Apple’s iOS 15 is slated for release this fall, and this week we’ve got a hands-on with its public beta. According to Cherlynn Low, iPhone users have a lot to look forward to later this year. Meanwhile, Nicole Lee set up both the 8- and 5-inch Echo Shows in her house to check out Amazon’s updates, and she says the Echo Show 8 is now much improved for video calls. Also, Daniel Cooper found a lot to like about the Lenovo Legion 5, but he admits the laptop comes with some compromises.
After spending a few weeks testing the latest iOS 15 features, including SharePlay and Focus modes, Cherlynn Low concluded that Apple lovers will have a bunch of new things to try out this fall. As most of the changes are already available, it’s perhaps not surprising that the beta is fairly complete. While testing SharePlay, Cherlynn encountered a few minor glitches. It was difficult to figure out how to access the feature initially because the options only show up when a compatible media app is open during a chat. And both parties will need a subscription to stream together on Apple TV+ or Apple Music.
Cherlynn particularly liked the Focus modes, which let users create customized profiles that only allow notifications from selected apps or people to come through. You can also pick a Home screen that will only show the apps you want. In this mode, you won’t see any other pages — just the apps drawer and the Today screen — keeping distractions to a minimum.
Other upgrades include Live Text, which scans photos for usable text like foreign words on a menu to translate; richer and more detailed Maps; better Spotlight search and Share With You, which consolidates media your friends send you. Cherlynn said there’s much more to explore in the Weather, Safari and Wallet apps that should give fans a taste of the full release. She also spent time with the new watchOS 8 beta, which brings more health and fitness tools, improved communication and better integration with connected appliances to the Apple Watch.
Amazon didn’t change much on the new $129 Echo Show 8 and $85 Show 5, and Nicole Lee says that’s just fine. The two devices eschew the swiveling screen found in the Echo Show 10 and keep much of what worked in previous models: the minimalist design, an ambient light sensor to adjust brightness and color temperature and a camera shutter for privacy. The Echo Show 8 has a 1,280 x 800 resolution display while the Show 5 features a 960 x 480 screen, and the latter is clearly intended as more of a nightstand device. Nicole was particularly pleased by the sound quality on the Echo Show 8, which delivered powerful bass and impressive volume.
And because it now features an octa-core processor and a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera, the Echo Show 8 is now more useful for video calls. The camera also has digital panning and zooming technology so it can follow you during video calls, although in Nicole’s experience, this took a few seconds to kick in. But the Show 8 won’t be best for all your video needs as it lacks native YouTube as well as streaming support for Disney+, Paramount+ and HBO Max. If you’re already in the Amazon ecosystem, she says the Echo Show 8 delivers the most value for the money — but if you’re looking for something akin to an alarm clock, the Show 5 is a better choice.
Though Lenovo isn’t best known for its gaming laptops, Daniel Cooper points out that the new Legion 5 Pro laptop is clearly trying to capture more of that attention. With AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, the machine is powerful — and at $1,530, it’s relatively affordable as well. Daniel points out that the 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD are underwhelming, but they can be upgraded, and the 16-inch, 165Hz QHD IPS display holds its own in bright light and reduces glare.
When it comes to design, users get a solid aluminum chassis with a professional looking matte grey paint job, plus a plethora of ports including four USB-A, two USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Daniel said that typing on Lenovo’s TrueStrike keyboard is a unique experience: the “soft landing” switches makes each actuation feel a bit deeper than the keys 1.5mm depth. He was less fond of the 720p webcam, which produces fuzzy images with light blooms, and the heat produced by the fan system was noticeable. However, the big compromise on the Legion 5 is the battery life — the machine lasted only 4 hours and 43 minutes during testing, which makes it most useful when near an outlet.
Cherlynn Low acknowledges that designing a stylish fitness tracker is difficult. Fitbit has tried it a few times before but their most recent attempt, the Luxe, is indeed chic — but Cherlynn says its size is actually the most impressive thing about it. Measuring 0.4 x 1.43 inches, the Luxe manages to include a heart rate sensor, oxygen saturation monitoring, sleep tracking, water resistance and basic phone syncing all in its tiny frame.
