With a new batch of Pixel phones comes a new chip at the heart of them all: Google's Tensor G2. Like last year's Tensor, the company's first custom mobile chip, it's an AI-infused powerhouse built specifically around the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro's new features. It'll also be joined with a revamped Titan M2 chip, which deals with on-device security.
Google
On stage during its Pixel launch event, Google VP Brian Rakowski said the Tensor G2 will power the Pixel 7's voice capabilities, including faster Assistant queries, as well as voice translation, voice typing, and more. He noted that voice typing is around two and a half times faster than using the keyboard, making it a feature that more people are relying on. You'll even be able to visually describe emojis, like asking for the "heart eyes cat," while voice typing.
The Tensor G2 chip features two "Big" CPU cores, two "Medium" cores and four "Small" cores, like its predecessor. Clock speeds are only a hair higher — literally just 5MHz and 10Mhz across the Big and Medium cores — and Google is sticking with the Arm Cortex X1 and A55 chips with the Big and Small cores. The only major update? The Tensor G2's Medium core now uses an Arm A78 instead of an A76. Google says the G2 is also running a "next-generation" TPU AI accelerator.
Developing...
Follow all of the news from Google's Pixel 7 event right here!
Google will pay Arizona $85 million to settle a 2020 lawsuit, which claimed that the search giant was illegally tracking Android users, Bloomberg reports. At the time, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich argued that Google continued to track users for targeted advertising, even after they turned off location data settings. If this sounds familiar, it's because Google is also being sued by attorneys general in Texas, Washington, D.C., and Indiana over similar data tracking complaints. Brnovich's office also notes that the $85 million settlement is the largest amount Google has paid per user in a privacy lawsuit like this.
But given that Google is currently seeing quarterly revenue over $69 billion, the punishment may seem like a drop in the bucket. It's nothing compared to the $1.7 billion Google was fined by the EU over abusive advertising practices. In a statement, Google spokesman José Castañeda said the suit was related to older product policies that have been changed. “We provide straightforward controls and auto delete options for location data, and are always working to minimize the data we collect,” he said. “We are pleased to have this matter resolved and will continue to focus our attention on providing useful products for our users.”
Brnovich, meanwhile, says he's “proud of this historic settlement that proves no entity, not even big tech companies, is above the law."
Not too long ago, the notion of Intel getting into the world of discrete graphics cards seemed ludicrous. Intel?! The same company that killed its last major GPU project in 2009 and spent the 2010s focusing on weak integrated graphics? The same one that turned to AMD when it needed a decent GPU to sit alongside its CPU for enthusiast laptops?
Now comes the real test: Can Koduri and the Intel crew actually make GPUs gamers will want? After spending some time with the Arc A750 and A770 , it's clear that the company has developed cards that can easily take on NVIDIA and AMD's alternatives. But most importantly, they're aiming to deliver that power a lower price. The A750 is launching at $289, while the A770 starts at $329 (with a Limited Edition card at $349).
Theoretically, that puts the A770 on par with the RTX 3060's original price. But thanks to the wild GPU market, NVIDIA's card currently goes for around $400. We've yet to see how retailers will price Intel's cards, but the company's representatives have claimed they're pushing stores to stick to their low launch pricing. If that's the case, Intel's Arc GPUs will end up being something truly rare in the video card world today: good deals.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
I was impressed the moment I opened the Arc A750 and A770 boards sent for review. After testing Intel's recent NUC Extreme systems, I was expecting some fairly practical-yet-dull gamer chic. But these cards are genuinely sleek. They're well-built, have a finger print-free matte finish, and aside from the modest LEDs around the A770's fans, there's no annoying bling in sight. These certainly don't feel like Intel's first consumer graphics cards. They're more like stealth bombers built with the express purpose of obliterating NVIDIA and AMD's price-performance ratios.
Powering these beauties is the latest evolution of Intel's "Alchemist" Xe graphics architecture. The Arc A750 features 28 Xe cores, 28 ray tracing units, a 2,050 MHz clock speed and 8GB of GDDR6 RAM. The A770 doubles that memory and has more power across the board: 32 Xe cores and ray tracing units, as well as a 2.1 GHz speed. Both cards have a 225W TDP, which means they will end up drawing more power and heat than the 170W RTX 3060. (I typically saw them hit around 76C under heavy load, six degrees more than NVIDIA's card.)
