For nearly a decade the Galaxy Note was the undisputed king of Android phones. But when the OG phablet line was retired in 2020, that title passed on to the Ultra. While the hardware inside the most expensive Galaxy S model is as dominant as ever, over the past few years, the software in Google phones has begun to outshine anything available from Samsung. But armed with a new suite of AI-powered features, the Galaxy S24 Ultra (S24U) got exactly what it needed to maintain its spot atop the Android battlefield.

Design and display: Now with titanium

There are three main areas of improvement to the S24 Ultra: design, cameras and all of Samsung’s new AI tools. The biggest change to its build is the switch to a new titanium frame, which follows what Apple did for the iPhone 15 Pro last fall. So no points for originality. But more importantly, because the previous Ultra featured an aluminum chassis, there’s not a major change in weight either, with the S24U coming in at 232 grams (just two grams lighter than the S23 Ultra).

Some other subtle changes are a new matte finish and an upgrade to Corning’s Gorilla Armor in front and back (instead of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 like on the regular S24/S24+). Another benefit of Corning’s latest hardened glass is that it has improved anti-reflective properties, so while it doesn’t totally eliminate glare, it does make it appear less harsh without impacting the display's color saturation. And despite the previous model having slim bezels, Samsung reduced the borders around the display again by 42 percent, which is most noticeable along the top and bottom.

The display itself proves, once again, that Samsung makes the best mobile screens on the market. You still get a 6.8-inch OLED panel with a variable 120Hz rate, except now it’s even brighter with a peak of 2,600 nits (up from 1,750 nits). And if that’s not enough, the phone’s improved Vision Booster adds an additional 300 nits of perceived brightness, so movies, games, and everything else always looks good no matter where you are.

Performance: Setting a new bar for speed

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Inside, the S24 Ultra features a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC from Qualcomm and it’s a powerhouse. In Geekebench 6, we saw multi-core scores that were 30 to 35 percent higher than last year’s chip. This makes everything from games to switching between apps feel super snappy. The addition of a 92 percent larger vapor chamber also meant the S24 UItra never got above lukewarm even under sustained loads. Samsung also increased the phone’s RAM to 12GB for every config, unlike the S23U which started at 8GB base. Storage remains the same with 256GB, 512GB and 1TB options.

Cameras: A more usable 5x optical zoom

Three of the S24 Ultra’s four cameras are largely unchanged from its predecessor, including its 200-MP main sensor, 10-MP ultra-wide and 12-MP telephoto shooter with a 3x optical zoom. The main upgrade is swapping out the old 10x lens for a 5x optical zoom with a higher-res 50-MP sensor, which Samsung says reflects 5x being the most widely used focal length aside from the main cam. While this move might seem like a loss in terms of reach, the sensor’s increased resolution allows the phone to crop in providing what Samsung calls a “10x optical quality zoom” that’s surprisingly sharp.

In photos of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty from across the water, the S24U produced rich, detailed pics that were just as good as what we got from a Pixel 8 Pro. And while images taken at 10X were a touch softer than similar shots taken by an S23 Ultra, they weren’t far off.

In general the S24U captured gorgeous pics in all sorts of conditions. You’ll still notice Samsung’s super-saturated colors and penchant for slightly warmer hues, but in most cases that just adds an extra sense of vibrancy. Samsung also has a habit of going a bit overboard on sharpening, though it’s not a major distraction. Even in low light the S24U’s Night Mode largely kept up with Google’s Night Sight, which is no small feat.

Software: Samsung’s big push into AI

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Aside from its new hardware, the biggest addition to the S24 Ultra is Samsung’s Galaxy AI features, which are an entire suite of tools that fall into three main categories: text and translation, photography and editing, and search.

There’s an interpreter mode for in-person conversations along with a live translation feature that you can use during calls. Both are good enough to use in a pinch while traveling, but some things like word choice and pacing may be a bit off. The experience can also feel a bit clunky, especially when you’re on the phone and have to wait so the AI can catch up.

Next, you have Chat Assist which can check spelling, grammar and adjust the tone of messages. Admittedly, the social and emojify options are a bit gimmicky, but I genuinely appreciate the polite and professional choices, as they can help prevent a text or email from sounding combative.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In the Notes app, the S24U can also summarize, auto-format, spellcheck or translate a file, which is nice, but not exactly groundbreaking. A lot of these features are already available from other services like ChatGPT or Bard. That said, these improvements may be the biggest upgrades to the S24 Ultra’s S-Pen, which is otherwise largely unchanged.