However, the downside is that small footprint results in a tiny screen as well. The 0.76-inch AMOLED panel, which runs at a 124 x 206 resolution, is hard to read. Cherlynn said that the text showing workout stats, cardio zone information and notifications might be frustratingly small for some. That aside, she had no problem using the Luxe to track workouts and sleep data; it works as promised and the UI is similar to other Fitbit devices without physical buttons. The touchscreen was responsive and she was able to get seven days of battery life — and that was even with connected GPS turned on for a bit. Overall, Cherlynn calls the Luxe well-made and capable, but best for those looking for a petite tracker.
Planning to bring home a new baby is like planning for a tiny cyclone to live in your house. You’re not sure when it will arrive or how much bedlam will come with it. All you can do is stock up on supplies and batten down the hatches. And when it comes to babies, there are so, so many supplies, from the obvious (diapers, a crib) to the unexpected (snot suckers, no-scratch mittens). Fortunately, babies need very little in the way of gadgets, but the devices you do need in your nursery have to be reliable, simple to use, and effective. Here’s a collection of items that proved themselves useful — and in some cases essential — when I brought home premature twins. Plus, a few favorite toys for good measure.
Owlet smart sock
Owlet
Bringing home a new infant is both surreal and nerve-wracking, especially when you have almost no experience with babies (*raises hand*). Because my twins were NICU graduates, there was no question that we wanted a monitor at home that could reproduce the stats we were used to seeing in the hospital. Owlet’s smart sock is the only infant wearable that measures heart rate, pulse ox and breathing rate. That information is displayed in an app that graphs your child’s data and tracks their sleep patterns as well. If your child’s readings rise or dip outside normal levels, you’ll be alerted through an alarm on your phone and the Owlet base station.
I’ve used both the second- and third-generation sock for the twins until they hit the weight limit. Strapping the sock onto a wriggly baby is not always easy, and a poor fit can cause heart-stopping false alerts. However, checking the Owlet’s readings frequently in those early days was reassuring to me, and over time I felt more comfortable as I got a sense for their typical stats. The sock measurements also helped me understand their sleep habits by reporting back on when they were sleeping and when they were very much not sleeping. The amount of information and support was especially helpful when I found myself worrying, as I could simply pull up their data on the app for reassurance. Additionally, Owlet makes a camera that can tie into the system to provide video and audio feeds and sound/motion alerts, so you can get a quick peek at your little one.
Once you finally get your newborn to sleep, you’re going to want to check on them roughly every two and a half minutes until you pass out on the couch watching Hulu. Regardless, there is no bigger transgression than waking a sleeping baby, so you’ll need a quality monitor to help keep tabs on your new addition without disturbing them. There are a lot of good monitors on the market, but the Nanit became a favorite thanks to its clear video and extensive features. The Nanit camera offers a bird’s-eye view of your child’s crib, and because it’s positioned over the crib you won’t need to worry about adjusting the angle. It needs to be either wall mounted or set up on its stand, but I found the latter setup wobbly and fragile, so I’d recommend the stand, for sure.
The 1080p video stream is clear, day and night, and it can be shared with multiple caretakers. Nanit is tied to an app so you’ll access the feed from your phone; there’s no need to charge or keep track of a separate display. It also offers noise and sound alerts, which made it easy to get a heads-up when one of the twins was stirring, though I had to minimize the sensitivity of these in the app because they occurred frequently. It collects snippets of your child’s night time activities for your reference, and tracks sleep data. Nanit also offers a Breathing Band wearable if you’d also like to track your baby’s breaths per minute.
It wasn’t until I had babies that I realized how completely filthy everything in my home was. Although I have used the Wabi steam sanitizer for the last year or so in order to deep clean the majority of the kids’ cutlery, bottles and cups, it’s overkill to haul that thing out for pacifiers alone. Munchkin makes a cute 4.1 ounce UV-C cube that can sterilize a single pacifier in under a minute. It’s straightforward to use and easy to tote around, thanks to the silicone wrist strap.
