Sennheiser has developed an approach to spatial audio that doesn’t require a surround sound system. The tech, called Ambeo 2-Channel Spatial Audio, will work on standard stereo speakers, Sennheiser says. The company says Ambeo will deliver “an improved audio experience wherever stereo is delivered today, be it standard TV sets, stereo systems, headphones, tablets or laptops.”
A number of Sennheiser’s partners have worked with the company to fine-tune Ambeo. One of those is Netflix, which is the first streaming service to employ the tech. The first title that used Ambeo is season four of Stranger Things. Others include Red Notice, The Witcher and the upcoming live-action Resident Evil series.
As long as your device's audio output is set to stereo audio, you won't have to adjust any settings to try Ambeo. Netflix is making it the default setting for two-channel setups for certain titles (you can find those by searching for "spatial audio" on Netflix).
Ambeo renders the full immersive audio mix into two channels. It uses existing industry standard file types and it doesn't need a separate mix. Sennheiser says the renderer offers granular control over spatialization.
“What sets Sennheiser apart from other solutions is that the Ambeo rendering respects the original mix, tonal balance and dialog integrity, which is exactly what the re-recording mixer is looking for,” Dr Renato Pellegrini of the Ambeo team said in a statement. “The processing is in line with Sennheiser’s reputation to deliver tools that are ‘transparent’ and do not interfere with the original sound. In a nutshell: Sennheiser 2-Channel Spatial Audio seeks to translate mixer intent, not to overpower it.”
If Ambeo works as well as promised, this could be a solid solution for folks who don’t have sufficient equipment to take advantage of Dolby Atmos and other spatial audio tech.
Whenever I'm away from my desk and dual monitors, it feels like an out-of-body experience. I’m constantly yearning for just a little more screen space. But when you're traveling, what are you supposed to do? Sure, you can get a portable monitor, but that's kind of bulky and largely redundant when you're at home. Instead, consider the ROG Zephyrous Duo 16, because after a couple generations of refinement, it feels like Asus is starting to hit its stride with its funky dual-screened clamshells.
You get a big 16-inch main display with high refresh rates, top-notch gaming components and a 14-inch secondary screen for all your multitasking needs. And while I certainly wouldn't call it petite, the Zephyrus Duo 16 isn't that much bigger than a traditional 16-inch thin and light, despite packing desktop-level performance. Really, the main factor preventing it from being a great mobile gaming battle station is its price. That’s Because With a starting price of $2,500 (or closer to $4,000 for our loaded review unit), the Duo 16 definitely ain't cheap.
Design
As part of ASUS' ROG family of gaming notebooks, the Duo 16 has aggressive styling, though most of the fireworks are only visible once you open the lid. ASUS’ dual-panel setup is a bold move at reducing anxiety caused by limited screen real estate. However, it does come with some drawbacks. Because the ScreenPad Plus dominates the upper half of the laptop's deck, ASUS had to shove the touchpad in the bottom right corner. And measuring barely more than two inches wide, things can definitely feel cramped. Then you factor in half-sized arrow keys, shortcuts and media controls, and there's a lot going in not a lot of space.
That said, Asus does its best to make the most of those areas, with the touchpad pulling double duty as a number pad. All you have to do is tap the shadowy icon in the top left for a second, and voila.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Still, there's no hiding the Duo 16's somewhat bulky chassis, which weighs over 5.5 pounds and measures 0.8-inches thick. These dimensions are right on the edge of being able to fit into a typical laptop sleeve, so anyone planning on buying a Duo 16 will want to make sure their bag of choice has plenty of room.
On the bright side, Asus has plenty of room for a healthy amount of ports, including two USB-A, two USB-C, HDMI 2.1, a microSD card reader and even a full-size Ethernet jack. My only complaint is that because of the ScreenPad's complicated hinge, the location of the proprietary power plug on its left side can be a bit awkward. I really wish they had found room for that somewhere around back.
Display(s)
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
OK, let's move on to the Duo 16's displays, which provide a really compelling one-two punch. The main 16-inch display features a speedy three-millisecond response time. On higher-end models like our $4,000 review unit, you even get a mini LED panel that puts out an impressive 700 nits of brightness. And that's coming from a screen with a matte finish, which typically lowers light output a touch. Meanwhile, thanks to a color gamut that Asus claims covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 spectrum, the Duo 16's primary display is just as good at pumping out vivid colors in games as it is replicating accurate ones in Photoshop.