Out of Samsung’s text-based tools, my favorite is the transcription feature in the Voice Recorder app. It makes grabbing quotes from interviews super simple, though I noticed that Samsung’s UX doesn’t feel quite as polished or streamlined as what you get from Google. For example, the Pixel Recorder lets you see the transcript in real-time, while on the Ultra, you have to record a convo and then hit the AI icon to generate a chat log when you’re done.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The AI can also suggest edits for images like automatically remastering images (which is similar to the Auto Tone feature in Photoshop) or removing distracting elements like shadows and reflections. You can see these options by hitting the Info icon in the gallery app, which makes them super easy to access and might be the fastest way to improve your photos. The S24 Ultra can also create slow-mo clips from existing footage, just by tapping and holding on a video while it’s playing. This triggers the phone’s AI to generate new frames based on the fps of the recording (i.e. from 30 fps to 120 fps) on the fly and the results are surprisingly smooth.

If you prefer a more hands-on approach, there are Generative AI edits that allow you to reframe shots, move subjects around or delete them entirely, while the phone fills in the blanks. It’s a simple but effective process that sidesteps the need for Photoshop in a lot of cases. That said, if you look close you may notice areas where Samsung’s AI misses more details than the Pixel 8’s Magic Editor, which is a trend I noticed across a lot of Samsung’s AI features.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

All of the new tools generally function as expected, but things don’t feel quite as streamlined or polished as a lot of Google’s alternatives. In the Notes app, there’s a word limit for auto-formatting, summarizing and more, which limits you to about three or four paragraphs at a time. That means if you have a medium-sized doc, you’re gonna have to tackle it in chunks, which gets tedious pretty quickly. And sometimes if you try to highlight areas of a photo to remove reflections, the phone will smooth over the entire area and paint over the details.

In other situations, the AI will suggest edits that don’t make sense, like trying to turn a short motion photo into a timelapse. It’s possible this was my fault for importing a photo taken by another device, but I feel like the phone ought to know better. The AI is meant to work on any photo, regardless of where it came from. Even moving subjects around in a pic can get wonky depending on the shot and what you’re trying to do. And every now and then, the phone will suggest you remaster a photo, only for it to tell you that there’s nothing to fix. As a photographer, that’s a great feeling. But at the same time, why am I being told there are things to fix if that’s not actually the case? But, this is Samsung’s first big push into AI-assisted features, so it shouldn't be a shock to see a handful of hiccups.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Rounding out the S24’s kit is Circle to Search, which is the one new AI feature that relies on help from the cloud instead of taking place on-device. It’s essentially a combination of traditional text-based queries and visual search tools like Google Lens but without the need for a standalone app. The neat thing is that it can analyze images from the web or objects in photos you’ve taken yourself, which makes it pretty versatile. But Google recently announced that Circle to Search is coming to Pixel phones too, so it’s not like this is an exclusive feather in Samsung’s cap.

Battery Life: Nearing two days of juice

Between the power efficiency gains from its new processor and a large 5,000 mAh battery, the S24 Ultra delivered truly impressive longevity. On our local video rundown test, it lasted 24 hours and 19 minutes, which is up more than four hours compared to last year. And in the real world, its battery life was even more impressive. The S24U often had more than 50 percent left after 24 hours. So depending on your usage, it’s possible for this phone to last two days without recharging.

Wrap-up

At this point, you'd be forgiven for being fed up with companies trying to push AI into everything. But if you just think about these as software upgrades meant to make your phone more useful, Samsung’s push into machine learning makes a lot more sense. The S23U was already a great phone and on the S24 Ultra, we’re getting the same (though somewhat plain) design, but with a tougher titanium frame, a much faster chip, a brighter display and even longer battery life. Samsung also tweaked its main telephoto lens to provide a more useful focal length but without a major decrease in reach or quality.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But the big thing is that, with its Galaxy AI suite, Samsung finally has an answer to the sophisticated features that were previously only available from the Pixel family. Sure, the S24’s tools aren’t quite as polished as Google’s offerings, but they get you 80 to 90 percent of the way there. And as a complement to what is more or less a top-to-bottom list of best-in-class smartphone hardware, it feels like Samsung is using AI to shore up one of the few remaining weaknesses of its flagship handset. Particularly now that the company is following in Google’s footsteps and increasing software support from six to seven years of OS and security updates.

However, the Ultra’s biggest sticking point — its price — remains an issue. With the S24U starting at $1,300, it costs $100 more than the outgoing model. I’m also disappointed that Samsung didn’t adopt Qi 2. It’s frustrating to see all the major OEMs, including Apple, agree on a wireless charging standard only to have the biggest phone maker in the world drag its feet. Qi 2 got approved last year and we may not see it on a high-end Samsung handset until 2025.