Timespy Extreme
Hitman 3
Luxmark Luxball HDR
Intel Arc A770
6,718
117 fps (144 with XeSS)
52,055
Intel Arc A750
6,355
110 fps (135 with XeSS)
49,854
NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti
5,408
124 fps
45,900
NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti
6,842
155 fps
53,114
AMD Radeon 6600XT
3,973
94 fps
22,567
I figured the beefier Arc A770 would outmatch the RTX 3060 Ti (I didn't have a chance to review the 3060 at launch), but I was genuinely surprised by how well both cards faired in our benchmarks. The A750 scored over 900 more points than the 3060 Ti in the 3DMark Time Spy Extreme benchmark, landing just above the the RTX 3070. I was also able to hit 74 fps while playing Halo Infinite in 1440p with all of the graphics settings maxed out. That's not at all what I expected from a GPU under $300.
The Arc A770 was within reach of the RTX 3070 Ti's Time Spy Extreme score, a card that launched at $599 (and sold for much more) last year. It also proved to be a decent ray tracing contender (within reason), reaching 76 fps in Cyberpunk 2077's benchmark while playing in 1080p with the "ultra" ray tracing profile. Both GPUs scored close to the RTX 3060 Ti in 3DMark's Port Royal ray tracing benchmark, almost twice as fast as the Radeon 6600. Given how disappointing AMD's ray tracing performance has been, I was genuinely shocked that Intel was able to deliver a significantly better experience.
Still, it's strange to see the A750 and A770 scoring closely in some cases. The pricier card also hit around 75 fps while playing Halo Infinite in 1440p, and they were both within a few thousand points of each other in the Luxmark HDR OpenCL benchmark. That's both a testament to Intel's graphics architecture, and a sign that its drivers may need some work. (Another sign: Control didn't think either card was compatible with DirectX 12 ray tracing.)
NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti held a slight lead on both of Intel's cards in Hitman 3, though I was able to get a decent performance boost of 30 fps when I enabled Intel's XeSS technology. Similar to DLSS on RTX GPUs, it uses AI processing to upscale images rendered at lower resolutions. I didn't notice any artifacts during the Hitman benchmark, though I didn't have a chance to spend a ton of time playing it with XeSS enabled.
You'll find XeSS support on titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Naraka Bladepoint and Shadow of the Tomb Raider when the Arc GPUs launch. Similar to AMD's FX Super Resolution (and unlike DLSS), Intel's upscaling tech can also work with competitor's GPUs to give everyone a framerate boost.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
While the Arc A750 and A770 are best suited to 1440p and 1080p gaming, they also handled my ultrawide monitor's 3,440 by 1,440 resolution decently. In Halo Infinite, I saw an average of 62 fps on the cheaper card with maxed graphics settings, while the A770 hit a smoother 70 fps. These aren't groundbreaking scores, but it was heartening to see affordable cards holding their own at higher resolutions.
Despite a few hiccups, like not getting ray tracing in Control and occasional framerate hiccups in Cyberpunk, I was happy to see that Intel's Arc drivers didn't have any major issues. There were no game crashes or blue screens of death during my testing. Still, Intel needs to show it can optimize its drivers in time for major game launches (guaranteeing XeSS support in Modern Warfare II is a start). And given the company's complete abandonment of its previous discrete graphics card, Intel also has to prove that it won't just give up on these GPUs soon. Most gamers will need to rely on their video cards for several years, after all.
So sure, I have hesitations about recommending these cards wholeheartedly. But if you're looking for solid deals, especially following years of ever-increasing GPU prices, the Arc A750 and A770 are tough to beat. After almost a decade of doubting Intel's graphics hardware, I can't help but feel like the gruff farmer in Babe: That'll do Intel, that'll do.
