Epic Games and Tencent are shutting down the Chinese version of Fortnite. Would-be players are no longer able to register or download the game, and the servers will be closed on November 15th, according to an announcement on the battle royale's Chinese website.
"The test of Fortress Night has come to an end," the message reads (via Google Translate). "We will shut down the server in the near future." No reason was given for the game's closure.
Players who dropped into that version of Fortnite had a different experience to those elsewhere, as PC Gamernotes. There was a separate health bar for damage sustained in the storm, and several players could earn a Victory Royale if they survived for long enough.
Though it's not clear how many Fortnite players there were in China, it never officially launched in the country, according to analyst Daniel Ahmad. Fortnite'sChinese incarnation was in beta testing for over two years and the government didn't grant Tencent, which published the game there, a license. As such, Tencent was unable to monetize Fortnite with in-app transactions. Engadget has contacted Epic and Tencent for comment.
Ahmad also pointed out that battle royale titles are "strictly regulated" in China. The original version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegroundshad no monetization functions in the country. Tencent launched a more patriotic, gore-free replacement in 2019 called Game for Peace, to which regulators gave the green light.
Fender is buying PreSonus, a company that’s best known for its studio recording gear and software. The guitar maker announced the acquisition, which still needs regulatory approval, on Monday. Fender didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, but it did hint at its future plans for the company.
“While most guitar and bass players still plug into amplifiers, many also plug their instruments into interfaces, using virtual amps and effects to create their sounds. Players of all levels are spending more time online than ever before and using a variety of products and technologies to learn, practice, jam and perform, record and share,” the company said. “Fender envisions an ecosystem that seamlessly integrates hardware and software to create an effortless end-to-end experience for customers at all levels in their creative journey, and joining forces with PreSonus makes that possible.”
Integrating software and hardware together is something Fender has been doing for a while with its apps and amps. We’ll have to see what the company does with PreSonus, but it’s easy to envision a future where it could offer digital versions of its iconic amps in its pursuit of its “all levels” vision.
The most famous bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe is taking center stage in his own show. Disney+ has offered a taste of what’s in store in The Book of Boba Fett with the first trailer for the series.
Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) is now the crime lord of Tatooine. Fett was presumed dead after falling into the sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi, but he returned in The Mandalorian.
The trailer shows Fett and his partner Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen, also reprising her role from The Mandalorian) ruling over the desert planet's underworld. They attempt to maintain order among criminals, while fending off the threat of a coup. Fett seems more magnanimous than his former boss Jabba the Hutt, who'd have fed someone to one of his creatures over the smallest perceived slight. Fett, however, allows his critics to speak freely.
We'll get to learn more about this new era of crime on Tatooine when The Book of Boba Fett premieres on Disney+ on December 29th. Meanwhile, season three of The Mandalorian is in production, but it's not clear when that show will return to the streaming service.
I want to get one thing out of the way at the top. I wish that anyone — anyone — other than Kanye West had released the Stem Player. At this point he’s more than 10 years past the creative zenith of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and five years removed from the uneven, but decent Life of Pablo. These days, his cultural relevance is driven more by spectacle and controversy than artistic output.
Still, I can’t help but be drawn to the Donda Stem Player: It’s a fascinating and unique device. But my interest is in spite of, not because of Kanye West.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
So what is it? Well, it’s basically a tiny puck-shaped computer dedicated specifically to remixing Kanye’s latest album. Using it you can change the volume of different stems, or tracks, in the songs on Donda. For instance, if you’re wondering what “Off the Grid” would sound like as an instrumental you can simply turn down the vocals. Or if you find the sonar ping synth in “Jonah” unbearable, just turn it off. You can also create loops of little song chunks, reverse them, speed them up, slow them down and even add effects.
