mint will keep its $15 per month pricing.
T-Mobile said in a statement that Mint and Ultra will complement its existing prepaid services. Mint founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim will continue to manage the brands, which T-Mobile says will generally operate as a separate business unit. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is hoping to tap into the marketing nous of Mint and its famous co-owner.
“Mint has built an incredibly successful digital direct-to-consumer business that continues to deliver for customers on the Un-carrier’s leading 5G network and now we are excited to use our scale and owners' economics to help supercharge it — and Ultra Mobile — into the future," Sievert said. "Over the long-term, we’ll also benefit from applying the marketing formula Mint has become famous for across more parts of T-Mobile."
“Mint Mobile is the best deal in wireless and today’s news only enhances our ability to deliver for our customers," Reynolds said. "We are so happy T-Mobile beat out an aggressive last-minute bid from my mom Tammy Reynolds as we believe the excellence of their 5G network will provide a better strategic fit than my mom’s slightly-above-average mahjong skills."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/t-mobile-will-buy-ryan-reynolds-backed-mint-mobile-for-up-to-135-billion-135324151.html?src=rss
Meta has announced another expansive round of layoffs to cut costs. CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company is letting go of another 10,000 workers and closing "around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired." This follows layoffs of around 11,000 employees last year. The company is reducing the size of its recruiting team and will inform affected employees later today. It’ll then announce layoff and restructuring efforts of its tech departments in late April and business teams in late May. Zuckerberg, who will soon go on paternity leave for his third child, recently described 2023 as a "year of efficiency.” He added in his note: "I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years."
– Mat Smith
The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.
Google’s catch-up with ChatGPT continues, and the company is bringing its own take on next-gen chatbots and AI assistance to, well, all of its Workspace products. According to the company, you’ll be able to "draft, reply, summarize and prioritize" emails, "brainstorm, proofread, write and rewrite" text documents, autogenerate images and even video with Slides, have Sheets create formulas autonomously and automate transcription notes in Meet video calls.
You'll no longer need to pay $10 a month to see information for the past 30 or 90 days.
One of our biggest complaints about Fitbit products is that $10 monthly fee to see your historical data. Until now, you could only see up to seven days' worth of your breathing rate, resting heart rate and heart rate variation, and just 90 days of everything else, without paying for a subscription. Today, Google announced it's making "more of the insightful data from Fitbit's Health Metrics Dashboard available without a subscription to all of its users." You can now check 30- and 90-day views of your data, without paying for it.
Kristen Sotakoun found out way too much about me in a consensual test of my online security.
In 30 minutes or less, TikToker and Chicago-based server Kristen Sotakoun can find out your birthday. “My first thing is to be entertaining. My second thing is to show you cracks in your social media, which was the totally accidental thing that I became on TikTok.” Sotakoun, who goes by @notkahnjunior, calls it “consensual doxxing.” Engadget’s Katie Malone offered her social media profiles up to the test.
You'll be limited to sports during the early access phase.
YouTube TV is rolling out an early access multiview feature showing up to four sports streams simultaneously. Visit the Top Picks For You section and you can pick from pre-chosen multiview groups, such as NCAA March Madness games. There's a full-screen view for each match and you can switch the audio and captioning to the stream that captures your attention. The feature works on smart TVs and living room media players that run YouTube TV. You won't need a high-powered device as all the processing to YouTube's servers – your hardware only has to handle one feed.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-meta-lays-off-an-additional-10000-workers-115209372.html?src=rss
DIY Robotics Enthusiast Sets Sail with Self-Navigating RC Sailboats
DIY! Hobbyist and YouTuber RCTestFlight took his love for RC toys to new heights with his latest project: an autonomous RC sailboat. The project combines 3D design, fiberglass molding, RC controls, and Programming to create a unique and exciting new gadget.
NASA has chosen Axiom Space's proposal yet again for the third private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The two parties have already signed a mission order, and they're hoping to launch sometime in November 2023 and beyond from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A more specific date will be announced later, since it will depend on the timing of other flights to the ISS, as well as on in-orbit activity planning.
Before Axiom Mission 3 launches, Axiom Mission 2 will have to head to the space station first. It's also a crew mission that's operated by the company, and it's expected to launch in the second quarter of 2023. As you can guess from its name, it's not the company's first astronaut mission to the orbiting lab: NASA also picked it for the first commercially operated crewed flight to the station. Axiom Mission 1 launched in April 2022 and was docked with the ISS for 15 days.
At the moment, Ax-3 is still in its very early stages. The private space company will still have to submit four proposed crew members and two back up crew to the agency for review, with the mission commander being a flown NASA astronaut. (Ax-2, for instance, was headed by retired NASA astronaut Peggy Annette Whitson.) Under the parties' agreement, NASA may ask the commander to perform certain tasks or science experiments while onboard. Meanwhile, Axiom Space astronauts will be able to use NASA cargo and other in-orbit resources for daily use.
In addition to choosing Axiom Space for these private launches, NASA also picked the company to develop the moonwalking spacesuit for its Artemis program. The agency will unveil the suit today in an event, which will be livestreams on NASA's website.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasa-axiom-space-third-astronaut-mission-iss-105544749.html?src=rss
For decades, car makers have positioned all of their instrumentation below the steering wheel, resulting in drivers needing to subtly take their eyes off the road to see their speed and associated gas levels. However, with its new 'Panoramic Vision' display, BMW is looking to bring that important data up to eye level. The company has announced a heads-up display that spans the entire width of the windscreen to give drivers and passengers all the information they need without having to take eyes off the road.