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into the massive amounts of news from Amazon’s recent event. There’s a Kindle you can write on! And Amazon also wants to track your sleep on bed. We discuss what’s interesting about all of this gear, as well as why we still don’t trust Amazon with some of our data. Also, Cherlynn tells us what she likes (and doesn’t) about the Apple Watch Ultra, and Devindra explains why the Sonos Sub Mini is a pretty great value.
Stay tuned to the end for our chat with Josh Newman, VP of Mobile Innovation at Intel. He discusses Unison, Intel’s new app for sending texts and taking calls on your PC via your iPhone or Android phone. It’s something PC users have been waiting for, and it sounds like Intel is serious about making it work smoothly.
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Amazon hardware event unveils a writable Kindle, QLED Fire TV, and Alexa improvements – 1:19
Google’s Search On event details new features for search and maps – 26:29
Apple Watch Ultra, Fitbit Sense 2, and Sonos Sub reviews – 39:54
Intel and Samsung debut a PC with a slidable screen – 58:37
Intel’s 13th gen CPUs look impressive – 59:54
NASA’s Dart mission might have smacked an astroid out of orbit – 1:05:32
Oura releases 3rd generation smart ring – 1:06:42
Working on – 1:07:34
Pop culture picks – 1:08:24
Intel Unison interview – 1:15:26
Livestream
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh
Finally, Sonos has a subwoofer that's more affordable and practical for smaller spaces, the Sub Mini. It only took 10 years to get here. Sonos' original wireless Sub, which debuted in 2012, has always been targeted at its most hardcore users. With a launch price of $699, it was just as expensive as the company's flagship Playbar, and its enormous size made it overkill for apartments. (It's now $50 more after Sonos' recent price hikes.)
Casual Sonos fans were basically out of luck, especially as the company released more affordable soundbars, like the Beam and Ray. You probably wouldn't want to pair a $699 subwoofer with a speaker that costs $400 or less. Simply put, the $429 Sub Mini fills a huge gap in Sonos's lineup. But is it actually any good?
If I could, I'd show you my cat's shocked reaction as I blasted Baby Driver's opening car chase on the Sonos Arc in my family room. Sonos may not be the most price-conscious company around, but it's always made reliably great speakers. The Sub Mini is no exception.
Now I know, if you own an Arc, you'd most likely opt for the beefier Sonos Sub. But I was still impressed by how much the smaller subwoofer helped, especially for a soundbar that already delivered some fabulous low-end sound on its own. Muffled shotgun firing at the beginning of Baby Driver shook my walls (and made one cat leap into the air). I could viscerally feel the rumble of engines, the impact of car crashes and the weight shift every time Baby used the emergency brake for a sharp turn. The Sub Mini transformed the movie from something I was just watching to something I was experiencing.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
I was genuinely surprised by how big the Sub Mini sounded, especially since it's a relatively small cylinder. It weighs 14 pounds — 22 pounds lighter than the big Sonos Sub — and features dual six-inch woofers that face inward. Its sealed design means it doesn't push out a ton of air like ported subs, but that also ensures a tighter bass response. The Sub Mini can reach down to 25Hz – more than enough to make the opening of Blade Runner 2049 hit me right in the gut.
While I wouldn't call it portable, I appreciated how easy it was to move the Sub Mini around my home to test in different rooms. (Trust me, that was a lot less fun with the massive Sonos Sub.) You can pair the new sub with Sonos’ powered speakers, like the Beam, Ray and Play:5. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Sonos's portable offerings.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
That makes sense for the tiny Roam speaker, but I was genuinely disappointed to learn the Sub Mini doesn't support the larger Move. That's a speaker I've grown to love recently, since it lets me easily bring music into my backyard. It's a shame Sonos couldn't make the Sub Mini work while the Move was sitting on its charging base. (At that point, how is it different from a speaker with a plug?)
Despite that annoyance, the Sub Mini seems well-suited to homes with plenty of Sonos speakers. Moving it over to a Play:5 in my living room took around 30 seconds. And once it got going, it instantly added an impressive amount of depth to some of my usual test tracks. Tan Dun's "Night Fight" from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack sounded like I was hosting a traditional drumming concert in my home. Flying Lotus's "Zodiac Shit," a go-to track for low-end testing, sent another one of my cats cowering into another room.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
As great as it is for music, I'd best most Sub Mini buyers would end up pairing it with one of Sonos's soundbar for better movie and TV sound. It certainly made a huge difference on the first-gen Beam in my bedroom, which sounded twice as large during that Baby Driver chase sequence. Obviously, that's not a room where I would want to have thumping bass all the time, but it sure is nice to have the option.