It looks kinda like a sex toy, though, and is covered in what I assume are surplus Fleshlights. It doesn’t feel unpleasant, exactly, but it is slightly unnerving. And the vaguely fleshy hue doesn’t help matters. The main controls on the front are four touch-sensitive strips that light up to tell you what volume a track is at or what effect you’ve selected, for instance. The whole thing vibrates, too, with haptic feedback every time you touch a button or a strip, though it can lag behind your actual touch quite a bit.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
One of the limitations here is that it tops out at four stems. This often means all the melodic content is one track. I’ll also say that the effect selection leaves something to be desired. There are two different speeds of tremolo, a few different echo options and “feedback” which is basically just an out of control echo.
Being able to quickly loop a chunk of music, reverse and slap some reverb on it is kinda fun. It allows you to transform a song into something completely unrecognizable, but it’s not super useful as a practical remix tool.
I was somewhat disappointed by the Stem Player’s ability to handle non-Donda tracks. The site promises that you can upload any song to the player. You can even drop in a YouTube link and it will parse out the audio. Then it will automatically split the song into stems so you can remix it. This is no easy task, even for pro-grade software on a high-powered PC. Predictably, it's hit or miss here.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The Stem Player handled “DIRTY!” from JPEGMAFIA and “Stonefruit” by Armand Hammer reasonably well, though there was some slight bleed through of the synth line into the vocal stem on “Stonefruit.” Nine Inch Nail’s “Closer” fared a little worse. Half the bass line was on its own track, while the other half was lumped in with the drums. It even bled into the vocals. There was also a decent amount of digital artifacts in the stems.
It would seem that fairly stripped-down hip hop productions will do ok, but as the complexity of a song increases the Stem Player starts to struggle parsing the different parts. The Armed’s “An Iteration,” for example, was broken down into drums, vocals and a single track of everything else. Then the fourth stem, which is supposed to be for bass, was basically silent. In fact, I often encountered this issue with music I uploaded to the Stem Player myself. Badbadnotgood’s “Love Proceeding” was reduced to just two stems: drums and not drums.
I have concerns about what happens to the Stem Player in a few years or even months time, too. The only way to upload new songs to it is through the Stem Player website. So if that ever goes offline you might be stuck. I also can’t figure out how to get mixes and songs off the player. The instructions both included with the player and on the site are pretty barebones and at times, slightly confusing. In the FAQ it says you can save what you’re mixing by pressing the volume up button then it explains that “four recordings can be saved, play back from the final, red track.” The only problem is, I have no idea what the hell that means.
Perhaps the biggest knock against the Stem Player is the price. $200 is a lot to throw at a musical curiosity. Especially when that money mostly serves to feed the ego of one of the most megalomaniacal celebrities in the world.
Even though Black Friday is over three weeks away, some major retailers are getting in on the action early. Among them is Amazon, which has slashed prices on its own devices. One of the products you can save on at the minute is the Kindle, which is $40 off at $50. Kindle Kids, meanwhile, is on sale for $60 (usually $110).
Amazon has also discounted several Fire tablets. Even though you can often find it for $60 (a decent deal in itself), the Fire HD 8 is half off at $45. As such, the tablet is currently less expensive than the $50 Fire 7, which has a smaller screen with lower resolution. Meanwhile, Fire HD 8 Plus, which offers wireless charging and 3GB of RAM rather than 2GB, is currently $55. The tablet typically costs $100, but Amazon often drops that to $80.
Elsewhere, you can pick up a Fire TV Stick 4K for $25 at the moment. The streaming device typically costs around $35, but it can cost as much as $50. As for Echo Glow, Amazon's nightlight, you can save $10, as it's down to $20. The lamp doesn't have a built-in microphone or speaker, but you can use a separate Alexa device to select the brightness and color.
It may have been another long year, but the holidays are finally approaching — and, with supply chain issues plaguing retail, it’s best to get your shopping done sooner rather than later. This year we’re all a little burnt out on screens, so the best gifts for kids are things they can hold. But, since this is Engadget, we’re always looking for that tech angle. This year’s crop of tech toys for kids is mostly grounded in the real world, with a few electronic twists to surprise and delight.