You’ll have to first wipe down any pacifiers that are covered in hair, crumbs or other toddler detritus, but after that all you need to do is pop the binky into the cube and hit the button. The 59S lights up in a blue hue that fascinates my kids while it kills 99 percent of household germs — and that may include coronavirus, which the FDA says could be rendered inactive from the UV-C. The combination of pacifier wipes and the 59S came in handy during a recent trip where my kids were in a variety of different environments; I didn’t have to worry at all knowing that I could quickly cleanse their pacifiers without having to run to a sink every time they threw a binky on the ground, outside their sleeping area, into a pool or directly into someone’s cup of coffee.
Establishing a pumping and breastfeeding routine is an exhausting challenge, so any shortcuts that save you time or energy are basically essential. Wearing a breast pump instead of being tethered to my Spectra was a tremendous relief. I could pump while doing laundry, working, soothing a cranky baby or even practicing yoga. Willow makes wearable breast pumps that are spill-proof (I tested it in downward dog) and comfortable to use. However, they weigh 12.5 ounces each and I felt pretty self-conscious wearing them around because they made my silhouette look like an exaggerated comic book character.
Willow’s system contains all the parts in an egg-shaped pump that you slip into a bra. The wearer can control intensity either on the pump itself or via the smartphone app, which also tracks a session and how much you’ve pumped. I particularly like that Willow gives users two options for milk collection: a reusable container or a disposable bag, though only the bag option is spill-proof. It’s fairly quiet but I still skipped wearing it outside for longer than it took to grab the mail. Although the Bluetooth connection to the app was inconsistent, it didn’t hinder my ability to use the hardware — or my gratitude in being able to move freely while pumping.
My love for the Hatch Rest is well established; I’ve written multiple times how I use it daily, and how it’s been useful as a night light, white noise machine and sleep trainer. I’ve recommended it to friends and I even packed it when my family was being evacuated from a forest fire. In case you missed those previous references, here’s the scoop: The Hatch Rest and Rest+ are minimally designed, fully-functional smart home devices that can be programmed to play a variety of sounds and colors. There are 10 available colors, or you can create a custom one, and 11 sounds including rain storms and lullabies. You can control it either from your phone or from the physical buttons and touch ring on the device itself.
The Rest+ is more expensive at $90 but brings a few additional features like battery power, two-way audio, a dimmable clock, voice control with Alexa, and access for multiple users. If you can do without those, the $60 Rest should suffice. Hatch also makes an adult model, the Restore, and recently released the Rest Mini, which offers a subscription to stories, lullabies and more kid-friendly content.
An infant swing can be helpful to entertain your babe while you do other tasks or to help them gently fall asleep while being gently rocked. The 4moms mamaroo4 is a smart swing that not only mimics the actions that parents use when soothing babies, but can also be fully controlled from your phone. It is also blessedly simple to set up; the instructions are well-explained and I was able to get the whole thing up and running in under 10 minutes while my twins were distracted with teething crackers and Flappy the Elephant. It offers five movement options (car ride, kangaroo, rock a bye, tree swing and wave), five speed options and four built-in sounds (rain, fan, ocean, heart). You can also connect an MP3 player to it to play your own lullabies and tunes.
The speakers on the mamaRoo4 aren’t exactly bangers, though, so if you connect an MP3 player or streaming device don’t expect it to sound amazing. It will do the job for kid’s lullabies or classical tracks, but it doesn’t get very loud and isn’t built to be a speaker system. The swing itself isn’t exactly silent as it moves either, though in no way is it annoying or distracting. It does muffle the built-in sounds a bit so it’s hard to distinguish between them. The swings movements seem subtle at times, but my daughter seemed to enjoy them. It is pricier than most standard swings and will work up to six months or 25 pounds, but it might be worth it to be able to start, pause, change movement all from your phone as your baby settles down.
Do you really need a $100 smart thermometer for your new baby? Technically, no. But y’all, let me tell you it only took a single use of the Withings Thermo to win me over. Here’s why: Withing’s smart temporal thermometer uses an artery in the head to measure temperatures. Which means instead of trying to keep a standard thermometer correctly positioned in the armpit of a wriggly, crying infant for an interminable time to get a reading you hope is accurate, all you have to do is gently swipe the Thermo wand across their forehead. You don’t even have to make direct contact with the skin since Thermo can still measure when held a half-inch away. It’s easy enough that I found myself taking my kid’s temperature more regularly because it was no longer a fight.