That's my biggest takeaway. After a decade of waiting, Sonos fans finally have a viable option for beefing up their sound that isn’t obscenely expensive. And if you're lucky enough to have multiple Sonos devices, you can easily move that bass magic all over your home. It may be called the Sub Mini, but really it’s all about maximizing sound where it matters.
What's the best way for YouTube Shorts to take on TikTok? Apparently, it's by continually copying its popular competitor. Yesterday, YouTube announced (via TechCrunch) that it would be adding voiceover narrations to Shorts on iOS. It'll let you add your own commentary on top of existing videos with just a few taps. That's simple enough, but it's also something that TikTok has offered for a while, and it brings to mind Instagram's repeated attempts to copy TikTok's core features.
Previously, YouTube also lifted TikTok's feature that lets you reply to comments with your own video. It's not unusual to tech companies copy each other — Facebook and Instagram practically made a habit of it. But it also makes it clear when established companies are starting to feel defensive about their younger, and usually more innovative, competition. To its credit, YouTube is trying to separate itself by sharing ad revenue with Shorts creators. TikTok may be wildly popular, but that historically hasn't led to much money for creators.
Amazon's Fire TV Cube has always been a bit of a curiosity. Clearly, the company wanted to combine an Echo Dot with a Fire TV streaming player, but it took a few tries before we genuinely liked it. Now with the third-generation Fire TV Cube, Amazon is giving it a more premium sheen with a cloth-covered design, a more powerful 2GHz octa-core processor, and an HDMI input connection for plugging in your cable box. Doing so will let you tune the Fire TV Cube to specific channels with voice commands—you know, for those of you who can't let your local sports go.
Given that new hardware, Amazon says the Fire TV Cube will feel much faster than before. It's also the first streamer on the market to include support for WiFi 6E, which should help when you're dealing with huge 4K streams. When it comes to older content, Amazon has also included Super Resolution support for upscaling HD video into 4K. It's unclear if that will actually help older content look better, but we're looking forward to testing it out.
In addition to the $140 Fire TV Cube, Amazon also announced the $35 Alexa Voice Remote Pro, which is unfortunately sold separately. It features a backlight and programmable buttons for launching your favorite streaming apps. Perhaps most useful though? There's a Remote Finder feature, which allows you to ask Alexa to trigger a noise in case the Remote Pro gets stuck in your couch. That's one big advantage it has over Apple's easy-to-lose Apple TV remote.
Amazon
Follow all of the news from Amazon's event right here!
If you want to see the power of competition in action, just look at the race between Intel and AMD to deliver the fastest PC CPU. While Intel was plagued with production delays and design issues over the past decade, AMD doubled-down on its Zen architecture to create an impressive family of Ryzen chips suited to performance-hungry enthusiasts. Today, AMD's chips power some of our favorite gaming laptops, like the ASUS Zephyrus G14.
Just when we were about to give up on Intel, though, it finally delivered on its long-awaited hybrid chips with the 12th-gen Core CPUs. Thanks to a combination of performance cores (P-cores) and efficient cores (E-cores), they trounced AMD in most multi-threaded benchmarks while using less power than the previous 11th-gen chips.
Now, it's time for the follow-up: Intel's 13th-gen Core chips, AKA Raptor Lake. And it sure looks like Intel isn't slumming it. The company's new top-end chip, the Core i9-13900K, sports 24 cores (8 P-cores and 16 E-cores) and can reach up to a 5.8GHz Max Turbo frequency. In comparison, last year's 12900K offered 16 cores (8P and 8E), and a maximum speed of 5.2 GHz. Intel claims the new 13900K is 15 percent faster than its predecessor in single-threaded tasks and 41 percent better for multi-threaded work like video encoding or 3D rendering.