Miles Morales in Winter Suit Funko Pop
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Funko
It’s always good to grab a few stocking stuffers, and Funko makes figures from what feels like every pop culture property on earth. Around here we’re partial to the video game ones, of course, and what’s more festive than this adorable Spider-Man all dressed up for the cold weather? It’ll look great while also adding a bit of geeky holiday cheer to someone’s bookshelf or desk.
For kids who aren’t old enough to build their own lightsaber at Disney’s Galaxy Edge, this kit from Hasbro might be the next best thing. Not only is it way more affordable, but it’s also quite durable, allowing kids and adults alike to reenact their favorite Jedi versus Sith battles with gusto. Best of all, a child can rebuild their lightsaber again and again using different parts, so they can have a customized weapon that fits their mood each day.
Maybe taking care of a small creature was just too stressful for your kid, and you’ve had to console them many a time when the little ghost floating above a tombstone appears. Well, now Tamagotchi has a special astromech droid they can take care of instead, one they have to clean and play a variety of mini-games with. If they don’t take care of little R2, the Jawas will take him away which might still be a bummer but hey, maybe they’ll sell him off to a local moisture farmer with a thirst for adventure.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Spin Master
Kids are cute, but also weird and quirky, so why not get the child in your life something that reflects the more wild side of their personality? Purse Pets are basically living bags that can hold stuff but also blink, purr and even blow kisses at a child when it’s happy. It’s a real eye-catching accessory, one that will have them feeling like they’re on the runway — especially when you activate the Purse Pet’s runway music.
Barbie first went to space way back in 1965 and, while she’s had plenty of spacesuits over the decades, none have been as realistic as this one. That’s because this one is based on real-life space explorer Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut who was once the record holder for the longest space flight by a woman. Your kids can reenact her various scientific experiments in space with the doll, then cheer on the real-life Cristoforetti next year as she commands ISS Expedition 68.
It feels like an unwritten rule that every child has to have one of those wooden train and track sets. Why not spice things up a bit by adding in this tech-enabled station that signals the included train to stop and flash its lights, just like the real thing. If your kid is a railfan you can even use the free Smart Tech Sound app to change the sounds to those from famous systems like London, Paris or Berlin.
We were all super jealous of Harry Potter when Hagrid presented him with a lovely snowy owl who would become his mail carrier and friend. However, in real life owls can be pretty messy and aren’t as affectionate. So why not get your loved ones this interactive, life-sized replica instead? She loves to be petted and while she can’t fly, she can safeguard letters for you, only releasing them to people who have the secret code.
The Got2Glow Fairy Finder may look like a slightly fancier mason jar, but it has a special electronic twist. When you open the lid, a fairy will “fly” inside and show up on the front screen. What kind of fairy? It depends on how a child holds the jar and how bright the room is. There are 100 different magical creatures to collect and trade with their friends, so it should keep your kids active and busy for a while.
Your child may not be old enough to drive a real car, but chances are they’ve taken a few spins around Rainbow Road in Nintendo’s Mario Kart video games. And even if they haven’t, they’ll still enjoy playing with the whimsical vehicles from the series, recreated in 1/64-scale so they can fit in the palm of a kid’s hand. All the favorites are here, from Mario to Yoshi and even the often-forgotten Waluigi. Some of the karts even include gliders so kids can simulate some of the more treacherous jumps like Peach’s Castle.
We’ve been a big fan of the Mario LEGO sets since their launch, but now it’s time for his brother to have a little time in the sun. It’s just like having a Super Mario game you can physically build and hold in your hand, complete with platforms, a see-saw and blocks. Luigi will even react to the course thanks to a small LCD screen embedded in his chest, and he’s fully compatible with the other sets so you can build a whole world for him to explore.
You can still call it the Slave I if you want, but the most important thing about this Firespray-31-class spacecraft is who it belongs to: the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, Boba Fett. He even has his own show coming out at the end of December. We know that’s a long time to wait, but your family can at least spend part of that time putting together this 593-piece kit that even includes a tiny minifig Boba and Din Djarin from the Mandalorian.