While harnessing AI might not be a super exciting development now that everyone and their grandmother is trying to shoehorn it into everything, it does make the S24 Ultra a more powerful and well-rounded handset. And when you tack that onto a phone that already had a lead in hardware, you end with a pretty commanding device.

Today as part of its latest Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung announced a whole host of AI-powered features for the S24 family. However, buried among the news was info that Samsung will also be porting at least some of those tools over to last year's premium phones and tablets.

After asking about specifically which devices were covered, in an email to Engadget, Samsung confirmed that the company is "looking forward to bringing the Galaxy AI experience to the Galaxy S23 series, including the S23FE, ZFold5/ZFlip5 and Tab S9 later this first half."

Samsung's new AI tools include things like Chat Assist which can translate languages in real-time or perform tone correction in texts and emails, Suggested Edits in photos which looks to automatically correct things like shadows and reflections and Circle to Search, which is powered by Google and combines traditional text-based queries with visual search similar to the Google Lens app. 

Currently, it's unclear if the entire suite of Galaxy AI features will be available across every device or if tools will be ported over on a more case-by-case basis. And without the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips used in the S24 line to power them, it remains to be seen how much of a performance hit there might be on older models. That said, it's really nice to see Samsung commit to bringing at least some of its new software to last year's flagship gadgets as it helps avoid people feeling like they need to upgrade after a year or less. 

With the launch of the Galaxy S24 family, Samsung is boldly declaring an end to the smartphone camera wars as it moves into the AI era. And the $1,300 S24 Ultra is its torchbearer for this new age of mobile design.

While it may not look like a ton has changed on the S24 Ultra, there’s one major design update along with a handful of smaller tweaks. The move to a titanium frame (available in four colors: titanium yellow, violet, gray and black) apes what Apple did for the iPhone 15 Pro last fall. The big difference is that, because Samsung’s previous flagship featured an aluminum chassis unlike the heavier stainless steel build on the iPhone 14 Pro, the S24 Ultra’s weight (8.22 ounces) is largely unchanged from last year’s device (8.25 ounces). That means aside from some very slight changes to the texture, there aren’t a ton of outward signs hinting at the S24’s increased durability which includes the same IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

More subtle upgrades include a new Corning Gorilla Armor panel in back (instead of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 like on the standard S24/S24+), even thinner bezels (42 percent slimmer than before) and a slightly boxier feel. The latter might not be something most people notice, but it’s part of an ongoing trend for Samsung as it’s moved towards phones with flatter screens. On the S24 Ultra, aside from some faint rounding at the perimeter of its display, it’s almost completely rectangular. So for all the people who hate screens with curvy edges, congratulations, you’ve won.

Inside, the S24 Ultra features a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip along with 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. Samsung says it’s installed a larger vapor chamber that’s almost twice the size of what’s in the previous model to help keep the phone’s thermals in check. The Ultra’s screen is also slightly brighter with a peak of 2,600 nits for its 120Hz 6.8-inch OLED screen. There’s still a storage slot for the Ultra’s S Pen with a springy magnetic attachment system and its core functionality hasn’t changed, so you can expect the same super responsive stylus input.

It’s important to note that the S24 Ultra’s camera setup is largely unchanged. You still get a 200-MP main sensor and a 12-MP ultra-wide, but instead of a 10x lens, the S24’s telephoto camera is now based on a 50-MP sensor (up from 10-MP) with a 5x optical zoom. Samsung says this change was made based on customer feedback and usage patterns, which saw 5x being the most frequently used focal length. While its overall reach has seemingly decreased, the phone uses pixel-binning and AI to achieve what the company is calling a “10x optical quality” zoom while still delivering up to a total 100x Space Zoom. In our limited hands-on time, the Ultra’s telephoto camera still looked sharp even with the shorter focal length, though as before image quality begins to deteriorate quickly past 20x.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Of course, the Ultra’s zoom is just one small application of AI. The entire S24 family has a full suite of machine learning-based features. Similar to what’s available on the Pixel 8, Samsung is using AI to help you edit photos and create new slow-mo footage. You can use the S24 Ultra’s stylus (or your finger on the other models) to draw a lasso around a subject before touching and holding to move it whenever you want. Then, all you have to do is hit the generate button, and the phone uses AI to fill in any missing elements. And this isn’t limited just to moving things around either, as you can delete objects, resize, recompose and more.

Samsung’s photo app can also detect things like shadows and reflections and will ask if you would like to remove them from your shot. This might be my favorite application of AI, as this helps streamline editing while also making more complicated fixes incredibly easy. And while I only got to test this out using sample photos provided by Samsung, it worked astonishingly well. After finding a photo in the gallery app, all I had to do was hit the info button to see a list of suggested edits, which almost instantly transformed a mediocre image into something I would be proud to share on social media.