As the driver, you can choose what you want to see across the Panoramic Vision display, with options including speed, time, and current song playing. The display uses bright crisp lights to display information clearly against a dark background.
BMW first alluded to a new heads-up display when it announced the i Vision Dee concept at CES 2023 back in January. However, in that iteration, the information appeared digitally right onto the windshield. In contrast, the Panoramic Vision display is a raised lip built-in across the bottom of the windshield.
There's no word yet if any of the other features shown in the i Vision Dee will make their way to production anytime soon. These included interactive communication in which BMW stated, "a natural and emotional relationship between human and machine is developed," and animated facial expressions.
The Panoramic Vision display will begin rolling out in the first NEUE KLASSE (or New Class) models — BMW's range of battery and e-motor vehicles — from 2025. According to BMW, additional features of the BMW iDrive will be included in the NEUE KLASSE. However, we'll likely have to wait until the IAA Mobility 2023 in Munich this September to learn more.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bmws-new-panoramic-vision-will-put-a-full-width-display-on-ev-windscreens-103515430.html?src=rss
BMW has revealed more details about its EV release plans, with the highlight being the arrival of the i5 Sedan in in October 2023 alongside the next-gen gas-powered 5 Series. The company also plans to unveil the iX2 SUV sometime this year and an i5 touring EV in 2024. It's all part of a plan to have battery EVs (BEVs) "in virtually every major segment of its business," the company said in a look ahead to 2023.
Much as it did with the i7, BMW will effectively release its new 5 Series cars, including the electric i5 version, at the same time. "The flexible powertrain architecture means the new BMW 5 Series Sedan can be offered in all-electric and plug-in hybrid variants as well as powered by highly efficient petrol and diesel engines with 48V mild hybrid technology," it wrote.
Noting that its all-electric i4 M50 was its best-selling M vehicle last year, BMW said it will release an M performance version of the i5, too. It'll also add a touring i5 in 2024. "The BMW 5 Series Touring is very popular, particularly in Europe," said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse. "From spring 2024 it will also come in an all-electric version, giving us a truly unique selling point in this segment."
The other notable addition next year will be the iX2 crossover SUV, likely based on the upcoming X2 ICE model and a successor to the $83,200 iX. The latter model was perhaps most famous for its weird grille, but offered some solid features including a 321 mile EPA range.
In addition, BMW confirmed that both Rolls-Royce and Mini would be going fully electric by 2030. In the nearer term, it said that "in 2024, at least one in five of the company’s new cars will have a fully-electric drive train; by 2025; every fourth new vehicle delivered should be a BEV and, by 2026, around one in three." It expects to sell two million EVs by 2025, and deliver 10 million to customers in 2030.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/bmw-confirms-the-i5-sedan-will-be-its-first-all-electric-5-series-vehicle-094954587.html?src=rss
It’s that quiet moment between Samsung launching its Galaxy S flagships and its, well, other flagships that just happen to fold. The perfect time, then, to update its midrange A series and add to the chaos. We’re going to focus on the Galaxy A54, but Samsung will also launch a similar, cheaper device, the Galaxy A34, in other regions like the UK.
While no major shakeups are coming from the Galaxy A53 to the A54, there are some notable changes, including a redesign more closely aligned to the premium Galaxy S family, with metal detail on the cameras, which now jut out from the back independently of each other.
Looks familiar, right?
Mat Smith / Engadget
The display is now slightly smaller at 6.4 inches (the predecessor had a 6.5-inch screen), but it keeps the same 2,400 x 1,080 resolution. This year, however, Samsung has boosted the maximum brightness to 1,000 nits. That should be noticeable in sunlight and the company is going further, adding Vision Booster to enhance visibility when your environment is a little too bright. The screen also reaches up to 120Hz, though the variable refresh rate helps to keep battery life in check. It’s another gorgeous screen from Samsung, which continues to shrink the gap between flagship and mid-range. It’s only the bezels that kinda give the game away here.
Samsung has also upgraded the A54’s processor, running on the 5nm octa-core Exynos 1380 – the company’s latest in-house chip. Samsung claims that this should offer 20 percent performance improvement on CPU tasks, and 26 percent improvement when it comes to GPU tasks. While it was hard to push the phone to its limits during hands-on time, we’re hoping the A54 is a little more capable than last year’s A53. Samsung has kept the battery the same size as last year, which is a good sign: two-day battery life was one of the stronger points when we reviewed the device.
The Galaxy A34 (left) has a few differences to the pricier Galaxy A54 (right).
Mat Smith / Engadget
When it comes to imaging, It’s another triple-camera array for this year’s A-series. There’s a 50-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization and an f/1.8 lens, which is flanked by a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 5MP macro camera. Samsung has also kept the 32-megapixel selfie camera for the 2023 refresh. The company says the changes to the camera system include larger pixels (more detail, less noise) and enhanced optical stabilization, from 0.95 degrees of stability up to 1.5 degrees – that’s a notable improvement, especially if you’re capturing a lot of video. Samsung has also embedded Snapchat filters into the native camera app, which you can see in the main image at the top of this story. It'll sync with your Snapchat account, giving you easy access to filters across all the cameras.
In the US, the Galaxy A54 arrives in two glossy color options: black and violet. Elsewhere, you’ll be able to choose white and lime colorways. A few of our images include the Galaxy A34, which has a notch selfie camera, a slightly larger screen and a hypnotic, familiar, pearlescent finish, which I think is actually nicer than the more expensive A54. However, only the A54 is heading to the US, which will be available to preorder on March 30th before launching on April 6th for $450 – the same price as last year’s model.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-galaxy-a54-galaxy-a34-hands-on-pricing-release-date-090009335.html?src=rss