There are toys that laugh, eat, burp and even poop, but there aren’t a lot that give birth. That’s probably because it’s pretty weird, but Spin Master’s Peek-a-Roo also makes it pretty adorable. This plush panda will react to being petted and spoken to by a child and, if the toy is treated well, it produces a tiny baby from the pouch in its stomach. The baby toy will continue to live there once born, popping up whenever its mama is happy.
Advent calendars are a great way to get your kid excited for the holidays, but sometimes the little gifts inside aren’t so great. Why not go full-on nerdy with this Star Wars calendar, which has a smattering of tiny sets your kid has to build alongside minifigs of characters like Rey, Luke Skywalker and a holiday-themed Poe Dameron? The kits will hopefully keep them busy so they’re not asking you how many days are left until the big gift-giving occasion.
Kids love cameras but, with everything digital these days, there’s a little less tactility, which kids also love. Printcams tend to be too expensive for many adults, never mind children, which makes them a no-go — until now. The VTech KidiZoom prints photos for as little as a penny, so it’s not a big financial deal when your child takes 100 photos of their feet. Just make sure you keep them stocked up with fresh paper.
Beats latest earbuds are official. After some early hints in iOS 15.1, the company has formally announced the Beats Fit Pro. This set of true wireless earbuds has a similar look to the Studio Buds that debuted earlier this year with an added fit wing, or "wingtip" as the company calls it. Combined with an IPX4 rating, the $200 Fit Pro are well-suited for workouts but are also packed with the best features from Apple's new AirPods for all-day use.
Thanks to Apple's H1 chip, the Beats Fit Pro offers hands-free access to Siri, one-touch pairing, the latest Find My features in iOS, automatic device switching and audio sharing. Apple's fancy new skin detection sensor that improves the accuracy of automatic pausing is also on board. Beats says H1 also powers the ear tip fit test that's built into the earbuds' settings through iOS. The Beats Fit Pro also have Adaptive EQ like the latest AirPods, a feature that continuously scans and adjusts low- and mid-range frequencies using computational audio and in-ward facing mics. Spatial audio and dynamic head tracking, also key elements of Apple's new earbuds, are available on the Beats Fit Pro as well. This gives you the option of Dolby Atmos in both Apple Music or while you're watching movies and shows.
Beats
The Beats Fit Pro go beyond the new AirPods with active noise cancellation (ANC). The company says its ANC setup "continuously adapts in real time," scanning and adjusting up to 200 times per second to counter any changes "in fit and movement." There's also a transparency mode that allows you to hear what's going on around you when needed. With both ANC and transparency turned off, Adaptive EQ takes over to keep things sounding as good as possible.
Beats says new custom transducer and vent system have helped improve overall audio quality. There's also a new acoustic design that delivers what the company describes as "impressive dynamic range and clarity across the frequency curve." On the outside, on-board controls give you the ability to play music and take calls without reaching for your phone. Beats gives you the option to customize the long press action for on-board volume control if you'd prefer that to easy access to noise control (ANC, transparency and off). During calls, the company says beamforming microphones focus on your voice while internal mics and an accelerometer work to filter out environmental noise. Spatial audio in Group FaceTime won't be available on the Beats Fit Pro at launch, but the feature will come in a future update.
Beats
Beats is promising up to six hours of listening time with ANC or transparency mode active, plus another 21 hours in the charging case. When you turn those off and use the Fit Pro in Adaptive EQ mode you can expect up to seven hours on the buds with 27 more in the case. The case doesn't support wireless charging but it does offer a Fast Fuel feature that gives you an hour of play time in five minutes. While everything iOS users need for the Beats Fit Pro is built into that software, Android users will need to download the Beats app. The app offers one-touch pairing, the fit test, the ability to change listening modes and customization of the long press action.
The Beats Fit Pro are available for pre-order today for $200 from Apple's website and other retailers in the US. Color options include black, white, grey and purple. The earbuds will begin shipping on November 5th with availability in China in early December. Beats says the Fit Pro will be available "in additional regions" next year. New subscribers also get six months of Apple Music with the purchase of Beats Fit Pro.