Samsung’s slow-mo feature was also quite impressive. It works on practically any local clip, not just footage shot by an S24. When playing back a video, you can simply touch and hold. Then the phone looks at the framerate of the footage, multiplies it by four (e.g. from 30fps to 120fps) and uses AI to create additional frames — all on the fly and on-device, so nothing is being sent to the cloud.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

It’s not all photo tricks, though. The S24 uses its AI powers to help you communicate both on the phone, via the new live-translation feature, and in text, with improved proofreading, summarization and tone-correction abilities. During calls, activating translation is as simple as tapping a button. From there, it will recognize your speech and automatically convert it into whatever the other person is speaking (or you can save a tiny bit of time and select the language yourself). Granted, this does mean that conversations will take a touch longer since you’ll need to pause to give the phone a chance to process and translate what you say. But if you’re in a pinch while traveling, I wouldn’t hesitate to try this out.

As for the S24’s summarizing capabilities, it’s similar to what you get on the Pixel or in services like ChapGPT, Bard and others. You can direct the phone to a website or a file (including those in Samsung Notes) and the phone will condense things into a handful of major bullet points. But the potentially more useful tool is the tone-correcting feature, which in addition to basic stuff like highlighting typos, also gives you some options to rephrase things to make them seem more positive or encouraging.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Notably, because you get a handful of options and the choice to ignore or implement things as you see fit, it feels like less policing yourself and more like adjusting language to get your message across in a more effective manner. Honestly, this is something everyone could probably use from time to time, even if it’s just to prevent sending out an angry text or email.

The one aspect of the S24’s AI powers that isn’t handled locally is a new circle-to-search tool. Developed in partnership with Google, the feature allows you to highlight both text and images before sending a query off to the cloud and returning results. In practice, it feels like combining traditional search and visual lookup aids like the Google Lens app into a single thing. It’s a nice upgrade in terms of general usability standpoint even if it doesn’t revolutionize the way the phone works.

Photo by Sam Rutheford/Engadget

Finally, following a similar move Google made last year with the Pixel 8, Samsung will now provide a full seven years of regular OS and security updates. This is something I’m hoping to see from every Android handset maker, so I’m glad Samsung is stepping up now.

The two gripes I have are that, for a device that starts at $1,300, I think the S24 Ultra’s design is rather plain. It’s just 6.8-inches of phone with a bunch of sensors and camera lenses on the back. Not to mention I don’t think Samsung’s special titanium-hued paint jobs stand out as much as the company hopes they do.

The other issue is the lack of Qi 2 support. The S24 falls in the second half of Samsung’s two-year product cycle, which means we probably weren’t going to get any big facelifts or design changes until next year. But as the largest Android phone maker, it’s pretty disappointing to see a new flagship not adopt what could be an incredibly important multi-platform wireless charging standard.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Honestly I was kind of taken aback by how good its AI features are. I actually had to stop myself multiple times from writing how one of the phone’s latest tools was a pleasant surprise. Unlike Google who has been beating the drum about machine learning for more than a decade, Samsung’s mobile expertise always felt like it lay more in hardware than software. But with the S24, Samsung is showing that it’s taking the transition to the AI era incredibly seriously.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will start at $1,300. Pre-orders go live today and on Samsung.com will include a free upgrade that doubles the phone’s storage, while official sales are slated for January 31.

At CES 2024, ASUS seems to have taken people by surprise with the announcement of its AirVision M1 glasses, with some viewing it as an alternative to Apple’s Vision Pro headset. But I discovered that ASUS’ glasses are much more of a novel alternative to portable monitors than something meant for spatial computing. 

The big difference between the AirVision M1 glasses and something like the Vision Pro or even Xreal’s Air 2 Ultras is that it doesn’t really support anything in the way of interactive AR. Sure, the glasses are able to project your desktop or multiple windows into space, but it needs to be tethered to a nearby device and doesn’t recognize hand gestures or other virtual objects. 

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose betwe

en a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. 

Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose between a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. 

Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose between a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. Instead, I found that its primary purpose is to give you extra screen space, but without the need to carry around big and bulky portable monitors. Featuring built-in microLED displays with a full HD resolution, the AirVisions can display up to six or seven virtual windows or desktops. You can also choose between a handful of aspect ratios (16:9, 21:9, 32:9 and more), with the glasses three degrees of freedom allowing you to either pin those screens in virtual space or track your head as you move around. 

During my first demo, I used the AirVision M1s while tethered to a laptop, in which it behaved almost exactly like having a bit floating desktop that appeared to be hovering six feet in front of me. At first, the virtual displays were a little blurry, but after a short adjustment period and some time dialing in my IPD (interpupillary distance), I was pleasantly surprised by how sharp everything looked. When compared to something like Sightful Spacetop, which is billed as the world’s first AR laptop, not only did it have a much larger vertical field of view (up to 57 degrees), it also didn’t require any additional special equipment, as the glasses are essentially plug and play. While I didn’t need them, it’s important to note that the glasses come with a pair of nose pads to help ensure you can get a good fit, plus a prescription insert for people with glasses.

Once set up, it was pretty easy to create additional virtual workspaces. All I had to do was pull up a small command menu, press a plus sign where I wanted a new window to appear and that’s it. You can also freely adjust the overall size of the virtual display by zooming in or out. And one of the best things about the AirVisions is that using the laptop’s touchpad or typing wasn’t difficult at all. Because you can see through the virtual displays, I simply looked down and focused my eyes where they needed to go. That said, if you become distracted by something in the background, ASUS’ glasses also come with magnetic blinders that clip onto the front and provide a clean black backdrop.

However my favorite use case was when I tried a different pair of the AirVisions that were connected to an ROG Ally, where the glasses provided me with a massive virtual screen for gaming. In this way, it’s a lot like wearing a headset such as the Meta Quest 3, but for non-VR games. This is the kind of device I would love to have on a plane, where space is at a premium, especially for something like a portable monitor. That said, I’m not sure I could handle the embarrassment of being a modern day glasshole, at least not until devices like these become a bit more popular.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the AirVision M1s and Apple’s Vision Pro is price. While ASUS has yet to provide an official figure, a company spokesperson told me that ASUS is targeting around $700, versus $3,000 for Apple’s headset. And when you compare that to the price of a portable monitor, which often goes for between $250 and $400, and offers a lot less screen space, suddenly that price doesn’t seem too ridiculous.

So if you’re on the lookout for an alternative to the travel monitor, keep an eye for ASUS’ AirVision M1 glasses when they become available sometime in Q3 2024. 

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

With the transition to electric vehicles, the way we travel needs to change too. And at CES 2024, the Pebble Flow is providing a glimpse at how an RV designed for the EV age should function.

The 25 feet long Pebble Flow is designed for a family of four. Interior space stands at about 150 square-feet though, unlike some of its competitors, there aren’t any pop-out sections to expand its dimensions. Powering the whole thing is a 45 kWh LFP battery and a 1kW solar panel that provide enough juice to keep the RV running for about a week. And in addition to having support for up to Level 3 DC fast charging (with a 0 to 80 percent charge taking about an hour), the Pebble Flow also offers vehicle-to-load functionality, allowing you to power other devices, recharge an EV, or even keep the lights on in your home during an outage.

What might be even more impressive is that, if you opt for its optional dual motor Magic Pack, the Pebble Flow turns into a self-propelled RV that can self park and even automatically hitch itself, thanks to some help from its NVIDIA Drive Orin SoC. The propulsion part is kind of a big deal because, depending on the load, towing something with an EV has a massive impact on range. You could go from a typical range for an EV of 250 to 300 miles down to just 100 miles or less. But with the Pebble Flow’s dual motor, there’s a much less severe drop that could allow for trips of up to 200 miles or more before needing to recharge.

On the inside, the Pebble Flow offers a comfortable, contemporary almost Scandinavian design. Plus there’s a handful of techy features that I really appreciate. Right inside the door is a detachable tablet that serves as the control center for the entire RV. You can turn lights on or off, lock the doors, adjust temperature or even activate Pebble’s Magic Hitch feature. To ensure more complicated functions don’t get activated by accident, you’ll need to input a password or biometrics first.

From there you move into the Pebble Flow’s dining room which features a wraparound couch and table with more than enough room for four. And at night, the table can be lowered, covered with nearby cushions and converted into a bed. Next there’s the kitchen which is surprisingly large for an RV this size. Instead of a gas range, the Pebble Flow has two induction burners that can even be removed if you feel like cooking outside. Meanwhile, the faucet can spin 180-degree so you can wash up from outside. There’s also a large fridge and a 4-in-1 microwave/oven/toaster/air fryer built into the wall.

But the Pebble Flow’s coolest feature is almost certainly the glass separating its bathroom from the rest of the cabin. Normally, it’s transparent to help preserve a sense of roominess. However, at the touch of a button, the electrochromic glass becomes completely opaque so you can handle your business in private. And smartly, the button to make it go clear or frosted is the only thing in the RV you can’t control from the tablet or the RV’s mobile app. After all, the last thing you want is a toddler touching the wrong thing and putting your whole ass on display for guests.

Finally, in back there’s a queen-size Murphy bed that can transform into a shared working space in just a few seconds. It’s a nice space saving feature which the company says can help the Pebble Flow potentially pull double duty as an office space or ADU (accessory dwelling unit) when it’s parked at home.

There isn’t a single feature or component that’s really revolutionary. Instead, it’s how everything works together, from controlling its lights via its tablet and mobile app, to having a sizable 45 kWh battery for powering the RV, appliances or anything else you might have. And when paired with an electric tow vehicle, the Pebble Flow helps preserve your EV’s range while making it super simple to park and hitch. It’s not an RV reinvented, just one that’s been optimized for the age of EVs.

The Pebble Flow starts at $109,000 or $125,000 when equipped with the company’s dual motor Magic Pack. Pre-orders are already live with Pebble expecting to begin deliveries before the end of the year.

No offense to the mechanical keyboard community, but I just don’t love traditional setups with tall keys. But when it comes to high-quality low-profile alternatives, pickings are slim. The best known options are Logitech’s MX Mechanical line, along with more recent entries from the likes of Keychron, Nuphy and Lofree. But none of them quite hit the spot. But at CES 2024, I may have found what I’ve been searching for in Monokei’s Systems.

Featuring a 75 percent layout and available in either Cupertino Silver or Stockholm Night, the Systems has a gorgeous minimalist design that would look equally good mated to a Mac or connected to a beefy gaming rig. And thanks to support for both Bluetooth 5.1 and a dedicated 2.4Ghz wireless dongle, pairing it to whatever OS you prefer should be a breeze (Systems is compatible with macOS, iOS, Windows and Android). The keyboard feels heavier than it looks too; the top plate is heavy aluminum and inside is a760mAh battery.

Its Magnet Mount system lets you change out the top or bottom cases for decorative faceplates without needing to pull out tools. Though I’d be hesitant to mess up the Systems's serene facade, no matter how cute those Spy X Family accents are.

But it wasn’t until I actually got to type on it that I became sold. That’s because, on top of Monokei’s new Series 2 keycaps that have Cherry MX-compatible stems and comfy gentle scallop, the Kailh Choc V2 switches used in the Systems feel like a dream. You can choose between tactile or the silent linear ones that I tried, which had some of the smoothest key travel I’ve felt on a pre-built low-profile keyboard, plus the 43gf actuation weight is nearly ideal (for me at least). Of course, if you prefer a different kind of switch, the PCB is hot swappable so you can swap in something else. But the good vibes don’t stop there: Thanks to Monokei’s sock gasket system, the whole board strikes a good balance between firmness and bounce.

It’s almost like someone went and made my ideal keyboard without telling me, so when I stumbled upon it at CES in the depths of Hall G at the Venetian, it felt like finding buried treasure. Well except for the two features I think Monokei missed, because sadly Systems doesn’t have backlighting and there aren’t any adjustable feet for changing its pitch.

Now, I must admit it’s still early in my journey to find the ultimate low-profile keyboard. I’ve only tested about half a dozen in the last year or so, but Systems has immediately jumped to the front of the pack. It’s just a simple, chiclet-style keyboard done really well. And with a price of $189, Monokei’s latest creation is actually kind of affordable, at least as far the high-end mechanical keyboards go.

The Monokei Systems will be available as part of a group buy with an estimated delivery date in late Q2 2024.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

When I’m away from home and don’t have access to my big desktop displays, it feels like I’m missing a limb. Unfortunately, there’s a limit to how big a portable monitor can really be. After a certain point, it’s not going to fit in a reasonably sized bag. ASUS’s ZenScreen Fold solves that problem through the use of a bendy OLED panel.

Measuring 17.3 inches across, the ZenScreen Fold is still a far cry from the 27-inch monitors I have at home, but it’s a huge step up from typical 14 or 15-inch portable displays. And thanks to the fact that you can bend it in half, it can collapse down to something not much larger than a hardcover book and just 0.38 inches thick. Though it is a bit heavier at two and a half pounds. It also comes with a handy travel case and, because its display is protected when closed, you should be able to toss it in a bag without worrying about damaging its soft plastic panel.

The display’s specs are more than decent too, as it boasts a QHD+ resolution (2,560 x 1,920), a gamut that covers 100 percent of DCI-P3 and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 compliance. That said, this shouldn’t come as a complete surprise as the ZenScreen Fold is based on the same basic panel as what ASUS used in the Zenbook 17 Fold.

The difference this time is that the panel is a slightly newer revision, so it’s a bit more durable. And, thanks to a redesigned hinge that creates a waterdrop-shaped fold, there’s even less of a crease — you have to look hard to see it. Even its kickstand is better than the one on ASUS’ bendy laptop, as it offers solid stability in either portrait or landscape. And for a portable monitor, there’s more than enough connectivity including mini HDMI, two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Sadly, while ASUS may have made a big travel display that’s easy to carry around, this thing is really expensive at a cool $2,000. But if you want a portable monitor that gives you the most screen space in the smallest physical size, the ZenScreen may be it.