Thermo then displays the result on the LED display (which, for what it’s worth, really intrigued my twins) and you can press a button to save the reading. Because it’s tied to an app, Thermo not only saves previous readings so you can track temps, but it also lets you add multiple family members and assign a temperature to the correct individual. As a mom of twins, that’s the feature I was most interested in and it was simple and easy to scroll through profiles using a swipe next to the display. The app also helps you get Thermo set up. I will admit it took two attempts before I could complete this process but it wasn’t complicated; it just initially seemed to get stuck on the setup screen. Also, it’s worth noting that the Thermo started to take temperatures immediately, so I had a few results come in just as I was holding it in my hand and pointing it at a wall but these ambient readings are easy to dismiss.
A good bottle warmer should be efficient, minimal and easy to clean. Baby Brezza’s version is a good option because it has a slim profile, which makes it convenient to stash on a countertop, along with intuitive buttons and controls. It can heat either formula or breast milk using two warming settings (a steady warm water bath or a quick steam warm), as well as defrost frozen milk. The bottle tray fits most types, too — I can confirm it worked fine with the three different types that I had in my house. I was able to figure out how to work it without consulting the instructions too much, and I was pleased at how the bottles came out at an ideal temperature.
However, the noteworthy feature of the Safe + Smart is the Bluetooth connection that allows the warmer to be controlled through an app on your phone. You can select things like warming speed and the bottle’s starting temperature before starting a warming session all from within the app. It will also alert you when the bottle is ready to go.
While it sounds like a niche device, it proved particularly useful in certain situations. I was able to prepare a bottle, start my kid’s baths and use the app to start warming a bottle so it would be ready right as they were. I could also start a bottle, then text my partner to bring it upstairs as I read bedtime stories. And the alarm meant I could avoid walking up and down stairs several times to check on the warmer as I usually do. It’s a neat feature, but because you’ll still need to add water to the warmer each time, it works best if you plan ahead to use it.
Infants experience the world around them through their senses, so they’ll be drawn to toys with a lot of colors, sounds and textures. Look for toys they can grab, twist, crinkle, chew, shake and spin. For example, this activity ball is ideal because it has several interactive elements: a mirror, a spinning ball, beads in a tube and a squeaky button, among others. My kids really enjoyed exploring each element here as their skills progressed. Sensory soft toys like this elephant reproduce a similar experience with rattles, gum massagers, pockets and rings, and are easy to hang in a car seat as well. For toys that teach physical skills, try wrist rattles and foot finder socks, which have bells and crinkles to help babies identify their hands and feet; or this crinkly cloth book with a mirror to encourage tummy time.
There’s a lot to learn when you have a child in the NICU, and one tip I picked up from the nursing staff was the importance of having a white noise machine at home. Babies often find white (or brown or pink) noise soothing as it recreates some of the ambient sounds they heard in the womb. NICU graduates in particular become accustomed to an assortment of noises from various hospital machines, which means white noise can actually help them feel at ease when they arrive home. Also, let’s be real, anything that will help your infant sleep is worth trying.
In fact, my household is no stranger to white noise machines — we’ve had one kicking around for years now because of my partner’s tinnitus, and we’ve both kept white noise apps on our phones for when we travel. Having a consistent, gentle hum of waves, rain or static helps mask outside noises from airplanes or hotels. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous stories, accidentally stumbling across the Hatch Rest was a stroke of luck as it doubles as a night light and white noise machine, all of it controllable from a phone. While there’s no shortage of white noise machines available (for adults or children), few have the kind of smart features that made the Rest truly indispensable. I tried out four different soothers to see what each has to offer.
Hatch Rest and Rest+
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
You can control all features from smartphone
There’s a good selection of sounds and lights
Cons
No storytelling feature
No projection light
Can’t double as a Bluetooth speaker
It’s easy to explain why the $60 Hatch Rest and $90 Rest+ are popular with parents on the Engadget staff: Both devices sport a clean, minimalist design and allow you to combine any of 12 sounds or colors to act as a night light, white noise machine or time-to-rise reminder. And all these actions can be controlled from your smartphone, so it’s easy to adjust the volume or change the light color from a different room. Using the Hatch app, you can set favorite combinations and program them to start and stop at specific times. There are also physical controls on the device itself so you’re not out of luck if you forget your phone in another room. After a year of using the Rest, the only thing I wish it had was the ability to fade out of a sound when you turn it off.