Read our full review of the Beats Fit Pro right here.
Thanks to some early hints in iOS 15.1, Beats’ latest earbuds are hardly a surprise. Today the company officially debuted its latest model: the $200 Beats Fit Pro. With a similar design to the Studio Buds that arrived earlier this year, this new pair offers active noise cancellation (ANC) alongside almost all of the features from Apple’s third-generation AirPods. That includes hands-free Siri, Adaptive EQ, spatial audio and more. Beats has also added a wing for a more secure fit during workouts and kept the IPX4 rating from the Studio Buds. All of those features, combined with a more attractive design, gives the company an alternative to the Powerbeats Pro in its lineup.
Design
If you’re thinking the Beats Fit Pro look almost exactly like the Beats Studio Buds, you’re not wrong. This new model is a smidge larger and the angle of the tab that holds the on-board controls is slightly different. The overall aesthetic and shape are pretty much identical, though. The biggest design difference is the fit wing, or wingtip as Beats calls it. Unlike a lot of sporty earbuds, this element is very flexible so it can bend to fit a greater range of ear shapes. That also makes it more comfortable. Even though the wing is helping keep the buds in place, you hardly know it’s there.
Like the Studio Buds, the on-board controls for the Beats Fit Pro are on the lowercase ‘b’ logo on the outside of each earbud. They’re still physical buttons you have to press rather than touch controls built for tapping. Controls are mirrored on each side by default, with options for play/pause and answering calls (single press) in addition to skipping tracks (twice for forward, three times for back) and cycling between ANC on and transparency mode (long press). The long press can be reconfigured for volume control, allowing you to turn it up on one side and down on the other. If you do this, you lose the ability to access noise cancellation or ambient sound mode. Bummer.
Beats says it strategically positioned the button for the on-board controls at the bottom of the hump on each earbud “to avoid accidental presses.” Just like I encountered on the Studio Buds, I frequently activated the controls when trying to adjust the fit of the earbuds. With the wingtip I had to do this less often than the previous model, but it was still annoying to want to secure the buds in my ear only to errantly pause the audio or change the noise control mode. And due to the positioning of the microphones, any fit adjustment usually meant touching the external mics and creating extra noise.
Apple’s new wear detection sensor sits around back. Like the tech on the new AirPods, the Beats Fit Pro have an optical sensor outfitted with wavelength LEDs that can determine if an object is skin in addition to proximity. Both Apple and Beats explain that this makes the automatic pausing more accurate, avoiding accidental activation when you don’t actually have them in your ear. Of course, this also helps save battery life when you’re less likely to erroneously turn them on.
Software and features
Billy Steele/Engadget
Thanks to Apple’s H1 chip, the Beats Fit Pro have a lot of the same features as the new AirPods. Those include one-touch pairing, where even the first time you open the case, all you have to do is tap a pop-up on your iPhone and the earbuds are connected. Messing with a Bluetooth menu and putting a device in pairing mode are both relics of a bygone era. H1 also powers hands-free Siri and Apple’s enhanced Find My features. Lastly, you get Audio Sharing too, so you can listen to music or watch a movie with someone who has a set of earbuds or headphones made by Apple or Beats.
In terms of software, everything you need for Beats Fit Pro is built into iOS 15 for iPhone users. From Control Center, you can easily access noise control and spatial audio settings with a long press on the volume slider. You can reassign the press-and-hold on-board control from the ‘i’ icon next to the device name in the Bluetooth menu. An ear tip fit test resides there too, just like it does for the AirPods Pro, and you can disable automatic ear detection as well. Noise and spatial audio controls are located on this menu too if you’d prefer to access them here. On Android devices, Beats has a dedicated app that handles fast pairing and includes the ear tip fit test, control customization and battery status features available on iOS.
Sound quality
Billy Steele/Engadget
Beats says it completely redesigned its proprietary transducer for the Fit Pro, creating “an entirely custom acoustic architecture” and promising balanced and powerful sound. That last bit is immediately apparent the first time you fire up these earbuds. There’s much more low-end tone on this model than what the Studio Buds offer. The punchier bass establishes more depth as well, so there’s more room for vocals, instruments and other elements to come through without sounding compressed or boring.
Indeed, guitars ring out in the chaotic metal of Every Time I Die, with bombastic drums booming underneath. The bass is ample and never overpowers, even with genres where things can get out of hand quickly when the tuning is the slightest bit off. There’s a clarity on the Fit Pro that’s well suited for genres like blues, bluegrass, ambient, electronic and more. Across all of those genres, the crisp details highlight Beats’ full range of tones. Bass, fiddle, guitar and mandolin all stand on their own for acts like Nickel Creek, giving space for each to shine. There’s no doubt the sound profile here is an improvement over the Studio Buds, but it’s not on the level of pricer sets like the MW08, Momentum True Wireless 2 or WF-1000XM4.
Thanks to the H1 chip, Beats Fit Pro work with Apple’s spatial audio. This gives you the ability to listen to Dolby Atmos Music content in Apple Music — with or without dynamic head tracking enabled. Spatial audio is also available for these earbuds on Apple TV or movies and TV shows streamed iPhone or iPad. Like the latest AirPods, the Fit Pro are equipped with Apple’s Adaptive EQ. This feature is active when you disable both ANC and transparency mode, continuously monitoring sound with internal microphones and adjusting the low- and mid-range frequencies to keep the audio quality consistent. The feature also takes into account the shape of your ear when making its tweaks.
As I’ve already mentioned, the Beats Fit Pro have active noise cancellation on board. It’s another feature powered by Apple’s H1 chip and it, too, adapts to both ambient noise and how the earbuds fit in your ears. Like previous Beats headphones, this tech continuously monitors and automatically adjusts based on the environmental clamor. Beats says the system is powered by an algorithm that can adapt the signal 200 times per second. That looks nice on paper, but at the end of the day, all you need to know is the ANC system on the Fit Pro does a solid job of blocking distractions when you need it to. It’s not as powerful as Bose or Sony, but it counters distractions well enough to come in handy.
As is typically the case with noise-cancelling earbuds these days, the Fit Pro also offer a transparency mode for tuning into your surroundings. There’s no denying this tool is helpful in certain scenarios when you need to pay some attention to what’s going on around you. However, like the Studio Buds, these don’t feed your voice back into the earbuds when you talk, so you have to speak up to hear yourself. Still, transparency mode will help you keep an ear out for your name at a coffee shop.
Call quality
Billy Steele/Engadget
For calls, Beats equipped the Fit Pro with six microphones: three on each side. External beamforming mics focus on your voice while the internal units for ANC, transparency mode and Adaptive EQ pull double duty to help improve calls. The company says the feed-forward microphones are recessed to avoid wind issues and a voice accelerometer counters external noise with the help of “an advanced algorithm.”
All earbud companies make some version of this pitch with a mix of mics, algorithms and strategic placement. Mileage varies greatly with these promises and more often than not they don’t hold up. With the Fit Pro, your voice sounds better than speakerphone, but it comes across muffled on the other end. The person you’re speaking to will also get ample background noise if it’s loud enough. At the end of the day, these will work fine if you’re in a decently quiet space, but don’t expect them to block out a noisy office when you have a phone or video call.
When they first arrive, the Beats Fit Pro won’t support Apple’s new Group FaceTime spatial audio. The feature employs immersive sound so that participants sound like they’re speaking from the location they are on your screen. Apple says this makes FaceTime calls more natural, and it does to a degree. It definitely enhances the experience of a meeting or group chat, but it’s still far from real life. Beats says it plans to add this feature to the Fit Pro as part of a future software update.
Battery life
Beats is promising up to six hours of use on the earbuds with ANC or transparency mode active. When you factor in the additional 21 hours in the case, that’s 27 hours of listening time with the most attractive features turned on. If you opt to skip those and go with Adaptive EQ mode, you can expect an extra hour on the Beats Fit Pro and three more in the case for a total of 30. As always, the company has included its Fast Fuel feature that offers an hour of noise-cancelling playback with a five-minute charge.
Battery life claims are rarely an issue with Beats gear and that holds true here. Using a mix of active noise cancellation and transparency mode throughout the day, I managed nearly seven hours before completely depleting the power. I missed it by about 10 minutes. That’s enough to get you through a full day at the office, and if you can dock the buds at some point, you’ll have no trouble wearing them during your commute either. All of these figures are on par with the new AirPods, but Apple’s latest don’t have ANC. Our current top pick for best earbuds, Sony’s WF-1000XM4, lasted seven and a half hours during my tests with noise cancellation active.
The competition
Billy Steele/Engadget
Beats has a more affordable alternative to the Fit Pro in its lineup. The Studio Buds will save you $50, but you’ll have to make some sacrifices. First, and perhaps most importantly, the sound quality isn’t nearly as good. It lacks the punchy bass and overall depth the Fit Pro exhibits. The Studio Buds don’t have Apple’s H1 chip, but you still get quick pairing and hands-free Siri in addition to the ability to listen to Dolby Atmos tunes in Apple Music. What you won’t find is Adaptive EQ or the new skin-activated wear detection sensor.
The absolute best true wireless earbuds you can buy right now are still the Sony WF-1000XM4. As feature-packed as the Fit Pro are, the handy features are most useful for iOS. Sony goes beyond ANC to include automatic pausing when you speak and quick attention mode for short conversations. You can also fully automate your noise-cancelling or transparency levels on the WF-1000XM4 based on your activity or location. Of course, that’s if you’re willing to trade some privacy for convenience.
Wrap-up
If you’re looking for the best of what AirPods has to offer in earbuds that don’t have the polarizing stick apparatus, the Beats Fit Pro should do the trick. They offer a nice blend of features, sound and noise-cancelling performance for the price. Sure, there are better options but they also cost significantly more, especially if you’re looking for the absolute best audio quality. For now, Beats is giving the masses an AirPods alternative that’s actually still packed with Apple tech. And that’s an interesting proposition for iPhone owners.
Your iPhone might have a new capability as soon as next year: detecting a car accident and automatically dialing 911. Apple plans to unveil a feature called "crash detection" for both iPhones and Watches, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The feature would supposedly use sensors like the accelerometer built into Apple devices.
Apple has reportedly been working on the feature for several years and testing it using real world data. According to documents seen by the WSJ, Apple has been collecting data shared anonymously from iPhone and Watch users. It has detected more than 10 million suspected vehicle impacts, with more than 50,000 of those accompanied by a call to 911. Apple has been using that data to improve the accuracy of its crash-detection algorithm, since a 911 emergency call is pretty solid confirmation of a serious crash.
It's certainly not first to the gate with this. Google introduced a similar feature for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 via its Personal Safety app that can detect when you've been in a car crash and alert emergency services. GM has been offering it for years in its cars with OnStar, and recently introduced crash detection to smartphones via the OnStar Guardian app. OnStar's in-vehicle service reportedly responds to over 6,000 crash notifications a month, as the WSJ noted.
Apple introduced fall-detection to the Apple Watch 4 series, and it can automatically call emergency services and contact your loved ones if you don't respond to a prompt in a certain amount of time. The crash-detection feature is supposed to come out for iPhone and Apple Watches in 2022, provided everything goes to plan.
If you’re thinking of getting a laptop or tablet as a gift, you’ve got a wealth of options. Thanks to the latest round of hardware from Intel, Apple, AMD and NVIDIA, all of our portable devices have gotten steadily faster and more efficient. Even the cheapest iPad can be a decent productivity machine, while gaming laptops now have almost all of the power of their desktop siblings. And with the arrival of Windows 11, it's a perfect time to give someone a nifty PC upgrade, especially since very old computers won’t be able to step up.
Dell XPS 13
Dell
Not to sound like a broken record, but the XPS 13 is still the best Windows ultraportable you can buy. The design hasn't changed much, but that's not a huge problem: It's still incredibly light and features extraordinarily thin screen bezels. And now you can also take advantage of Intel's latest 11th-generation processors. The XPS 13 can also be configured with an OLED screen, an ideal gift for someone who could use a bright and color accurate display. And if you’ve got someone in mind who could use even more power, the new XPS 15 has the same sleek design, but it has more room for a bigger display and better hardware.
Apple's MacBook Air hasn't been upgraded since last year's miraculous model — which gave it the winning combination of Apple's M1 processor, a fan-less design, and incredible battery life — but it's still one of the best laptops on the market. It's powerful enough to handle most productivity tasks and a few games, and whoever’s lucky enough to get it won’t have to worry about any fans spinning up, since it’s completely passively cooled. You can also find the M1-equipped MacBook Air on sale occasionally, making it one of the smarter gift purchases this season.
Kudos to Apple for continually improving its entry-level iPad. Once again, it's one of the best tablet gift options on the market. It's faster than ever, thanks to Apple's A13 Bionic processor, and it includes more storage. The $329 model now comes with 64GB, or you could bump up to 256GB for $479. That's more than enough space to save every episode of Bluey and several seasons of Sesame Street to survive long car trips. Sure, the design hasn't changed much since last year, but that doesn't matter much — it’s still a more than capable tablet.
Amazon's Fire tablets are basically just video-first Android slates, but they also prove you don’t have to pay a ton to buy a useful tablet for someone. This year, the Fire HD 10 is a bit faster, has 50 percent more memory and features a slightly brighter screen. And, as a bonus, there's a Bluetooth keyboard accessory that can turn it into a cheap productivity tablet. But its core selling point is the same as always: it can tackle most tablet tasks easily, and it won’t cost too much. (There are also kid-centric Fire tablets worth considering, which come with a more durable case and two years worth of free replacements.)
You can take all of the praise we've given Razer's Blade 15 over the years and apply it to the latest model. Razer's flagship gaming notebook still has a sleek unibody aluminum case, and it packs in the latest CPUs and GPUs, including NVIDIA's top-end RTX 3080. And thanks to improved screen choices, you can also gift models with fast 1,440p displays, which are sharper than 1080p screens, and easier to run natively than 4K displays. If portability is a greater concern, take a look at the new Razer Blade 14, a sub-four-pound notebook sporting AMD's latest processors.
If the gamer in your life wants something more flashy and a bit lighter than the Razer Blade, consider the Zephyrus G15. With the combined power of AMD's latest processors and NVIDIA's latest graphics cards, it'll handle practically any game thrown at it. And if you're on a budget, you can find lower-end models cheaper than the equivalent Razer's. Mostly, though, we love this laptop because it has pretty much everything we'd want in a mobile gaming rig — that includes an excellent keyboard, a speedy 165Hz 1440p screen and excellent battery life. The only downside is that there's no webcam, but any aspiring streamer would rather have a separate external camera anyway.
The best Chromebooks are cheap, sturdy and powerful enough to handle basic school and office work. Acer's Chromebook 512 is one of the best current options, especially if you're looking for something for a child. It has a spill resistant keyboard, a sturdy impact-resistant case, and anchored keys that are harder for kids to pull off. Its Intel Celeron N4000 chip isn't the fastest, but it's enough to work on Google Docs, Sheets and Presentations without breaking too much of a sweat.
Sometimes it seems like there are just too many PC ultraportables to choose from, but Microsoft's Surface Laptop line are always a solid option. They feature some of the best keyboards on the market, excellent displays and support for all of Microsoft's notebook accessories, like the Surface Stylus. But mostly, we appreciate them for their design simplicity. They're sturdy, attractive and built for productivity. The latest 15-inch model also packs in speedy AMD processors that are powerful enough to play a few rounds of Overwatch.
