This week we’ve got a few reviews for music and photography enthusiasts. First, James Trew put the GoPro Hero 10 Black through its paces and was impressed by the capabilities of the new GP2 processor. Next, Billy Steele listened to Jabra’s $80 Elite 3 earbuds and, due to the combination of price and features, deemed them one of the company’s best gadgets. Lastly, Terrence O’Brien played around with the Arturia SQ80V synth emulator only to be charmed by its fluid user interface and timeless sounds.

The GoPro Hero 10 Black benefits from a new processor

James Trew / Engadget

James Trew is plain about the new GoPro Hero 10 Black: it is remarkably similar to last year’s model, save for the impressive, new GP2 processor. That chip brings a boost in frame rates across the board, including 5.3K at 60fps. It’s also responsible for the updated HyperSmooth 4.0 stabilization technology, which makes for smoother shooting scenarios, a speedier user interface, faster offloading of media and even improvements to the front-facing display. GoPro says the GP2’s capabilities can help produce improved photos and videos as well.

In James’s testing, this was well born out: He saw noticeably better image quality from the Hero 10 Black than from the Hero 9. James said the difference in detail was instantly noticeable at 100-percent crop, where the Hero 10 was able to capture textures like road surface or leaves. He also enjoyed the added flexibility that came with the new resolution and frame rate combinations — another bonus of the GP2 processing power. The Hero 10 Black also adds a hydrophobic lens coating, which keeps water droplets from gathering in blurry drips, 4K video at 120fps for respectable slow-mo, and a good, old-fashioned wired transfer. With one of the only drawbacks being a shorter battery life, James says that the Hero 10 takes everything that was working for GoPro devices and builds on it.

The Jabra Elite 3 earbuds offer excellent value and impressive sound

Billy Steele/Engadget

The Jabra Elite 3 earbuds have a lot going for them: they’re affordable, have functional controls, a comfortable fit courtesy of a new design, impressive sound quality and a solid feature set. Billy Steele says they far exceeded his expectations and offer an incredible value for their $80 price tag. During testing, he was immediately impressed by the sound quality, which was adept at highlighting details like the rattle of a snare drum. While he found the call quality to be only serviceable, he found other features — like a mute control on the earbuds — well thought-out. He was also pleased with the nearly seven-hour battery life.

However, low-cost models will forgo some things you may take for granted on other earbuds, and here, the Elite 3 buds lack wireless charging and active noise cancellation. Billy said one of the few drawbacks with the Elite 3’s was the missing auto-pause feature — he found it annoying, but not a dealbreaker. He also mentioned that the only EQ customizations are available in presets, but that the Elite 3 outperformed similar models here due to its balanced tuning and great clarity. With few drawbacks, Billy deemed them one of the best wireless products from Jabra.

Arturia’s SQ 80V is a synth emulator modeled after a classic

Terrence O'Brien/Engadget

Terrence O’Brien spent some time tweaking the knobs on Arturia’s new SQ 80V, a synth emulator designed to mimic the dusty charm of the Ensoniq SQ-80. The device contains the original 75 waveforms as well as “hidden” waves from the SQ-80 to provide users with a wide range of sound design possibilities. The majority of the controls, three LFOs and four envelopes, are on a mouse-friendly synthesis tab, while you can change the oscillator waves and tweak the filter right from the device itself.

Terrence says the SQ80 V is ideal for crushed digital sounds, and the two sound packs released alongside the emulator are right in line with that feel. While those packs made it easy to find sounds in the included presets, Terrence said it’s simple to build your own patches as well because of the dropdown menus and tabs. He called the interface “clean, charmingly retro and easy to navigate.” Overall, Terrence said he digs the SQ80 V because it’s approachable to synth players while providing warm, timeless sound.

Ken Block's Hoonigan Industries has built a fully functional Warthog vehicle, and the team is showing us the process it went through in a new series on YouTube. While it's far from the first life—size version ever made of Halo's famous armored vehicle, this one actually works — it even debuted at the world premiere of the movie Free Guy, which stars Ryan Reynolds, a bank teller who discovers he's but an NPC in an open-world game. 