Intel
The 13th-gen chips are built on an upgraded version of the Intel 7 process, which features the company's third-generation SuperFin transistor. When that 3D transistor technology was first announced in 2020, it sounded like a way for Intel to eke out more performance from its 10nm designs as it struggled to hit 7nm. (The Intel 7 process is still 10nm, following its rebranding last year.) For the most part, it seems like that was the case. AMD was able to reach 6nm with this year's Ryzen 6000 and 7000 chips, but Intel proved with its 12th-gen chips that it could still leap ahead with a larger fabrication process.
Based on the initial specifications, the 13th-gen chips look like a massive improvement across the entire lineup. The Core i5-13600K adds four cores and an initial 200Mhz of Turbo speed, hitting 14 cores and up to 5.1 GHz, compared to its predecessor. The i7-13700K now offers up to 16 cores and 5.4GHz, whereas last year's equivalent i7 was 12 cores.
The big takeaway? If you skipped last year's chips, and are running older Intel hardware, the 13th-gen CPUs look like the update you've been waiting for. Intel claims the 13900K is 27 percent faster than the 12900K when it comes to content creation multitasking, using apps like Adobe Media Encoder and Photoshop. And it's reportedly 34 percent faster for media creation apps like Blender and Unreal Engine.
While Intel doesn't have comparisons against AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7000 chips (they're not available yet, after all), the company says the 13900K is 58 percent faster than the Ryzen 9 5950X in Spider-Man: Remastered. That's to be expected, though, since the AMD chip is almost two years old at this point.
It's tough to tell how this latest battle between Intel and AMD will go, though we plan to test as much of the hardware as we can. If anything, though, it's certainly an exciting time to be in the market for new CPUs.
New Intel PCs will soon have a feature that Macs have offered for years: the ability to text, take calls and send files to their iPhones. That's all thanks to Intel's Unison app, which aims to keep Windows user in their workflow without being distracted by their phones. And yes, it also works with Android devices.
After acquiring the Israeli company Screenovate last year, Intel revamped its phone integration tool to suit more demanding users. With Unison, there's support for VPNs, firewalls and IT manageability. Intel also paid special attention to battery efficiency, as well as juggling wireless connections across Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular. The result is something that could be more useful than Microsoft's Your Phone app for Windows, which looks very polished but only works with Android phones.
According to Josh Newman, Intel's VP of mobile innovation, Unison will offer fast file transfers between phones and computers. (We're still waiting for more details on the actual connection speeds.) For example, you'd be able to quickly take a photo or video on your phone and throw it over to your Windows computer for additional editing. The app will also let you push files from your PC to your phone.
As a lifelong Windows user who can't help but covet the integration between Macs and iOS devices, Unison could be exactly what many PC users have been waiting for. Still, we'll need to see it in action before we make any final judgements, and its limited support could be an issue.
To start, Intel will only offer Unison a few 12th-gen Evo PCs from HP, Acer and Lenovo this fall. Newman says it'll head to future 13th-gen Evo systems next year. When asked if it could ever support earlier Intel hardware, Newman didn't rule it out, but he noted that the company wanted to see how Unison performed on a select group of systems first. There's also nothing stopping Unison from supporting AMD chips eventually, he said, but the companies would have to collaborate to make it happen.
Surprise! The iPhone 14 is pretty repairable, it turns out. This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget’s Sam Rutherford about this move towards greater repairability and what it means for future iPhones. Also, they dive into NVIDIA’s powerful (and expensive!) new RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs. Sure, they’re faster than before, but does anyone really need all that power?
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
NVIDIA announces RTX 4090 and 4080 GPUs (and a Portal mod with ray tracing) – 21:08
Huge hack at Rockstar leaks GTA 6 videos and dev code – 34:22
Uber was also hacked last week by the same crew that hit Rockstar – 38:37
Windows 11 2022 Update – 40:21
Google is offering a $30 1080p HDR Chrome cast with Google TV – 44:05
Does anyone need the Logitech G cloud gaming handset? – 46:59
Twitch is banning gambling streams on October 18 – 51:56
Working on – 55:34
Pop culture picks – 1:01:35
Livestream
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Guest: Sam Rutherford Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh
