Every December at Engadget, between sips of spiked holiday beverages, we look back on the year and recall the best and worst developments in tech. Call us cynical, but in recent years, the list of losers gets longer, while we struggle to find true winners to write about. But in 2022, there were bright spots that brought light to a gloomy, chaotic 12 months. From beautifully simple word games to enchanting pictures from space, there were just enough distractions this year to balance out the neverending drama from Twitter, Meta, Amazon and the like. These are the Engadget team’s favorite things in 2022.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and DART projects
In 2022, things on Earth were so bad that we all welcomed the opportunity to look at what’s beyond our galaxy. After its launch on Christmas last year, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) deployed its sunshield in January, finished calibration a few months later and started sending back images. On July 11th, President Biden revealed the space agency’s first picture to the public, saying it was the sharpest and deepest image of the distant universe to date.
More photos were released on July 12th, and throughout the rest of the year, we saw more and more of deep space through the JWST. The colorized pictures made for stunning wallpapers, but also brought us tantalizing information about distant planets. In August, it detected carbon dioxide in a faraway planet’s atmosphere. To date, we’ve also seen images of the Cartwheel Galaxy, Phantom Galaxy and the Pillars of Creation in unprecedented detail. The visual spectacle is a welcome distraction, but the data gained also helps scientists learn a ton more about what exists beyond the Milky Way.
NASA also scored a reassuring win with its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) project this year, when it managed to crash its spacecraft into an asteroid, changing its course. This success has been billed as a “watershed moment for planetary defense” by NASA administrator Bill Nelson, adding that the agency “has proven we are serious as a defender of the planet.” The fact that DART was able to knock an asteroid off its course showed that it could work to save the Earth if a space rock were headed for our world and was small enough and detected in time. It’s nice to have some hope for humanity in that specific situation, as we continue to be dazzled by everything we learn about the vast expanse of space that we float in. — Cherlynn Low, Deputy editor.
Wordle, Josh Wardle and all the -dles
Do you remember a time when you weren’t obsessively playing guessing games on your phone right after waking up? That was probably in 2021, before Wordle, the little browser game that could, swallowed most of the internet for the first half of 2022. Josh Wardle, a British software engineer, created a word game for his partner, letting them guess a five letter word through a process of trial and error. He didn’t publicize the title, but it didn’t take long after its October 2021 launch before everyone was playing the game.
Part of Wordle’s success was due to the simplicity of its mechanic, pulled from the ‘70s board game MasterMind or the ‘80s game show Lingo. Your guesses provoke a color-coded response: A blank box if you struck out, a yellow one if you had the right letter in the wrong place and green in a space that you got right. The other reason for its success was how simply it visualized your guesses, making it easy to share on social media without spoilers. Suddenly, everyone on Twitter was humblebragging about their lexicographical skill posting a short-ish grid of gray, yellow and green squares.
The fact that only one word came out each day also meant that you had to keep coming back to get your daily fix. It easily slid into your morning routine, as a way of waking your brain up before, during or after, your wake-up beverage of choice.
Dado Ruvic / reuters
It helped, too, that people rapidly took their playing style as an article of faith, developing their own “Starter Words.” And it prompted endless discussion about the best strategy, and how ashamed you should be if you ever failed a day’s game. Wordle also enabled a cottage industry of websites that can help you solve tricky words, and most SEO-chasing newspapers offer a written clue about what today’s Wordle actually is.
Wordle’s success was so grand that it wasn’t long before a deep-pocketed news organization looking to grow its traffic offered to buy the game wholesale. By January 31st 2022, The New York Times spent “low seven figures” to buy the title and integrate it into its games platform. The concept may have been knocking around for a while, but Wardle was able to see the fruits of his work pretty quickly. Since then, the NYT has launched Wordlebot, a microsite which’ll analyze your game and tell you the most efficient starter words (CRANE/SLOTH), and it even has its own named editor, so you know who to blame if you have a bad day.
But it wasn’t just Wardle who benefited. Wordle inspired a fleet of copycats, all of which took the original idea and tweaked it slightly. My daily play routine includes Heardle, which asks you to guess a song after hearing just its opening bars. That was acquired by Spotify in similarly rapid fashion, which makes perfect sense given the marketing opportunities therein. Then there’s Framed and Episode, which provide screenshots of movies and TV shows, for you to guess it. Waffle, meanwhile, asks you to sort a grid of jumbled letters into interlocking words using the same Yellow / Green color coding. And then there’s my personal favorite, Redactle, a game which takes a key Wikipedia page and blanks out most of the words for you to guess.
You want more? Because there is more – Worldle is a geography guessing game letting you work out a country. Heardle decades, with one for each decade between the ‘60sandthe‘00s. Lyricle, lets you guess songs from lines of lyrics. Quordle, which asks you to solve four Wordle-style questions simultaneously. Mathler, which tasks you with finding an equation. And, of course, Jeffle, where you have to guess a movie starring one of your favorite Hollywood actors called Jeff – sorry, I made that up, but the fact that’s plausible speaks volumes about the way the world is right now. — Daniel Cooper, Senior editor.
Sam Rutherford / Engadget
Google Pixel 6a
When friends and family ask which phone they should buy, I tell them to get the latest Pixel a. Last year it was the Pixel 5a (well, the Pixel 4a, because Google didn’t launch the 5a here in the UK), and now it’s supplanted by the even-more premium-looking Pixel 6a.
The new design is glossy, with the distinctive camera bar that arrived on the flagship Pixel 6 phones last year, ensuring it looks different to all other smartphones. This year, the Pixel 6a also has Google’s homemade Tensor chip, which was built to help with AI and image processing. I might not even need to say this, but the Pixel 6a, like its predecessors, has an incredibly capable camera for the price. It includes Google tricks like Face Unblur to salvage dodgy shots and Magic Eraser for scrubbing out any unwanted elements. The Pixel 6a also has a 6.1-inch display, down from the 6.34-inch screen of last year’s Pixel 5a. So if you’re looking for a more pocketable Android, this might be the best option.
The Pixel 6a launched at $449, sneaking in under $500. On some occasions (like Black Friday), it’s already been on sale at $300, which is an incredible bargain – especially if you’re still using a smartphone that lacks 5G. The only reason for not buying it in early 2023 is that we’re already hearing rumors of the Pixel 7a, which should be an even better phone. — Mat Smith, UK Bureau Chief.
Engadget
Valve Steam Deck
The Steam Deck isn’t the first handheld computer and it certainly won’t be the last. However, by combining the convenience of the Nintendo Switch with the flexibility of a PC and a huge library of supported games (there are now almost 7,000 titles listed as verified or playable), Valve has almost single-handedly reinvigorated the market for portable PC gaming. And with a starting price of just $400, the Steam Deck also costs hundreds less compared to rivals from Ayaneo, GPD and more.
Granted, the Steam Deck isn’t perfect. It’s rather bulky as far as handhelds go and Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS often requires a bit of tinkering with to optimize a game’s performance. I wish its high-pitched fan was a bit less distracting, too. But thanks to its clever touchpads and general customizability, the Steam Deck makes it easier to play traditional keyboard and mouse games while on the go than pretty much anything else out there. For people who love Nintendo’s games, the Switch is great. But for everyone else, the Steam Deck might be the best multipurpose gaming handheld you can buy right now. — Sam Rutherford, Senior writer.
Apple Watch Ultra
I’ll admit it — this one’s personal. As a reporter covering smartwatches, I’ve been holding my breath for this year’s trio of highly anticipated wearables from Apple, Samsung and Google. The first two were expected to unveil souped up “Pro” models of their flagship models, while Google was set to launch its first “homemade” smartwatch, featuring Fitbit integrations. Between the blandness of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and the overall letdown of the Pixel Watch, there wasn’t a lot of competition for Apple’s Watch Ultra.
But the company didn’t just coast on the mediocrity of the Android smartwatch market. The Watch Ultra features a 49mm screen in a highly durable case that doesn’t feel excessively huge (unless you’re a fellow petite-wristed person). Apple made a selection of carefully crafted straps that are eye-catching, comfortable and easy to maneuver with gloves. The Watch Ultra also boasts a depth gauge for divers, dual-frequency GPS for more-accurate distance tracking, an emergency siren and impressive four-day battery life. All that is on top of other Apple Watch features like comprehensive health and fitness tracking, seamless messaging and excellent iPhone integration.
And for the cherry on top of it all — and this is my selfish reason for loving the Apple Watch Ultra — reviewing this device allowed me to go on a hike on the job, all in the name of real-world testing. Sure, I have since swapped out the Watch Ultra for a Series 8 as my daily driver, but Apple managed to pack enough features into its prosumer smartwatch to set it apart from its mainstream flagship. — C.L.
Dado Ruvic / reuters
Mastodon
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has breathed new life into a number of upstart social platforms. But no other service has benefitted more than Mastodon, the once relatively-obscure site that’s long billed itself as a Twitter alternative.
Ironically, Mastodon first became prominent back in 2017 after a backlash against Twitter’s decision to remove user handles from character limits (it’s difficult to remember now, but there was a time when these kinds of changes would temporarily spark mass outrage among the Twitter faithful).
Since then, the decentralized platform has had a small contingent of dedicated users, but was nowhere close to the social media mainstream. That all changed as soon as Musk’s takeover began. Almost overnight, more than 30,000 new users flooded the platform, and the growth has only intensified since Musk formally took control of Twitter in October. As of November, Mastodon had more than 2 million users seeking a new home outside of Twitter.
While that may still be tiny by social media standards, it’s notable that the nonprofit, open-source site is already the preferred alternative for a number of journalists, celebrities and other one-time Twitter power users. Yes, the platform is more complicated than Twitter, and not everyone is eager to start over on a new site. But it’s impossible to ignore just how good Mastodon’s timing has been. In the span of a few months, it’s gone from niche to mainstream, and for now seems best-poised to absorb the masses fleeing Twitter. — Karissa Bell, Senior editor.
It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at some point in time: How do I take a screenshot on this thing? There’s a good reason for that, as knowing exactly how to capture that funny text, strange email or high score is eternally useful. And on some devices, it turns out there’s a bit more to taking a screenshot than simply hitting the right button combo.
Below we’ve put together a comprehensive guide to taking a screenshot on the most popular phone, tablet, PC and gaming platforms, from iOS and macOS to Windows and Android. If you or your less tech-literate loved ones find yourselves forgetting how to get the right shot, consider this an all-in-one resource.
How to take a screenshot on an iPhone
Apple
If you own a recent iPhone without a physical Home button, you can capture a screenshot by pressing volume up and the right side button at the same time. You’ll hear a shutter noise if your sound is on, and you’ll see a small preview of the screenshot in the lower-left corner of the screen. You can then tap on that preview and edit the screenshot as needed.
With iPhones that do include a Home button, such as the iPhone SE, press theHome button and right side button at the same time. And for older iPhones whose sleep/wake button is located at the top of the device, press the top button and the Home button at the same time instead.
For an alternative method, you can also use iOS’ Back Tap feature, which allows you to take a screenshot just by double- or triple-tapping the back of your iPhone. To enable that, go to Settings >Accessibility >Touch, select Back Tap, and set the Double Tap or Triple Tap settings to Screenshot. You can use this feature to perform other functions as well, such as activating Siri or turning on your flashlight.
If pressing multiple buttons at once is physically difficult, another option is to use the AssistiveTouch feature. This puts a small virtual button on-screen at all times, which you can tap to quickly access various device menus and settings. To activate this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, then set AssistiveTouch to on. From there, you take a screenshot by tapping the AssistiveTouch button, then tapping Device > More > Screenshot.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
There are a couple ways to make this process quicker, though. First, you can go back to your Touch settings, look under Custom Actions, then set the Double-Tap or Long Pressoptions to Screenshot. As you can guess, this will let you double-tap or long press the AssistiveTouch button to capture a screenshot. Alternatively, you can go to Customize Top Level Menu and either add or swap in Screenshot. This will make the screenshot function appear in the default menu that pops up whenever you press the AssistiveTouch button.
Beyond that, you can always ask Siri to capture a screenshot for you. Pulling up the voice assistant – either by saying “Hey Siri” or holding the side or Home button – and saying “take a screenshot” will do the job.
By default, your screenshot will only capture the visible portion of your display. If you’re reading a larger web page or document and want to capture the whole thing without taking multiple screenshots, though, you can. Just tap the screenshot preview when it pops up, then select Full Page at the top before saving your capture.
To find your screenshots on an iPhone (or iPad), open Apple's Photos app, go to the Albums tab, scroll down to Media Types, then select Screenshots.
How to take a screenshot on an iPad
Apple
Taking a screenshot on an iPad is largely similar to what you’d do with an iPhone. If your iPad does not have a Home button, press the top button and either volume buttonat the same time. If there is a Home button, simultaneously press the top button and Home button instead.
If you have an Apple Pencil, you can also take a screenshot by swiping the stylus up from either corner at the bottom of your display. It’s possible to use this shortcut without a Pencil, too: If you go to General > Gestures, ensure Allow Finger to Swipe From Corner is on, then set either Left Corner Swipe or Right Corner Swipe to Screenshot, you can quickly capture the screen by swiping out from either corner with just your finger.
Siri and AssistiveTouch are still options, too, though Back Tap is not available on iPadOS.
How to take a screenshot on a Mac
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
There are multiple ways to take a screenshot on a Mac, most of which depend on how much of the screen you actually want to capture.
The simplest method is to press and hold Shift + Command + 3 on your keyboard. This will take a snapshot of your entire screen. Again, you’ll see a preview thumbnail in the bottom corner of your display, which you can click on to quickly edit.
If you only want to screenshot a specific portion of your display, hit Shift + Command + 4. Your mouse cursor will turn into a little crosshair, which you can drag to select the segment of the screen you want to capture. From here, you can do a few things:
If you hold the Space bar while dragging the crosshair, you can reposition the selected capture area while keeping it locked in its current size and shape.
If you tap the Space bar, the crosshair will turn into a camera icon. If you move this over an open window or menu, then click, you’ll capture a screenshot of that window or menu alone. By default, these captures will have a border around the edges – if you don’t want that, you can exclude it by holding the Option (⌥) key while clicking.
If you hold the Shift key while dragging the crosshair, you’ll lock in the sides of the selected capture area except for one edge. This allows you to more finely adjust the size of your capture before taking the screenshot.
You can cancel the screenshot, meanwhile, by hitting the Esc key.
Once you release your trackpad or mouse button, the screenshot will be captured.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
MacOS also includes a dedicated Screenshot app, which you can quickly pull up by pressing Shift + Command + 5. You’ll see a small toolbar with all of the screenshot functions noted above, including icons for capturing the whole screen, one portion or a specific window. There are icons for taking a video that records all or part of the screen, too, plus options for choosing where your screenshots save, turning off the preview thumbnail and so on.
By default, your captures will save directly to your desktop. If you want to paste a screenshot into another app – say, an iMessage thread – you can copy it to your Clipboard by holding the Control key while capturing. Hitting Shift + Command + Control + 3, for instance, will capture and immediately copy a screenshot of your entire screen, which you can quickly paste elsewhere. Just note that this won’t save the screenshot to your location of choice.
Finally, if your MacBook has a Touch Bar, you can capture that as well by pressing Shift + Command + 6.
How to take a screenshot on an Apple Watch
Apple
To take a screenshot on an Apple Watch, you first need to enable the feature, either through the Settings app on the wearable itself or the Watch app on your iPhone. On an Apple Watch, go to Settings > General > Screenshots, then turn on Enable Screenshots. On a paired iPhone, open the Watch app, go to My Watch > General, then scroll down and activate Enable Screenshots.
Once that’s all set, you can press your watch’s Digital Crown and side button simultaneously to take a screenshot. Your captures will be stored in the Photos app on your iPhone, in the Screenshots folder within the Albums tab.
How to take a screenshot on Android
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Not all Android phones and tablets behave the same way, so the exact command for taking a screenshot may differ depending on which device you own. Most of the time, though, you can do the job by briefly pressing the power and volume down buttons at the same time.
Similarly to iOS, you’ll usually hear a shutter sound from your Android device that confirms the capture, then you’ll see a preview thumbnail that you can edit, share or delete. If you save the screenshot, it will typically reside in your device’s photos app.
You can also go hands-free by asking the Google Assistant – or an alternative like Bixby on Samsung phones – to “take a screenshot.”
Many recent Android phones can take scrolling screenshots, letting you capture a full message thread or web page in a manner somewhat similar to the Full Page option on iOS. The feature goes by different names on different devices and can be somewhat finicky, but it often involves taking a screenshot, then tapping an icon with two arrows when the screenshot preview pops up. This icon is labeled “Capture more” on many Android devices, while certain Samsung phones, for instance, call it “Scroll Capture.”
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
There are likely additional ways to take a screenshot on your Android device of choice, but exactly how those work differ by manufacturer. To give some examples:
On recent Google Pixel phones, you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold for a moment to open up the app drawer (or tap the square Overview button, if you’re using Google’s 3-button navigation mode), pick the open app you want to capture, then tap the Screenshot button that appears underneath.
On some Samsung Galaxy devices, you can take a screenshot just by swiping the edge of your hand across the display. Just go to Settings > Advanced features> Motions and gestures, and ensure Palm swipe to capture is turned on first.
On select Motorola, OnePlus and Xiaomi phones, there are options for taking a screenshot by swiping down on the screen with three fingers.
If you find your phone is making things difficult, remember that there are many third-party apps that can replicate screenshot features that are native on other devices.
How to take a screenshot on Windows
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
The most straightforward way to take a screenshot on a Windows PC is to press the Print Screen (PrtScn) button. This will copy a full-screen capture to your clipboard, which you can then paste in any program that accepts images (Microsoft Paint, a Twitter DM, et al.). To do the same thing, but only for one active window, press Alt + Print Screeninstead.
Pressing the Windows key and Print Screen, meanwhile, will take a full-screen screenshot that saves directly to your PC, instead of only being available via the clipboard. You’ll know this worked if your screen goes dim for a moment. You can then find the image by going to File Explorer (Windows key + E) > Pictures (under “This PC”) > Screenshots.
Note that you can also make screenshots automatically save to Microsoft OneDrive. To do this, click the OneDrive cloud icon in your taskbar, go to Settings (the gear icon) > Backup, then check Automatically save screenshots I capture to OneDrive. If you don’t like having to manually paste PrtScn screenshots from your clipboard, this is an alternative way to avoid it, provided you don’t mind using cloud storage.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
For partial screenshots, press the Windows key + Shift + S to bring up the Snipping Tool (or, in Windows 10, the Snip & Sketch app). This dims the screen and presents a small menu with options for a rectangular, freely drawn, single window or full-screen snip. The first two of those let you click and drag a cursor around the specific portion of the screen you want to capture. (The rectangular option is generally tidier than the freeform one.) Once you release your mouse button or trackpad, you’ll take the screenshot.
When you take a screenshot with the Snipping Tool, you’ll see a preview thumbnail in the bottom corner of the display. Clicking that will let you edit the image in myriad ways, save it to a specific folder and so on. By default, though, any screenshots taken through the Snipping Tool will automatically save to both the clipboard and your Screenshots folder.
If you find yourself using the Snipping Tool often, note that you can set the Print Screen button to open the app. Just go to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard, then turn on Use the Print screen button to open screen snipping.
If your keyboard doesn’t have a Print Screen button, you can press Fn + the Windows key + Spaceto take a screenshot. On recent Microsoft Surface devices, meanwhile, you can also hit volume up + the power button at the same time. Both of these methods will save your captures to the Screenshots folder noted above.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Finally, you can take a screenshot via the Xbox Game Bar, an overlay with quick links to various functions and settings, many of which are aimed at gaming. You can pull this up by pressing the Windows key + G. From there, select Capture (the icon in the middle that looks like a webcam) and hit the Take screenshot button (the camera icon) to take a full-screen capture. You can also hit Windows key + Alt + Print Screento capture a screenshot through the Game Bar without having to open up the overlay.
Any Game Bar screenshots are saved to File Explorer> Videos > Captures on your PC, though you can also find them by going back and clicking Capture in the Game Bar itself, then clicking See my captures in the resulting menu. Note that you can create screen recordings through this Capture menu as well.
As of this writing, using the Capture menu in the Game Bar is also the simplest native method of taking a screen recording in Windows. However, Microsoft recently confirmed plans to add a video recording option to the Snipping Tool in the near future. The company says you’ll be able to record your entire screen or just a cropped section when the feature fully rolls out.
How to take a screenshot on a Chromebook
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
In most cases, the fastest way to take a screenshot on a Chromebook is to press the Control (Ctrl) and Show Windows keys at the same time. This grabs a shot of your entire screen. As a reminder, the Show Windows key looks like a rectangle with two lines next to it. It’s often located where the F5 key would be on a Windows PC.
Hitting Shift + Control + Show Windows, meanwhile, opens up ChromeOS’ Screen Capture toolbar. This presents a menu with options to capture all of your screen, a specific portion or a single open window. It also gives you the ability to take a recording of part or all of your screen. You can get to these tools through your Chromebook’s Quick Settings menu as well. To access that, click the time in the lower right corner of the screen, then click the Screen Capture icon that appears in the resulting menu.
Google
Note that some Chromebooks have a dedicated Screenshot key, which looks like a rectangle with a circle in the middle. If your device has it, you can just press that button instead of the three-button shortcut above. If you have a ChromeOS tablet, you can take a screenshot by hitting the power and volume down buttons simultaneously. And if you’re using an external keyboard, you can press Ctrl + F5 to take a full-screen capture, or Ctrl + Shift + F5to pull up the Screen Capture menu and/or grab a partial screenshot.
Once you take a screenshot, ChromeOS will automatically copy it to your clipboard, and you’ll see it appear in a small window in the bottom corner of the display, from which you can edit or delete the capture. Recent screenshots will appear in a holding area on your taskbar – or “shelf,” in Chromebook parlance – called the Tote, while all of your captures will go to your Downloads folder by default.
How to take a screenshot on a Nintendo Switch
Kris Naudus / Engadget
Taking a screenshot on a Nintendo Switch is easy: Just press the square Capture button. This is located underneath the directional buttons/D-pad on the left-side controller of a Switch, Switch OLED or Switch Lite. You can also take a video of your last 30 seconds of gameplay by holding the Capture button down for a moment. As with most game consoles, note that you won’t be able to take a screenshot in certain apps and, occasionally, at specific moments in some games.
You can find your captures by going to the Switch’s home menu and selecting the Album icon at the bottom of the display. It’s the one that looks like a blue photo.
You can transfer a screenshot from your Switch to a computer with a USB cable. Go to the home menu, select the System Settings icon, then go to Data Management > Manage Screenshots and Videos > Copy to a Computer via USB Connection. Then, connect the Switch to your computer through an appropriate cable and copy it from there for sharing and the like.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
You can also transfer screenshots with a microSD card. If you have one installed in your Switch, go back to Manage Screenshots and Videos. From here, select Save Location to ensure your captures are saved to the microSD card, which you can remove and insert in other devices to access your captures. (Per usual, you may need an adapter to use the card on devices without a proper microSD slot.) Use the path “\Nintendo\Album” to find the captures on the card. To copy screenshots from the Switch’s internal storage to a microSD card, go back to Manage Screenshots and Videos, then select System Memory > Copy All Screenshots and Videos to microSD card. This might take a few moments to complete.
To transfer a specific screenshot, go to Album from the home screen, go to the capture you want to share, then hit A to bring up the Sharing and Editing menu. From here, you can select Copy to copy the screenshot to a microSD card (if it’s not there already), Send to Smartphone to wireless send one or a small batch of captures to your phone via QR codes, or Post to directly (and slowly) post a capture to a connected Facebook or Twitter account.
How to take a screenshot on a PlayStation 5
Aaron Souppouris / Engadget
By default, you can take a screenshot on a PS5 by pressing and holding the Create button on your DualSense controller. This is the thin button located just above the D-pad. (On the PS4, it was labeled Share.) When you release the Create button, you’ll see a confirmation icon if the screenshot was taken successfully.
As an alternative, you can briefly press the Create button once, then select Take Screenshot in the small menu that pops up at the bottom of the screen.
Among other things, this menu also lets you take a video recording of your recent gameplay. If you want to capture something that just happened, select Save Recent Gameplay and choose the appropriate video length. You can also do this by double-tapping the Create button. If you want to start recording future gameplay, select Start New Recording, then go back to the menu and select Stop Recording to do just that.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
If you find these default methods to be too slow to reliably capture fast-paced gameplay, you can reconfigure how the Capture button works. To do this, go to the PS5’s Settings menu – which is easily accessible by selecting the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the home screen – then go to Captures and Broadcasts > Captures > Shortcuts For Create Button > Button mapping and select the option you want. My preference is the “Easy Screenshots” configuration, which makes it so tapping the Create button once takes a screenshot, holding it brings up the create menu, and tapping it twice saves a video of recent gameplay. (The default length of video clips is configurable in the Shortcuts for Create Button menu as well.)
All of your PS5 screenshots and videos automatically save to a somewhat tricky-to-find app called Media Gallery. One way to get there is by scrolling to the far end of the PS5’s home screen and selecting Game Library, then opening it up within that. Another is to go back to Settings, then select Storage > Console Storage > Media Gallery. If you click the PS logo button on your controller shortly after taking a screenshot, you can reach the Media Gallery through the New screenshot card that’ll pop up in the control center menu, too.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
However you get to it, you can share your screenshots from the Media Gallery by hovering over a specific capture, hitting the Options button (the thin button opposite the Create button), and selecting Share. You can then send a screenshot to Twitter, a video to Twitter or YouTube, or either to folks on your PlayStation friends list as a PS5 message. This Share option is available through the New screenshot control center card as well. (It’s the arrow icon.) You can copy captures to a connected USB drive from the Media Gallery as well, which may be the most convenient option if you’re looking to send a batch of screenshots and videos to a computer.
It’s also possible to make the PS5 automatically send screenshots to your phone. First, you have to download the PlayStation app on iOS or Android and link it to your PS5 console. In the app, go to the Game Library tab, hit the Captures toggle at the top, then tap Enable. Then, on the PS5, go to Settings > Captures and Broadcasts > Captures and ensure Auto-Upload is activated. Any captures you manually take on your PS5 will now go straight to the app – but photos will only stay there for 14 days, and video clips must be less than three minutes long.
How to take a screenshot on an Xbox Series X/S
Aaron Souppouris / Engadget
To take a screenshot on an Xbox Series X/S, simply tap the Share button on your controller while playing a game. To take a video recording, press and hold the Share button. (It will capture the last 30 seconds of gameplay by default.) If you double-tap the Share button, meanwhile, you’ll bring up a list of your recent screenshots and video clips.
If you’re using an older Xbox One gamepad without a dedicated Share button, press the Xbox logo button on your controller while playing a game to bring up the Xbox guide menu, then press Y to capture a screenshot or X to record your last 30 seconds of gameplay. If you want to record a longer stretch of gameplay, hit the View button (the one with two rectangles) and select the duration you want. You can still use the guide to capture screenshots and videos with a Series X/S controller, though naturally it’ll be slower than just hitting a button.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
This guide menu allows you to record upcoming gameplay as well. For that, press the Xbox logo button on your controller, go to the Capture & share tab on the right side of the guide, then select Start recording. (If you want, you can also take a screenshot or record recent gameplay from here, too.) To end the recording, open the guide back up with the Xbox logo button, then press the X button. Note that your recordings and screenshots will start and stop from the moment you press the Xbox logo button, not when you press Y or X afterwards.
In any event, you’ll see a notification appear once you’ve taken your screenshot or video clip. If you hold the Xbox logo button on your controller while this banner is on-screen, you’ll open up the Share menu. This lets you quickly share the capture to your Xbox activity feed or an Xbox club, attach it to a message, post it directly to Twitter, or send it to your OneDrive account. You can trim video clips, set a capture as a background or delete it from here as well.
Jeff Dunn / Engadget
If you download the Xbox mobile app and link it to your account, you can also use the Share menu to send screenshots and video clips straight to your phone. Just select Mobile. Once the capture hits your phone, you’ll see quick links for easily sharing or downloading it right from the Xbox app. To see all of your Xbox screenshots and video recordings in the app, go to the My Library tab – the one with the icon that looks like three books – then select Captures.
If you just want to keep playing, know that you can access these screenshot management options at any time. Just hit the Xbox logo button, move to the Capture & share tab, then select Share last capture or Recent captures, selecting a screenshot or video to share and/or edit from there. As noted above, you can also double-tap the Share button on an Series X/S controller to open the Recent captures menu.
Microsoft
It’s possible to change the default length of video recordings in your Xbox’s settings. You can get there by selecting the gear icon at the top right of the home screen. Alternatively, you can hit the Xbox logo button, move to the Profile & system tab – it’s on the right in the guide menu – then select Settings in the middle of the menu. Then, go to Preferences > Capture & share > Record what happened, then select whatever duration you prefer.
The Capture & share menu is also where you can, among other options, turn off automatic uploading of screenshots to the Xbox network. Be aware that Xbox screenshots must be uploaded to the network in order to be shared in the first place, so if you deactivate this setting, you’ll have to manually upload any individual screenshot or video you want to share going forward. Still, this can save you from seeing a bunch of pop-up notifications while playing.
Microsoft
To see all of the screenshots and video clips on your Xbox console, go to the Captures app. To get there, double-tap the Share button to get to the Recent captures menu, then select Show all at the bottom. Or, press the Xbox logo button, then select My games & apps > See all > Apps > Captures. (It’ll look like a gamepad in front of a film strip.) Either way, once you’re there, hover over a capture and hit the Menu button on your controller (the one with three horizontal lines) to access options for sharing, deleting, copying to external storage, uploading to OneDrive, etc. You can also select Manage at the top to more easily delete or upload captures in bulk.
To customize how the Share button behaves, use the Xbox Accessories app. You can get to this by selecting Button mapping in the Capture & share menu, or by going back to the Apps menu and selecting the app icon with a joystick on it. If you do the latter, select your controller, then select the pen icon to edit your profile. Now you can make it so double-tapping the Share button starts and stops a recording, to give one example.
Using third-party tools to capture and share screenshots
ShareX
For the most part, it’s straightforward enough to share your screenshots directly from the built-in tools on most platforms. That said, it’s worth remembering that there are third-party alternatives on some OSes that can make the process a bit easier.
ShareX, for example, is worth a shout. It’s a free and open-source program with all the screen capture options as Windows’ Snipping Tool, plus a range of after-capture editing tools. Notably, it also allows you to directly upload (and delete) captures to image hosting services like Imgur (with easily shareable URLs), apps like Twitter and Google Photos, cloud storage lockers like Dropbox and more. You can make it so captures automatically go to these destinations, too.
Dropbox Capture, meanwhile, puts quick options for taking screenshots, video recordings and audio recordings in your taskbar, then lets you copy (either as an image or URL) and/or download your captures for easy sharing right from there. There are plenty more options beyond that, so if you find yourself needing a little extra power, you aren’t necessarily limited – though, as always, you should exercise caution with lesser-known services that may carry privacy risks.
Health company Movano has teased its first smart ring, the Evie, designed for health, fitness and cycle tracking. It looks like a rival to Oura's latest smart ring and other health-tracking wearables, though the company says it's "designed uniquely for women." Movano plans to provide a closer look next week at CES 2023.
The ring made its debut at CES 2022 with no name and a similar design, but Movano has since changed course on price and other factors. It will sell the ring sometime in 2023 at a one-time price below $300 (there's no exact date or price yet), rather than using a subscription model as it said last year.
It offers many of the health metrics seen on Oura's ring and wearables from Apple and others. It can measure heart rate, blood-oxygen, skin temperature variability, steps, calories, sleep, period and ovulation tracking, and more. Wearers will can get advice from health experts inside the app and it will meet medical device manufacturing standards, the company promised.
"As a medical device, Evie will go beyond the status quo of other wearables on the market," said Movano CEO John Mastrototaro. "We are bringing together medical grade biometric data and insights in a comfortable and contemporary wearable."
With the ability to measure steps, calories burned and specific activities, Evie can also be used as a fitness tracker. However, it's primary purpose is to give a picture of overall health, "turning biometric data into actionable insights," Movano wrote in the press release.
The company also promises security and privacy when transferring data to the cloud or health providers. It's currently seeking all-important FDA clearance, which will dictate the release date. If that takes too long, though, it may come to market as a wellness device at first. The Evie smart ring will only be released in the US to start with, but may come to other markets later — we should learn more about it next week at CES 2023.
German researchers who purchased biometric capture devices on eBay found sensitive US military data stored on the machine’s memory cards. According to The New York Times, that included fingerprints, iris scans, even photographs, names and descriptions of the individuals, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many individuals worked with the US army and could be targeted if the devices fell into the wrong hands, according to the report. One device was purchased at a military auction, and the seller said they were unaware that it contained sensitive data. There was an easy solution too: The US military could have eliminated the risk by simply removing or destroying the memory cards before selling them.
Workers at Proletariat, a Boston-based studio Blizzard bought earlier this year, announced they recently filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Proletariat is the third Activision Blizzard studio to announce a union drive in 2022. However, past campaigns at Raven Software and Blizzard Albany involved the quality assurance workers at those studios – the effort at Proletariat includes all non-management workers. The employees at Proletariat say they aim to preserve the studio’s “progressive, human-first” benefits, including its flexible paid time off policy and robust healthcare options. Additionally, they want to protect the studio from crunch – compulsory overtime during game development.
LG is taking a more minimalist approach to its kitchen appliances in 2023, with less showy profiles, colors and, seemingly, controls. While we’re not getting a close-up look at all the dials and buttons yet, the appliances look restrained compared to previous years’ models. In the past, we’ve seen a washing machine whose flagship feature was an entire extra washing machine. There was also a dryer that had two doors. Just because. LG says it’s used recycled materials across multiple machine parts, adding that its latest appliances also require fewer total parts and less energy than typical kitchen appliances. This would dovetail with the company’s announcements at the start of the year, where LG said it would offer upgradability for its home appliances. So far, that’s included new filters for certain use cases and software upgrades with new washing programs for laundry machines.
Lawmakers and staff members who have TikTok on their phones would have to delete it.
TikTok is now banned on any device owned and managed by the US House of Representatives, according to Reuters. The House's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) reportedly told all lawmakers and their staff in an email that they must delete the app from their devices, because it's considered "high risk due to a number of security issues." Further still, everyone detected to have the social networking application on their phones would be contacted to make sure it's deleted.
LG may not make smartphones anymore, but it's still building components for them. The company's LG Innotek arm just unveiled a periscope-style true optical zoom camera module with a 4-9 times telephoto range. Most smartphone cameras use hybrid zoom setups that combine certain zoom ranges (typically 2x, 3x, 10x, etc.) with a digital zoom to fill in between those (2.5x, 4.5x, etc.), leading to reduced detail. LG's "Optical Zoom Camera," however, contains a zoom actuator with movable components, like a mirrorless or DSLR camera. That would help retain full image quality through the entire zoom range, while potentially reducing the size and number of modules required. Could this mean the death of the camera bump?
Sony's WH-1000XM5 is a highly desirable set of wireless headphones, thanks to improved sound quality, a comfortable fit and incredible active noise cancellation (ANC). If you've been eyeballing a pair, now is absolutely the time to act. They're currently on sale in white at Amazon for $279 (30 percent off), the lowest price we've seen to date, by far.
The WH-1000XM5 scored an excellent 95 in our Engadget review, thanks to improvements in nearly every way over our previous favorite headphones, the WH-1000XM4. Perhaps the biggest improvement was in fit and comfort thanks to the more optimal weight distribution, synthetic leather ear cups and slightly reduced weight.
Sound quality also went up, due to the new 30mm carbon fiber drivers that deliver punchier bass. We also saw more clarity that helps you hear fine detail, along with improved depth that makes music more immersive. And Sony's DSEE Extreme sound processing recovers detail lost to compression, without any noticeable impact on sound quality.
The ANC is equally impressive. With double the number of noise cancellation microphones found in the M4, along with a new dedicated V1 chip, the M5 does a better job at minimizing background noise. And in terms of the microphone, we found that the M5 offers superior call quality over its predecessor. Moreover, you get 30 hours of listening time with ANC enabled, enough for the longest of flights.
The main drawback of the WH-1000XM5 headphones is the $400 price tag, but at $279, they're a stellar deal — as long as you're good with the white color. Just act fast before the sale ends.
TikTok is now banned on any device owned and managed by the US House of Representatives, according to Reuters. The House's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) reportedly told all lawmakers and their staff in an email that they must delete the app from their devices, because it's considered "high risk due to a number of security issues." Everyone detected to have the social networking application on their phones would be contacted to make sure it's deleted, and any future downloads are prohibited.
This is but the latest the development in a series of moves the US government has made to block the app from devices it owns. Last week, lawmakers approved a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that included provisions that would prohibit the use of TikTok on executive branch devices. A spokesperson for the Chief Administrative Officer told Reuters that after its passage, the CAO worked with the Committee on House Administration to implement a similar policy for the House.
That came after the Senate unanimously voted to approve the No TikTok on Government Devices Act that was introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri). As Reuters notes, 19 states had also banned or at least partially prohibited the app's installation and use on staff devices they own or manage. When the omnibus passed, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter told Engadget that the company is "disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices," calling it "a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests."
TikTok's critics in the US government have been raising concerns that it could be used as a tool to spy on the US by Chinese officials. FBI Director Chris Wray called it a "Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party" and said that it has no place on government devices until it completely cuts ties with China. TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, tried to address those concerns by routing all domestic traffic through Oracle servers in the US and pledging to delete all US user data from its servers.
However, the recent revelation that ByteDance fired four employees for inappropriately obtaining the data of TikTok users in the US, including that of two reporters, probably doesn't help the company's cause. According to a New York Times report, the employees gained access to the IP addresses and other data linked to two reporters in their quest to find out who was leaking internal information to the press.
On Tuesday, workers at Proletariat, the Boston-based studio Blizzard bought earlier this year to support World of Warcraft development, announced they recently filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Proletariat is the third Activision Blizzard studio to announce a union drive in 2022, but where past campaigns at Raven Software and Blizzard Albany involved the quality assurance workers at those studios, the effort at Proletariat includes all non-management workers. The 57 workers who want to form the Proletariat Workers Alliance include animators, game designers and software engineers. The group seeks representation from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the union that helped QA staff at Raven Software and Blizzard Albany organize.
“Everyone in the video game industry knows Activision Blizzard’s reputation for creating a hostile work environment, so earlier this year, when we heard that Blizzard was planning to acquire Proletariat, we started to discuss how we could protect the great culture we have created here,” said Dustin Yost, a software engineer at Proletariat. “By forming a union and negotiating a contract, we can make sure that we are able to continue doing our best work and create innovative experiences at the frontier of game development.”
The Proletariat Workers Alliance asked Activision Blizzard to recognize their union voluntarily. According to the group, the company has yet to respond to the request. Activision Blizzard did not immediately respond to Engadget’s comment request.
The workers at Proletariat say they aim to preserve the studio’s “progressive, human-first” benefits, including its flexible paid time off policy and robust healthcare options. Additionally, they want to protect the studio from crunch, the practice of forcing compulsory overtime during the development of a game. They’re asking management to commit to a no-mandatory overtime policy and implement better pay and health protections for workers who agree to voluntary overtime. The Proletariat Workers Alliance says their colleagues also shouldn’t be penalized during performance reviews for not taking on extra work.
In June, Microsoft announced it would respect all unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard following the close of its $68.7 billion deal to buy the publisher. Earlier this month, the FTC sued the tech giant to block the merger.
Earlier this year 1010music released the Lemondrop and Fireball, two surprisingly full-featured synths in unbelievably tiny packages. The company’s Nanobox lineup covers a lot of ground between those two instruments, but neither was particularly well suited to handling drums. So the company took the same core hardware, put a percussion-focused FM engine in it, along with a sampler, gave the whole thing a playful pink paint job, and dubbed it the Razzmatazz.
The latest member of the 1010music family is a rich sounding drum machine with a simple 64-step sequencer. While it may lack some modern amenities you’d expect from a $399 instrument, it makes up for it with a robust set of sound design features. And yes, even 10 months later, the Nanoboxes are still shockingly small.
Hardware
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
I won’t spend too much time rehashing the hardware since I’ve already covered it in my review of the Lemondrop and Fireball, but here’s a quick recap. The whole thing is 3.75 inches wide, 3 inches tall, and 1.5 inches thick – small enough to fit in even the tiniest of bags or a large pocket. There’s a two-inch touchscreen on the front, plus four navigation buttons and a pair of encoders. Around back you get ⅛-inch MIDI in and outs, ⅛-inch audio ins and outs, a USB-C port for power and a microSD slot (pre-populated with a 32GB card) for storing samples and presets.
The only notable exterior change from the previous Nanobox entries is the color. There’s no functional advantage to the Razzmatazz being hot pink, but I love it. As I mentioned in my review of Cre8Audio’s East Beast and West Pest, synths should be fun. I have nothing against the Korgs, Elektrons and Moogs of the world. But their instruments often take themselves quite seriously. And I, for one, think the synth world could use a splash of color now and then.
The Sound Engine
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
At the core of the Razzmatazz is an eight-voice engine that combines FM synthesis and sample playback. Each pad can be either or both, which is fairly unique. I can’t think of another affordable hardware drum machine that allows you to combine FM tones and samples in quite the same way. You can simply layer the two, but you could also, for example, use a sample of an actual timpani for the attack, then let the synth fade in after.
It’s a really fun effect and similar to what you find Roland’s late ‘80s Linear Arithmetic synthesizers like the D-50. The only issue is that figuring out how to achieve it isn’t immediately obvious. Since the two envelopes here are simple sustain / decay affairs, you can’t just soften the attack and be done with it. Instead you have to assign the envelope to control the volume of the digital oscillators, but set the mod depth to negative 100 percent, at which point the decay acts like the attack.
Another key difference is, the Razzmatazz can’t be played chromatically. So you can’t craft a room shaking bassline to accompany your drum pattern. You also can’t pull the trick of using the modulation sequencer to control pitch, like you could on the Lemondrop and Fireball. In fact, there is no modulation sequencer, just two LFOs and two envelopes. And pitch isn’t a modulation destination. You can change the tuning of individual pads and create something melodic that way, but that’s it.
The sounds themselves are excellent, though. The collection of 120 preset kits tend toward the glitchy and electro side of things. Since there’s a sampler, in addition to the FM engine, however, you can get convincing real drum sounds too. Most of the included samples don’t lean into the acoustic realm, but you can easily load or record your own if you like. The one thing to note is that there’s no way to chop up samples on the Razzmatazz. So if you want to slice up a breakbeat, you need to do that before you import it as separate files. Same for loops.
The top left-most pad has two special modes called Slicer and Clip. These allow you to get some of the benefits of chops and loops. But they’re a tad cumbersome and require some prep work. Slicer will playback bits and pieces of a sample, but you have to mark cue points using the company’s Blackbox or in software like Reaper or OcenAudio. Of course this is different from chopping up and rearranging a sample. Instead Slicer works its way through a full sample in a particular direction or jumps around randomly.
Clip mode is primarily for loops, but again, you need to trim up the sample beforehand. Make sure it’s a full number of bars and roughly within 20 BPM of the playback tempo. If you try to stretch it too far, or leave a bunch of dead air before or after, it may not deliver great results.
You also can’t just connect the drum machine to your computer via usb and transfer files. The USB-C port here is for power only. You’ll actually have to take the microSD card out and put it in a reader to move samples around. Frankly, that’s a little cumbersome for my tastes, and I usually preferred to just record directly to the Razzmatazz. You can’t trim or alter samples once they’ve been captured, but the threshold option at least means you won’t have a ton of silence at the start of a recording.
Interface
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
Unsurprisingly, the actual act of using the Razzmatazz isn’t all that different from using a Lemondrop or Fireball. You still get a UI organized by sections, and within each section are layers and then each layer has pages. It’s a little more work to find your way around the Razzmatazz because it has eight individual voices with their own set of parameters. And sound design is a bit more complicated because the synth engine is FM based, and FM is notoriously difficult to wrap your head around.
But credit to 1010music for trying to streamline things as much as possible. The first layer beneath each pad is a collection of eight macro controls. And from here you can also change the “model” of the pad to quickly dial in generic sounds for kicks, snares, toms, etcetera. These two things alone let you cover a decent amount of the basics. But you’ll definitely want to explore beyond there, to all the pages you can access from the pad dashboard. Here’s where you’ll find all your oscillator options, FX sends and modulation controls.
If you hold down the home button, though, you’re brought to the “Teleporter.” Here you can jump to almost any page or submenu you want with just a single tap. It’s a much faster way to navigate the UI. In general the Razzmatazz makes better use of the touchscreen than its predecessors. That’s partially just down to the kinds of machines they are. Tapping in sequences and playing one of eight reasonably sized touch pads just makes a lot more sense, than trying to play melodies on a grid of notes sized for a toddler.
Unfortunately, the X/Y macro mode from the Lemondrop and Fireball is gone. Your performance options are largely limited to playing the pads live, switching sequences and muting individual pads. Using the touchpad to control pattern-wide parameters, or engage a stutter effect would give it a lot more flexibility as a performance tool.
On the plus side, the sequencer is extremely straightforward. It lacks ratchets, microtiming, probability and almost any other modern amenity. But its simple TR-style makes it easy to quickly toss together patterns or alter them on the fly. The main sequencer page lets you swap between patterns, and the changes are tempo synced so you won't awkwardly cut one off before its natural conclusion.
Wrap-up
The Razzmatazz is a welcome addition to the 1010music Nanobox family. Similar to its stablemates, the Fireball and Lemondrop, there is no direct competitor due to the depth of the sound engine and stunningly compact form factor. I’m unaware of any drum machine in the sub-$500 space that combines FM synthesis and sampling in the same way. And as far as I can tell, only Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators come close to being as pocketable. Of course, those offer less sound design options. But combine a Razzmatazz, Lemondrop and Fireball with a small mixer like the Bastl Dude or (if you like setting fire to money) the TE TX-6, and you’ve got yourself a portable music making rig that could fit in a couple of coat pockets.
There are a few features and changes, though, that seem like no-brainers and would greatly improve the usability of the Razzmatazz. Some form of basic sample editing, for instance, expanded sequencing features like ratchets, and performance-focused master effects would really elevate the instrument. Right now the Razzmatazz is a very good drum synth, but it’s potentially only a firmware update away from being a great one.
LG may not make smartphones anymore, but it's still building components for them. The company's LG Innotek arm just unveiled a periscope-style true optical zoom camera module with a 4-9 times telephoto range. That would allow smartphone cameras to retain full image quality through the entire zoom range, while potentially reducing the size and number of modules required.
Samsung developed a similar camera module, also known as a "folded" lens, with a four times zoom first used in the Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone. LG Innotek provided a previous version of its zoom module to Sony for the Xperia 1 IV smartphone.
Most smartphone cameras use hybrid zoom setups that combine digital zoom and multiple camera modules. Certain zoom ranges (typically 2x, 3x, 10x, etc.) use individual cameras, with a digital zoom to fill in between those (2.5x, 4.5x, etc.). As a result, sensor resolution and thus detail can be considerably reduced.
LG's "Optical Zoom Camera," however, contains a zoom actuator with movable components, similar to what you'd seen on a zoom lens in a mirrorless or DSLR camera. It operates quickly and precisely down to the micrometer, according to LG, while saving battery life. It also has a built-in optical image stabilizer to reduce blur, something that can be a problem for telephoto lenses that magnify hand movements. (iFixit shows exactly how such modules work here.)
With the module installed, a sensor would retain full resolution through the entire 4-9x zoom range, providing more detail on telephoto shots. LG also pared down the module's thickness to reduce the size of the camera bump.
The company partnered with Qualcomm to integrate the tech in the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform. "It will enhance the image tuning custom for the optics, which includes Auto-Focus, Auto-Exposure, Auto-White Balance, lens shading correction and much more. Users will be able to focus quickly. And the photos and videos will have stunning image quality," LG wrote.
The new module will appear in smartphones announced at CES 2023 starting January 3rd. LG didn't reveal any brands or models, but there are a number of smartphones coming soon with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that could potentially use it. Those include the OnePlus 11 series, Xiaomi 13, Motorola X40 and Oppo Find X. Apple is also a large customer of LG Innotek and could use the zoom module in next year's iPhone 15 series, according to previous reports.
LG’s latest upgraded appliances, including washing machines, refrigerators, ovens and a dishwasher, feature, well, less. It’s taking a more minimalist approach in 2023 with less showy profiles, colors and, seemingly, controls. While we’re not getting a close-up look at all the dials and buttons, the appliances look restrained compared to previous years’ appliances. In recent years, we’ve seen a washing machine whose feature was an entire extra washing machine. There was also a dryer that had two doors. Just because. LG also once even experimented with creating washing machines that could clean your clothes without any water.
This year's appliances will have a simpler design language, with what LG says is an "elegantly clear control experience." The company says it’s made its latest range to ensure it can “match with any kind of décor, color scheme, or interior trend.” It used recycled materials across multiple machine parts, adding that its latest appliances also require fewer total parts and less energy than typical kitchen appliances.
This would dovetail with the company’s announcements at the start of the year, where LG said it would offer upgradability for its home appliances. So far, that’s included new filters for certain use cases and software upgrades to offer new washing programs for laundry machines. The company said it planned to introduce 20 models with upgradeable features but hasn’t confirmed how many actually arrived. Simpler, more streamlined hardware could make for easier for LG to replace more substantial parts, like motors and heating elements, to be even more efficient or effective.
However, will fewer buttons mean fewer features or less flexibility? We don’t know yet, but I like the subtler aesthetic. LG will reveal its new appliance family at CES 2023 — a show that always sneaks in countless kitchen appliances alongside the latest TVs, EVs and more. The show kicks off in Las Vegas in a week’s time.