The Rest+ has some additional features, too, including a rechargeable battery (not just AC power); two-way audio so it can also act as an audio monitor; a digital clock display; and the ability to control it with Alexa. Hatch sells separately $12 printed coverlets that can cover the Rest to match a nursery design. The company also recently released a “Mini” version, which offers a storytelling feature and white noise but no lights. There’s also a Restore version of the machine intended for adults.
VTech Wyatt the Whale Storytelling Soother
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
You can record your own voice
There's a storytelling mode
Starry projection
Cons
The app is bare-bones and you can’t use it to control audio playback
AC power only
Wyatt the Whale is one of three storytelling soothers from VTech; the other two, a monkey and a turtle, offer slightly different features than Wyatt. The $50 whale comes preloaded with 10 lullabies, 10 ambient white noise sounds and 10 stories, which can be updated and switched out through the app. You can also use the app to record your voice reading a story (the app provides scripts to help), or a message for your child.
The selection of sounds is pretty standard for a white noise machine: nature sounds like birds and rain, along with household noises like traffic or a washing machine. The lullabies have a range of children's songs (“Mary Had a Little Lamb”) and classical tracks (Bach’s Ave Maria), while the stories are shortened versions of fairy tales (Alice in Wonderland in 3:48). Throughout, the sound quality is decent and the voices clear. Wyatt can also project a starry night scene, courtesy of the shaped cut-outs on the top of the device, but this feature can only be controlled through physical buttons on the device.
The lullabies, sounds and stories can get swapped out and reordered within the app. Unfortunately, though, that’s all the app was designed to do. As I discovered after several frustrating moments, it doesn't play, pause, skip tracks or adjust volume; all of that has to be done using the physical buttons. Attempting to play a sound through the app will just default to it playing on your phone. There’s also no battery; it only works when connected to AC power, which limits the places you’ll be able to use it.
Project Nursery Dreamweaver with Bluetooth
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
Adorable firefly design
Doubles as a Bluetooth speaker
Portable
Cons
Only three sounds or lullabies
No app to control preset sounds
No projection
Project Nursery’s Dreamweaver is designed to look like a jar carrying fireflies, which is honestly pretty charming. The $40 machine has the shape of a large mason jar with a brass colored top and handle and physical controls near the bottom. There are six buttons in total: volume up and down, power/Bluetooth, preloaded tracks/skip tracks, a timer and one for the lights, which flicker on and off in one of four patterns to resemble captured fireflies. Below the power/Bluetooth button is an input for a USB-C cable, which you’ll need periodically for recharging the battery.
The menu is admittedly pretty limited: three lullabies (Brahms’ Lullaby, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), two natural sounds (waves and a heartbeat) and plain white noise. However, because the Dreamweaver connects to your phone via Bluetooth you can stream anything you want through it. It was certainly loud enough during my testing to double as a portable speaker for picnics or beach days. And my twins were crazy about the fake firefly lights.
Fisher Price Smart Connect Deluxe Soother
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
Robust app
Three levels of lights
Cute design
Cons
AC power only
No storytelling
Can't double as a Bluetooth speaker
The $50 Smart Connect Deluxe Soother is a tall cylindrical device with three levels of lights: a ring of various sized holes near the bottom, various animal shapes etched through the opaque sides in the middle and cut-outs of animals and stars for projection on top. At its base are seven touch-activated buttons to control the lights on each level, plus the colors and the sounds. The top portion of the Soother can shift what colors it projects, while the middle and bottom portions emit a soft warm glow. The Soother can also play lullabies or nature sounds. Touching the buttons on the base will cycle through the various options, and when a feature is activated the button stays lit so you can easily find it again in the dark.
The Soother connects via Bluetooth, so you can control all the lights and sounds from your phone. Indeed, the app is full-featured. You can shift the speed at which the star projection changes colors and select which colors it uses. You can also choose from six sounds or 10 music tracks; adjust the night light or the animal projection light; set a timer; or save a favorite combination as a preset. I also really like how the lights and the sounds fade gently when turned off. However, it does require AC power so it'll need a spot near an outlet.