The ZenScreen Fold is expected to go on sale sometime in Q2. 

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

The original iPhone convinced me (and many others) that typing on touchscreens was the future. So the last thing I expected to test out during CES 2024 here in Las Vegas was a mobile accessory that’s trying to bring back the physical keyboard. And, while I wanted to dismiss Clicks as a thing for people who can’t let go of yesteryear, what I found was a gadget that’s solving some modern problems by taking cues from the past.

Clicks’ design couldn’t be simpler. It’s a silicone case (Clicks’ website actually says it’s Liquid Silicon, but I think that’s a typo) with a physical keyboard bolted on the bottom. There’s a small vegan leather accent on the back, little bumps to accommodate buttons and switches, and a passthrough connector at the bottom (either Lightning or USB-C depending on your device). At launch, Clicks will be available for three devices starting at $139: the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The first problem that Clicks tries to address is giving you back your screen space, because when you don’t need to display a virtual keyboard at the bottom all the time, suddenly things feel a lot roomier. And Clicks accomplishes this with flying colors. But personally, with the increasing size of phones (especially new-fangled foldables), this has never really been an issue for me. But that doesn’t mean this isn't a problem for others so it’s nice to see Clicks providing people with alternatives to typing on glass.

Another big goal for Clicks is optimizing your device by providing tons of shortcuts, which to me is much more appealing. It almost gives your phone the type of speed and productivity you enjoy on a laptop. You can press CMD+H to go home, tap the Spacebar to scroll in Safari, hit CMD+Space to open up Spotlight search and so much more. Some commands even work in third-party apps like Instagram, which is just really handy. And after seeing Apple add a single Action key on the iPhone 15 Pro, my head is already swimming with the possibilities of having 30+ customizable shortcuts.

Finally, there’s the simple joy of having physical keys to wail away on. While you don’t get mechanical switches like on a desktop keyboard (Clicks features rubber domes), the tiny nickel-plated keycaps feel solid and offer a nice tactile bump with each press. You also get some handy backlighting so you don’t have to suffer in dark rooms. The one issue is that after years of typing on screens, I’m not entirely sure I want to go back. And that probably goes double for anyone who prefers swipe-based entry methods.

After years of typing on glass, just banging out a short text using Clicks felt lethargic. And even with their circular design which leaves ample space in between the keys, I found myself fumbling. But then old habits started coming back and I can easily see how those yearning for their old Blackberrys, Sidekicks, or Motorola Envys might be enchanted.

Now that I’ve used it, I can’t deny that there’s something endearing about Clicks. But when it comes to getting more use out of a device, I lean more towards foldable phones or simply bigger screens. Plus, there are a few other minor issues, like iPhones not being able to handle charging and data over USB-C at the same time, which could be an issue for anyone who relies on wired CarPlay while using Clicks. Also by tacking a keyboard onto the bottom of an iPhone, which already have extra long 19.5:9 aspect ratios, you may feel like you’re lugging around a stack of rulers. And if you have an Android handset, you’re just plain out of luck (at least for now). But there’s no doubt that Clicks is a charming device, especially those flashy yellow and blue/pink models.

Clicks will be available starting on February 1 for the iPhone 14 Pro with the other models following sometime later this spring.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Right now there are a bunch of companies trying to figure out new and better ways to work on the go. Lenovo made a laptop with two displays and a detachable keyboard to help give owners additional screen space without too much added bulk. And there are headsets from Meta, Apple and others that offer a way to create a completely virtual workspace without the need for a tethered PC. But with the Spacetop, startup Sightful has come up with an in-between solution that uses the bottom of a laptop, but instead of a traditional display, it’s attached to a pair of AR glasses.

In theory, the glasses provide a 100-inch virtual display that can hold more windows than you could ever fit on a traditional laptop screen. And with the Spacetop being powered by Android, you get a familiar working environment too. Instead of controllers or hand gestures, there’s a typical keyboard and touchpad for writing, browsing the web or anything else you might need to do. But after trying one out, while I like the idea, I’m not so sure about Sightful’s execution.

The system is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip (the same processor Meta used in the Quest 2 from 2020), just 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It feels smooth, though I wouldn't necessarily call it fast. I didn’t notice much lag when dragging windows around or typing, but I didn’t get to see how it handles a ton of open apps or anything more demanding than a web browser. Sightful has also come up with some simple shortcuts for doing things like re-centering the screen (just press the left and right Shift keys at the same time).

The issue I ran into is that, while Sightful developed the base of the laptop itself and put its logo on the side of the glasses, the bundled AR eyewear attached to the PC is actually off-the-shelf specs from Xreal (in this case the Xreal Lights). So while Xreal glasses are somewhat sharp, their narrow field of view (especially vertically) and somewhat small sweet spot left a lot to be desired when it came to actually using that 100-inch virtual display.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Additionally, the Spacetop’s keys felt spongy and its touchpad was lackluster too. It’s a far cry from the more precise haptic surfaces you’d get on a premium Mac or Windows PC. And when you combine all this with a starting price of $2,000, I just don’t see the appeal. For people who already have a laptop, I’d argue you’d be much better off getting a Meta Quest 3, which costs $500, sports a much newer chip and can sync with your laptop to create its own version of a virtual desktop. Plus then you’d have a headset that’s way better at playing games, watching movies and more.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

There’s a reason why Meta, Apple and others have sunk billions of dollars into making headsets and glasses with finely tuned optics. And I’m sure someday (maybe even sometime in the next few years), off the shelf AR glasses will make some pretty big advancements. But between its high price, dated specs, and a big, but not great-looking virtual display powered by two-year old AR glasses, the Spacetop doesn’t quite deliver on the promise of revolutionizing the common laptop.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Between the Zenbook 17 Fold, Project Precog and previous Zenbook Duo machines, it feels like ASUS has been working towards building a true dual-screen laptop for ages. And now at CES 2024, that time has come with the arrival of the simply named Zenbook Duo.

Similar to Lenovo’s Yoga Book 9i, the Zenbook Duo features two separate screens and a detachable Bluetooth keyboard that can be stashed inside the system for traveling. The difference is that ASUS’ OLED panels look even better, as they are slightly larger at 14 inches, while also offering a 3K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and stylus support. Plus, with a starting price of $1,500, it costs $500 less than the Yoga Book and not that much more than your average high-end ultraportable.

That alone would be enough to make it interesting, but what really elevates the Zenbook Duo is the polish ASUS has put into making it look and function just like a regular clamshell. Measuring just 0.78 inches thick and weighing 3.64 pounds (including its removable keyboard), it’s only a touch larger and heavier than a typical 14-inch notebook. And it doesn’t give up anything in terms of performance, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, up to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD inside,. The same thing goes for connectivity, where you get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A 3.2 slot, a 3.5mm audio jack and even a full-size HDMI 2.1 socket.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But the best thing about the Zenbook Duo is its fit and finish. Even though what I got to mess around with was a pre-production model, it felt incredibly sturdy. When packed up with its keyboard sandwiched between the two screens, there are no gaps or wasted space. And despite its super shallow dimensions, the detachable keyboard features full backlighting and more than enough travel to make sure your fingers don’t get sore while typing.

ASUS also added something I wish Lenovo had included on the Yoga Book 9i: a built-in kickstand. By mounting one on the bottom of the laptop, it sidesteps the need to have a separate folding cover, which streamlines the process every time you have to pack up and go. The small downside is that the orientation of the kickstand promotes a stacked setup with one display on top of the other. Though I’m not that bothered since that’s my preference anyway. Technically, you can use the Zenbook Duo with vertical side-by-side mode, but because there’s no way to adjust the kickstand in this position, it’s not quite as flexible.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

As you’d expect from a system like this, you can use it as a standard clamshell with the Zenbook Duo featuring hidden magnets that allow the keyboard to snap neatly in place. However, when you have more room to work with, you can place the keyboard in front of the system and instantly double your screen space. There’s also a responsive virtual keyboard and touchpad you can use in a pinch along with handy widgets for the news, weather and monitoring system performance. And when you need to top up the removable keyboard’s battery, there are some thoughtfully placed pogo pins that allow it to trickle charge while it’s nestled inside the system.

Surprisingly, when it comes to battery life, ASUS managed to fit a 75 Whr power pack in the Zenbook Duo which is slightly larger than what’s available in the new Zephryus G14 (73 Whr), and that’s a gaming machine with way fewer moving parts. And ASUS claims the Zenbook Duo adheres to MIL-STD 810H testing standards, so it should be pretty durable too.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Last year, the Yoga Book 9i felt like a revelation; Lenovo combined all the right components needed to create an appealing dual-screen laptop. But ASUS has optimized that template even further by adding ports, moving to bigger and better screens, including a built-in kickstand and making it even more portable. And then there’s that surprisingly affordable $1,500 starting price. I’ve been waiting for years to switch over to a dual-screen laptop, and the Zenbook Duo might actually convince me to finally make that jump.

The ASUS Zenbook Duo is expected to go on sale sometime later in Q1 2024.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.