The Hoonigan team created its real life Warthog using a custom rock crawler chassis. As Autoblog notes, it doesn't have a mounted gun, but it undeniably looks like the Warthog with its chunky body, futuristic shape, curved windshield and enormous tires. Even its interior is a replica of its virtual counterpart, and the team also made sure it has a four-wheel steering system. To power the beast, the team took a Ford V8 engine and added two turbos to it, giving it a 1,060 horsepower capacity.

The Warthog appears across games in the Halo franchise as a driveable military vehicle, and the Hoonigan team built a replica of it to promote the upcoming Halo Infinite game that's launching in December. Hoonigan, the brainchild of rally driver Ken Block who was also behind The Gymkhana Files, will upload new episodes showing how the Warthog was built every week until October 14th. You can watch the first one below:

Ford's electric F-150 Lightning is clearly in high demand, and the company is determined to keep up. The automaker has paired news of pre-production work with a promise to invest an extra $250 million and create 450 new jobs to increase production capacity. That should help Ford build 80,000 Lightning trucks per year — little comfort when the company now has 150,000 reservations, but the move should reduce wait times.

Most of the jobs will go to workers assembling the electric F-150 at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, while others will build more batteries at the Rawsonville Components Plant and motors at the Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center. The first trucks should be available in spring 2022.

The production numbers won't compete with conventional trucks for a while. As Autoweekobserved, Ford averaged sales of about 900,000 regular F-150 trucks per year before the pandemic and chip shortages came into play. While the Lightning may be more than a niche product, it's not yet at the point where Ford would have to reconsider its conventional truck production.

There's also a certain amount of posturing involved with the news. Ford is clearly eager to please a government promoting made-in-America EVs. However, it's still a recognition of pent-up demand for electric pickups, both from Ford and from the industry as a whole. Not that Ford might have much choice. With Rivian already producing its first trucks, Ford risks losing sales to competitors if it doesn't ramp up manufacturing.

Ford, Walmart and Argo AI plan to launch autonomous vehicle delivery services in Miami, Austin, Texas and Washington DC later this year, Ford has announced. The service will focus on last mile deliveries and use Ford vehicles equipped with Argo's AI self-driving system to deliver Walmart orders. Don't count on driverless ghost cars pulling up to your house with groceries, however, as Argo emphasized that the new venture is all about "testing" and "potential." 

"Our focus on the testing and development of self-driving technology that operates in urban areas where customer demand is high really comes to life with this collaboration," said Argo AI founder and CEO Bryan Salesky. "Working together with Walmart and Ford across three markets, we’re showing the potential for autonomous vehicle delivery services at scale."

Jared Wickerham/Argo A

Deliveries will be available in those cities "within defined service areas" and expand over time, Ford said. It will focus on next day or same day deliveries in urban cores, helping the players learn about autonomous technology as it relates to deliveries, particularly for logistics and operations. 

Ford and Walmart previously announced a collaboration with Uber's PostMates to deliver goods in Miami, and it has been operating with Argo AI in Miami and Washington DC since 2018. All current testing is done with safety drivers at the wheel. 

The Walmart delivery effort "marks a significant step toward scaling a commercial goods delivery service," according to Ford. Left unsaid, however, is that level 4 and higher autonomous driving is still a distant dream, even after many years of development. As such, vehicles are nowhere near ready to ply city streets without a safety driver at the wheel.

At the start of the month, Rivian achieved a major milestone. The Environmental Protection Agency published official range estimates for the company’s R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV, putting both vehicles one step closer to an official launch. Rivian has now hit another important milestone. 

In a tweet spotted by Roadshow, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe announced on Tuesday that the company produced its first R1T EV for a customer. “After months of building pre-production vehicles, this morning our first customer vehicle drove off our production line in Normal,” Scaringe wrote on Twitter. "Can't wait to get these into the hands of our customers!"

Getting to this point has been something of a journey for Rivian. The company had initially planned to start deliveries of the R1T in 2020 but was forced to delay the truck’s debut to 2021 when it couldn’t get its manufacturing facility, a former Mitsubishi plant, retooled quickly enough. The coronavirus pandemic only added to the automaker’s problems, forcing it to push bach the launch of the R1T and R1S from July to September. "Everything from facility construction, to equipment installation, to vehicle component supply (especially semiconductors) has been impacted by the pandemic," Scaringe wrote at the time.

But even with you factor in those setbacks, the R1T is making its way to consumers before the Tesla Cybertruck and Ford F-150 Lightning. Both of those vehicles won’t debut before the start of 2022.

Back in June, Bird announced its first-ever e-bike. At the time, the company said it planned to bring the EV to select cities in North America, Italy, Spain, Germany and France throughout 2021. On Friday, Bird announced the Bird Bike will first appear in San Diego. The company has partnered with San Diego State University to bring the e-bike, along with its Bird Two and Three scooters, to the school’s 280-acre campus. Students and faculty staff can ride the bicycle starting this month.

The pedal-assist e-bike features a top speed of 15.5 miles per and can travel up to 56 miles on a single charge. It also comes with Bird’s geofencing technology, which can automatically cap the speed of the bike in certain areas. As with the company’s electric scooters, a network of fleet managers will care for and manage the bikes. The company said SDSU students will have access to the Bird Bike at reduced prices. Bird has also put in place incentives to encourage safe riding and responsible parking.   

After over a year of canceled auto shows due to the pandemic, Munich's IAA Mobility 2021 auto show is the first big opportunity for automakers to display their upcoming vehicles to the masses.

Companies including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and Porsche dropped new electric concepts and even showed off some production vehicles. Engadget has been in Germany this week, and here are four of our favorite new models.

Mercedes-Benz EQE sedan

Right out of the gate, Mercedes took no time to unveil its latest electric sedan, the EQE. While the EQS is the top of the luxury heap, the EQE gives potential buyers the opportunity to slide into Mercedes luxury without dropping as much cash. The EQE shares many of the same design elements and features as the more-expensive EQS including the optional 6-inch Hyperscreen and rear-wheel drive.

Mercedes-Benz EQG electric concept

Not stopping at sedans, Mercedes also unveiled a near-production concept version of the iconic G-Class aka, G Wagon. The EQG has the same distinctive look of the rugged, expensive offroader, but with a whole lot of lighting flourishes. 

How many of those will make it to production is unknown, and there's also no word on what it’ll cost and how long its range will be. But if Mercedes can pull off with the G-Wagon what it did with the EQS then the future of offroading — or driving around while shopping for high-end clothing — will be electrified.

BMW i Vision CIrcular Concept EV

BMW already has two electric production vehicles, the i4 and iX, headed to the US. In Munich, it took the opportunity to unveil the i Vision Circular concept, a vehicle that’s more about the future of manufacturing than it is about the future of driving. Built entirely out of recycled materials, the Circular is manufactured from mono-materials that are easy to recycle and take apart.

Porsche Mission R electric concept race car

For those excited about motorsports and the future of sports cars, the Porsche Mission R concept race car gave fans of the German brand a peek at what the future has in store. The all-wheel-drive vehicle uses a 900-volt architecture that supports DC fast charging at up to 340kW, and its battery is tuned for intense track days rather than cruising around town. While it’s currently a concept, the technologies found in the Mission R will likely make their way to the motorsports division and potentially into a future Cayman electric.

General Motors can’t seem to catch a break. One week after the automaker announced it was suspending production at all but four of its North American manufacturing facilities, it said it plans to extend the shutdown of its Orion assembly plant by two weeks. The facility is where the company makes its Chevy Bolt electric vehicles. It was one of the assembly plants GM shut down last week — though it did so because of the recent Bolt recall, not the chip shortage that affected its other factories.

Per Reuters, GM expects the shutdown to continue until at least September 24th. The company blamed battery pack shortages for the extended halt to production. GM added it won’t resume Bolt manufacturing or sales until it’s sure it has addressed the fire concerns that forced it to recall the vehicle in the first place.

It’s the latest setback in a series of setbacks for GM when it comes to the Bolt. The automaker initially recalled more than 68,000 cars last November after five reports of battery fires between 2017 and 2019. After two Bolt EVs included in the company’s 2020 recall caught fire recently, GM issued a second recall. It then widened that action to include more than 140,000 vehicles globally. It’s estimated the entire saga will cost the company more than $1.8 billion.

Sky’s too big in New Mexico.

I’m a dozen miles outside of Santa Fe, heading West on the 502 towards Los Alamos in a borrowed 2022 Polestar 2 that won’t quit begging my right foot to gain a few pounds. Damned if I can’t stop staring at the horizon. In a futile effort to overtake me, stacks of clouds race across an azure backdrop spanning the Earth’s curvature.

“It’s just so big,” my mind protests after 18 months of indoor pandemic living.

My right foot, ever loyal, finds the floor. Away we go, the overhead world a fading memory as the horizon rushes forward to meet us.

Paul Barshon/Beadyeye

With the Polestar 1’s production run ending in December and both the 3 and Precept without firm release dates, the Polestar 2 I’m driving is the current crown jewel of the company’s burgeoning model lineup. The Polestar 2 Launch Edition arrived last year with every bell and whistle the company could manage to pack into its frame. For the 2022 model year, Polestar is taking a different tack by splitting the vehicle’s bevy of features into optional packages fitted onto a surprisingly well-appointed — and inexpensive — base mode.

The FWD version starts at $45,900 (as low as $34,900 after California incentives) and is outfitted with a single-speed AC synchronous permanent magnet motor using a 10.51:1 gear ratio. That motor delivers 231 HP, 243 ft-lb of torque, and a lengthy 265-mile range — 35 miles more than last year’s model, putting the 2022 FWD Polestar 2 on par with the VW ID.4, Hyundai Kona EV, and the Chevy Bolt (assuming the latter isn’t currently on fire). It offers a 100 MPH top speed with a 0-60 of 7 seconds.

The AWD version starts at $49,900 (down from last year’s $61,200 starting price) and utilizes a pair of permanent magnet motors (one on each axle) running 8.57:1 gear ratios. At that ratio, the performance-focused AWD Polestar 2 will have a higher top speed of 127 MPH, albeit at the cost of a nominally reduced 249-mile driving range. As such, the AWD puts out 408 HP between the two motors, 487 ft-lb of torque, and a 4.45-second 0-60.

Both variants will offer a $4,000 Plus Pack, which includes a full-length glass roof, "premium" interior including a 600W Harman Kardon stereo, powered seats, cabin illumination and the addition of a heat pump that uses waste energy from the drivetrain to heat the cabin interior and battery pack on cold days (while also improving range by up to 10 percent under certain climate conditions).

Paul Barshon/Beadyeye

The 2022 base models will come outfitted with a new, vegan “embossed textile upholstery” while the Weave-Tech covering found in last year’s Launch Edition is now included in the Plus Package. If you’re hankering for real leather, that is available but comes at a premium price point. If you want the metallic Magnesium, Midnight, Snow, Moon, or Thunder paint options, they’ll set you back an extra $1,200.

The $3,200 Pilot Pack incorporates Advanced Driver Assist features like adaptive cruise control, blind spot warnings and a 360-degree camera. Only the AWD version, however, will have access to the $5,000 Performance pack which adds 20-inch alloys, Brembo brakes, sport tires, and upgraded suspension components. You’ll be able to spot Polestars with the performance pack by their bright yellow cosmetic accents on the brake calipers, seatbelts and valve caps. There is also a “blacked-out” option that eliminates all the chrome and colored exterior accents if you opt for the “Void” color scheme.

Regardless of the packages included, both Polestar variants run off the same 400V electrical architecture and 78 kWh (75kWh usable) capacity battery pack. The company has squeezed a few additional kW of charging capacity, 155 kW up from last year’s 150 using just software updates, for the 2022 models dropping the amount of time needed to refill from 10 percent charge to 80 percent to just 33 minutes. On a standard Level 2 AC charger (like what you'd have installed in your home), you’re still looking at around 8 hours to fully repower the vehicle.

Paul Barshon/Beadyeye

Compared to last year’s model, the 2022 Polestar’s interior appears largely unchanged. An 11-inch central infotainment display running Android Automotive still dominates the vehicle’s minimalist dashboard. Rather than tethering or mirroring content from your mobile device, drivers will be able to log into the vehicle’s OS directly, granting them access to their Google accounts, contacts and the Google Play Store as well as natively running Google Maps, Spotify, YouTube Music and others.

Installing new apps is a cinch, a nearly identical process to doing so on your smartphone. Each new Polestar comes with 3 years of included access to Google Service Connectivity and LTE capability from AT&T. The company anticipates that a steady stream of OTA updates will help keep the Polestar 2’s features and performance continually up to date. Polestar also plans to extend its latest OTA service to the 2021 model year so Launch Edition vehicles will enjoy the latest and greatest in software updates.

Paul Barshon/Beadyeye

At 5,312 feet above sea level, Albuquerque, New Mexico is the highest of America’s state capitals, though it is outclassed by Santa Fe, an hour to the west and 7,199 feet high, where I spent last Tuesday putting both Polestar iterations through their relative paces. At more than a mile above sea level, the air is so thin that conventional internal combustion engines (ICEs) can lose as much as 30 percent of their power output (roughly a hundred HP). Thank goodness battery electric vehicles (BEVs) like the Polestar have no need for triflings like oxygen. No matter how high it climbed, every last one of the FWD Polestar’s 231 horses remained available — still chomping at the bit, if you will.

Snapping awake from an unplanned anaphylactic nap, I find myself charging through the rolling hills of New Mexico State Road 4 while it winds its way through the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Of course, because it’s being pulled along by its leading axle, the FWD Polestar 2 does tend to swing wider through turns (as front drive vehicles are wont to do) compared to its AWD cousin, which led to a couple of hair-raising encounters with oncoming vehicles who were themselves shading the narrow two-lane’s centerline.

“If you are thinking of flying a drone to take video of the car near Los Alamos National Lab,” Polestar PR warned us before we took off for the initial test drive. “Don’t. The government has been known to shoot them down.”

So instead, here’s a picture of the W80 that was awaiting us at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History at the end of the drive’s initial leg. Coffee, snacks and selectable-yield thermonuclear warhead displays, oh my.

National Museum of Nuclear Science and History

The choice between the FWD and AWD versions of the 2022 Polestar 2 is not an easy one. For nearly all intents and purposes, the two are functionally identical both inside and out. The question you’ll have to answer for yourself is whether you want a fast, sporty and stylish ride with 265 miles of range or whether you want to trade in 16 of those miles for an extra 177 HP of head-snapping acceleration.

It’s mid-afternoon and I’m hill-climbing the absurdly tall, 10,000-foot high mountain that leads Ski Santa Fe. It started raining about 20 minutes ago, the temperature is dropping, and that gentle pitter-patter of formerly refreshing precipitation is now doing its best to become a Class 3 Kill Storm. When I raced along Skyline Blvd in 2019, the skies were clear and my right foot was a rotund demon with 408 Launch Edition horses at its beck and call.

Today, the skies were crying and the roads were revolting, but had just as much power at my disposal with the AWD Polestar 2’s accelerator pedal underfoot. It’s raining, it’s hailing, it’s snowing, minor landslides are depositing forearm-sized stones into the roadway. The Polestar barely seemed to notice the hazards — easily forging through spontaneous road rivers, slush piles, and newly laid rock beds — while charging up the tightly winding hillside. One flick of my right foot and away we go, ever onward, ever upward, and ever faster, just as soon as the Chevy Tahoe ahead of me decides to pull off into its campsite and stop crawling along at 15 goddamn miles an hour.

Add another wrinkle to Apple’s oft-rumored efforts to build its own electric vehicle. On Tuesday, Ford announced the hire of Doug Field. The former Tesla executive, known for his involvement in the development of the Model 3, most recently held the position of vice president of special projects at Apple. It’s believed Field oversaw Project Titan.

In his new position of chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer, Field will report to Ford CEO and president Jim Farley. He will oversee Ford’s Embedded Software and Hardware division, which will see him lead development on the automaker’s Blue Oval intelligence stack. It’s expected he will have a say in everything from vehicle controls to enterprise connectivity features and driver assistance technology. For Field, this is something of a return to where everything started. He began his career at Ford back in 1987.

What’s unclear is what this means for Apple’s automotive ambitions. Bloomberg reporter and Apple insider Mark Gurman says it’s bad news for the company. “This is probably the largest setback in a history filled with setbacks for Apple’s car project,” he tweeted. “As I wrote in January, there is no Apple Car launching anytime soon, not 2024, not 2025. Further out now, if ever.” Apple does have executives who could take over Field’s role. For instance, the company recently hired Ulrich Kranz, a former BMW executive who led the development of the i3. All the same, it's never a good sign when a high-profile executive leaves a company.