However, the laptop's real party trick is its 14-inch ScreenPad Plus, which supports touch and offers a 1950 x 550 resolution on the base model, or 3840 x 1100 pixels on upgraded configs. Our review unit's ScreenPad registered 300 nits on our lightmeter, which isn't nearly as bright as the main screen, but it’s good enough.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
To get the most use out of its secondary display, ASUS packed the ScreenPad Plus with a ton of nifty features including shortcuts to performance and lighting settings, customizable window layouts, and the ability to mirror your phone's screen, though that last one can be a little janky. Heck, there's even a secondary numpad tool, in case the one built into the touchpad isn't enough. And on the Duo 16, Asus upgraded the ScreenPad’s hinge so that it rests at a steeper angle when open, which improves both ergonomics and cooling.
Now all that’s nice, but for me, the best use of the ScreenPad Plus is simply providing extra room for social media, streaming video services, or anything else you want to keep in sight, while keeping my most important apps up top. When I'm gaming, the main screen is where the action is at, while having Discord and YouTube open down below are great for chatting with friends and staying entertained during loading screens. And if I'm working, the ScreenPad is perfect for stuff like Slack that doesn’t require constant attention.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Also, because the ScreenPad Plus is configured in Windows as a generic display, that means you can use keyboard shortcuts to quickly move apps from your main display to the secondary screen or snap them to the side as needed. Is it as good as having a full second monitor? No, but it's enough to make things a lot more comfortable.
Webcam and sound
The Duo 16 makes it easy to log in using facial recognition with its 720 webcam and Windows Hello support. Unfortunately, image quality is mediocre at best, and as I've said before, 1080p should be the baseline for all modern laptops — especially one this expensive.
Thankfully, the Duo 16 boasts a powerful six-speaker setup with support for Dolby Atmos, so you get a performance mode in games that focuses on delivering accurate directional sound, along with a bunch of intelligent and preset EQs for movies and music. You even have the ability to create custom audio profiles, though, I wish the Duo 16 offered just a bit more low-end thump.
Performance
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
While a base Duo 16 only comes with an NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, our fully-loaded review unit features an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX chip and an RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, not to mention 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. So it probably won't be a surprise when I tell you this thing is basically the fastest laptop we've tested this year. It notched top scores in Geekbench 5's compute test, 3DMark's TimeSpy Extreme and more.
Naturally, the Duo 16's gaming performance is also rather strong, hitting 145 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider on highest settings and 85 fps in Metro Exodus on high. And that was with both games running at 2560 x 1600. So really, the only limiting factor regarding performance is how much you're willing to shell out for high-end components.
Laptop
PCMark 10
Geekbench 5 Compute
3DMark Timespy Extreme
ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
7,199
140,278
5,990
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
7,085
132,272
4,798
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE
6,779
125,001
4,887
Alienware x14
7,073
85,504
3,362
I also want to mention that while the Duo 16 normally keeps its thermals and fan noise in check, under full load, things can get a bit raucous. At full blast, you might hear a high-pitched whine coming from the vents that can get a little annoying. But you can always adjust that by going into ASUS' Armoury Crate app. There's even a custom fan curve setting if you want to dial things in manually. Alternatively, you could just put on some headphones and make the fan noise someone else's problem, not that I've ever done that.
Battery Life
Laptop
Battery life
ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
3:45
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
5:42
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE
5:25
The obvious downside to having a laptop this big and powerful is weak battery life. With both the main display and the ScreenPad enabled, the Duo 16 lasted just three hours and 45 minutes on our local video rundown test. That's an hour and a half less than the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE and the Razer Blade 15, which themselves aren't exactly shining examples of longevity. So you better make sure you save room for the Duo 16's two-pound power brick in your bag too.
Wrap up
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Look, with a base price of $2,500 that quickly climbs above $3K when well equipped, it's going to be tough to fit the ROG Duo 16 in most people's budget. On top of that, it's big, heavy and short on battery life. But for the kind of people who constantly find themselves seeking more screen space — especially when out and about — Asus' innovative setup gives you more usable display area in less space than practically any other laptop maker. And while its keyboard and touchpad are cramped, combining big performance with a truly unique design feels like we're seeing an evolution of the desktop replacement notebook happen in front of our eyes. That means this thing will be a rather niche device, but if you're looking for something to cure your dual-screen FOMO, Asus's ROG Duo 16 does it better than anything else on the market.
Apple’s long-rumored extreme sports Series 8 Watch could ship with the company’s largest smartwatch display to date. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the forthcoming wearable features a screen that measures almost 2 inches diagonally and has a 410 by 502 resolution. Compared to the display on the 45mm Series 7, the largest smartwatch Apple sells at the moment, the new model would offer about seven percent more screen real estate. Gurman says the company could use the extra space to show additional fitness metrics or more information on watch faces at one time.
Corroborating Bloomberg’s reporting is a recent tweet from display analyst Ross Young who said the Series 8 lineup would include a model with a 1.99-inch display. Outside of a larger screen, Gurman says the new variant will feature a more shatter-resistant screen, a higher capacity battery and a studier case made from metal more robust than aluminum. It will also include the fever detection feature he previously reported was coming to the entire Series 8 family, as well as better tracking capabilities for activities like hiking and swimming. What it won’t include is a faster processor: Apple’s upcoming S8 chipset reportedly features the same capabilities as its S7 and S6 predecessors.
If Apple follows its usual release cadence, the tech giant will likely announce the wearable at its iPhone event in the fall. Gurman previously said the company was working on a “deluge” of products it plans to announce over the next year, including a successor to the original HomePod.
Apple has announced Lockdown Mode, an "extreme" level of security designed for a "very small number of users who face grave, targeted threats." It will be available this fall when the company rolls out iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura.
The company says it created Lockdown Mode to help protect high-profile people who, because of their status or job, might be personally targeted by malware developed by the likes of NSO Group, which is behind Pegasus, or other state-backed groups. Switching on Lockdown Mode will severely restrict the functions of an iPhone, iPad or Mac to limit possible entry points for spyware.
In Messages, for instance, most attachments other than images will be blocked. The same goes for link previews. Lockdown Mode will prohibit incoming FaceTime calls and other invites, unless it's from a person you've previously called or shared an invite with. Wired iPhone connections with computers and accessories will be disabled when the device is locked.
Apple will also block some web technologies, such as just-in-time JavaScript compilation, unless you manually approve a site. It will also not be possible to install a configuration profile or add a device to mobile device management when Lockdown Mode is enabled. A screenshot notes that "some experiences" will be unavailable entirely.
Apple
The company says all these protections will be available when Lockdown Mode launches. It plans to add more over time. Apple will also expand its Security Bounty program. Researchers who find weaknesses in Lockdown Mode and help Apple make it more secure will be eligible for rewards of up to $2 million.
“Apple makes the most secure mobile devices on the market. Lockdown Mode is a groundbreaking capability that reflects our unwavering commitment to protecting users from even the rarest, most sophisticated attacks,” Ivan Krstić, Apple’s head of security engineering and architecture, said. “While the vast majority of users will never be the victims of highly targeted cyberattacks, we will work tirelessly to protect the small number of users who are. That includes continuing to design defenses specifically for these users, as well as supporting researchers and organizations around the world doing critically important work in exposing mercenary companies that create these digital attacks.”
Apple sued NSO Group last year to "hold it accountable" for states that target and spy on its users. The company says it's donating $10 million, as well as any damages it receives as a result of the suit, to organizations that "investigate, expose, and prevent highly targeted cyberattacks." Grants will be made through the Ford Foundation's Dignity and Justice Fund.
After it spun out from Huawei, Honor wanted to make a splash with its first flagship, the Magic3 Pro. One of the biggest features the company boasted about was the camera, saying it was good enough to shoot a proper movie with. Armed with one, we’d all be turned into miniature Tom Cruises, shooting TikToks as if they were destined for the multiplex. Unfortunately, the phone never left its native China, but Honor is using the same pitch for its successor, the Magic4 Pro, which has arrived in Europe.
Certainly, Honor distinguished itself with the spec list, which reads like the company threw the kitchen sink, then the kitchen, then the dining room at the handset. The Pro model has a 50-megapixel primary camera paired with a second 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 122 degree field of view. On top of that, there’s a 64-megapixel telephoto with 100x digital zoom and an 8x8 Direct Time of Flight sensor, giving it whip-fast focusing.
The “IMAX-enhanced” phone’s cinematic credentials go further: Honor enlisted the help of a professional colorist to devise specific hue palettes for video. Bryan McMahan created a series of Look Up Tables (LUTs) for the phone which act like an Instagram filter for your video. These range from a Sunny mode that makes your footage look like it was shot at the height of summer, and a Gloomy mode which makes everything look like it’s been through a bleach-pass. One of my favorites was Focus, which dials down all the colors except for skin tone, at least for my caucasian limbs, making everything look like an ‘80s music video.
But the phone’s real point of interest is its claimed ability to shoot in Log, which is the standard that most Hollywood movies are shot in. Now, technically, it’s a custom format – MagicLog – which Honor designed to work with mobile devices, but the point remains the same. Log is short for Logarithmic, and it’s a way of filming something that preserves as much of the dynamic range and tone as possible. It’ll preserve scenes in high contrast, as well as shadows, highlights and whites that a conventional digital camera might try to smooth out or just straight-up fail to capture properly.
Unfortunately, it has not been plain sailing by any stretch of the imagination – some of the takes I shot for my piece to camera were plagued by strobing. Which was odd, since my LED bulbs shouldn’t be strobing, and the camera only seems to pick up on it every now and again. The sound, too, leaves a lot to be desired and I had to record all of my audio on an external microphone. (Yes, this is common for most professional cameras, but the point here is that people are going to be using this as the camera for their vacation videos, right?)
Being able to shoot Log means you could also hand over your footage to a colorist and get perfect footage. In theory. The first test shots I took were very flat, and it was hard to pull out a lot of the detail and dynamic range that should be there. Now, I’m not a professional colorist but my colleague, Engadget’s Steve Dent is, so I sent him the phone, and all of my footage, for him to run his trained eye all over.
He said that there was a significant amount of clipping, which means that there’s a lot of detail in the footage that can’t be accessed. This is likely a consequence of compression since MagicLog is designed to be mobile-friendly, after all. But it means that my clips couldn’t, after treatment, get the good pops of color that we were hoping to tease out. Not to mention that Honor doesn’t appear to offer a standalone LUT for editing software, which meant that Steve couldn’t simply run it through the standard model (which is table stakes for other pro cameras).
Shooting with the Magic4 Pro is also, in Steve’s words, difficult for a couple of other fairly big reasons. First, because it clips highlights, you have to expose for them and not the shadows, which means that there’s some guesswork involved. Then there’s no easy way to tell if you’re shooting safe footage as there’s no built-in Display LUT to give you an idea of what’s coming. There’s also no video level display, so shooting in MagicLog involves a lot of hitting and hoping.
Now, that’s not to say that the Magic4 Pro is terrible, awful and a general waste of your money – because it isn’t. Shooting in the standard mode is easy enough and the results were good enough for me to use as a pro-quality video for Engadget. But fundamentally it feels like until Honor really finishes building out the Log offering, with a display LUT, video level display and making it easier for non-pros to color-correct afterward, this isn’t something novices should be playing with and expecting good results.
With early Prime Day deals in full swing, Amazon has discounted one of its more niche devices for Prime members. The Glow, Amazon's interactive video-call and projector device, is down to $150 ahead of Prime Day, which is 55 percent off its normal price. That's also the best price we've seen on the gadget since it became widely available in the US earlier this year.
The unique device combines an 8-inch LCD display with a projector that creates a 19-inch touch-sensitive surface in front of it. This allows kids to play games using the projected touch screen while video chatting with parents or other loved ones, who can also see the play surface and what the kids are doing. Adults can also join in on the games via their own smartphones or tablets. The Glow comes with one year of Amazon Kids+, too, which includes a bunch of compatible games for the device.
While admittedly a niche device, the Glow could be a good solution for parents who don't mind their kids playing digital games but would prefer something more interactive than what a standard tablet could offer. Kids can interact with things like digital storybooks with animations, card games, puzzles and more, and create digital art as well. The Glow also works with Tangram Bits, which are physical pieces that kids can use to solve digital puzzles projected in front of them by the device.
The Glow is likely a bit of a hard sell at its normal price of $330, but Prime members may find it more enticing while on sale like this. At $150, it's currently cheaper than picking up a Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet, but that could change if you're willing to wait until Prime Day proper, when it's likely that most of Amazon's kid-centric tablets will be discounted, too.
In a nutshell, ASUS’ new powerful gaming phone is all about bigger specs and faster performance. It has a 165Hz 6.78-inch display, with 720Hz touch sampling rate, up to 18GB of RAM and a bigger 6,000mAh battery.
Engadget
The most notable change is the revamped clip-on cooler that's arriving alongside the ROG Phone 6. You can toggle between four cooling settings in the updated Armoury Crate app's console, with a "Frozen" mode that pushes its Peltier chip to the max. This is only available when there's external power plugged into the device but ASUS claims the AeroActive Cooler 6 can lower the ROG Phone 6's surface temperature by up to a staggering 25 degrees Celsius (that’s 77 Fahrenheit), which sounds more like a portable air cooler than a smartphone accessory. As far as availability goes, ASUS says the ROG Phone 6 series will start from €999 (around $1,000) in Europe. US availability remains TBC.
Well, that’s taken a turn. Just yesterday we reported on NASA’s latest steps towards getting a human back on the Moon, but the agency has lost contact with CAPSTONE, a tiny satellite that left Earth's orbit on July 4th. The small satellite stopped communicating with engineers shortly after deploying from an Electron rocket bus and exiting Earth's orbit. Handlers are attempting to re-establish contact with the cubesat.
The Digital Markets and Services Acts are designed to level the playing field.
The European Union has passed a pair of landmark bills designed to rein in Big Tech’s power. The Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act are intended to promote fairer competition, improve privacy protection, as well as banning many forms of targeted advertising. The EU has given both bills plenty of teeth, and can dole out a maximum penalty of 10 percent of its total worldwide turnover from the previous year, should regulators find non-compliance. This figure will, however, jump to 20 percent of worldwide turnover if officials find “repeated non-compliance.”
The company also filed a complaint against a scraping-for-hire firm.
On Tuesday, Meta filed separate federal lawsuits against a company called Octopus and an individual named Ekrem Ateş. According to Meta, the former is the US subsidiary of a Chinese multinational tech firm that offers data scraping-for-hire services to individuals and companies.
Octopus also sells software that allows people to carry out their own data collection campaigns. According to Meta, this program first compromises the Facebook and Instagram accounts of the user by providing their authentication information to Octopus before proceeding to scrape all the data accessible to that individual’s accounts.
Back in June, Ubisoft confirmed it would share information about the future of Assassin's Creed during a special event in September, and this appears to be that. The company is currently working on two Assassin's Creed projects: one is a live multiplayer experience spanning multiple time periods code-named Infinity, and the other is a standalone series installment code-named Rift.
Amazon has been busy dropping prices on its own products ahead of Prime Day and several other manufacturers are getting in on the action too. One of them is audio brand Jabra. Its Elite 7 Pro noise-canceling earbuds have dropped to $140 on Amazon. That's 30 percent off the regular price of $200. It's also the lowest price we've seen to date for the titanium black model.
Jabra announced the true wireless earbuds last August. They were pegged as a successor to the Elite 85t (which were previously the brand's smallest earbuds), with a smaller, retooled design. The company says the earbuds use bone conduction in concert with microphones and algorithms to improve voice performance. The idea is that Jabra's algorithms detect when the microphones pick up certain kinds of background audio and activate the bone conduction function when necessary.
The Elite 7 Pro's active noise cancellation (ANC) levels are adjustable. Jabra says you'll get up to nine hours of use on a single charge if ANC is switched on and up to nine hours without that feature. The case (which can be charged wirelessly) can provide another three charges.
In addition, you can configure the on-device controls via Jabra's Sound+ app. Earlier this year, Jabra rolled out support for multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to connect the earbuds to two devices at the same time — a handy feature for those who often take calls during their workday when they're usually listening to their computer's audio.
If you're in the market for a new streaming device, chances are you want to improve your home entertainment experience. Maybe you've been relying on your phone or tablet for binge-watch sessions, or perhaps your TV's built-in operating system just isn't cutting it anymore. Streaming dongles and set-top boxes are ubiquitous at this point, but sussing out the differences between them can be challenging. Plus, they're not the only gadgets that can deliver your latest Netflix obsession to your TV screen. Let us break down all of the streaming device options you have today and give you our picks for the best you can buy.
Who needs a streaming device?
It’s worth pointing out that if you only use a couple of streaming services (say, Netflix and Hulu), you might not need a standalone streaming device. Most modern televisions ship with a basic selection of apps that usually include the most popular streaming services. Some TVs and soundbars run on built-in Roku or Fire TV operating systems, which offer a robust selection of apps without the need for a separate device.
But if your TV is on the older side, adding a streaming stick is obviously much cheaper than shelling out for a new television. Also, a dedicated streaming device typically has access to a lot more streaming services and apps, while content is often presented more intuitively. Some devices also offer better search features, including voice control. Cord cutters in particular will benefit from this sort of streaming hardware, as live TV services like Sling and Hulu Live aren’t always available in basic TV interfaces.
How to pick a streaming device
The most important things to keep in mind when choosing a streaming device are platform, price and what you already have in your home. Currently, the most popular streaming platforms are Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV, Apple TV and Google TV (which is an overlay on top of Android TV). All of them offer a similar selection of streaming services, with the primary differences being the user interface. Roku, for example, has a basic grid layout, while Fire TV and Google TV emphasize personalized recommendations.
The prices for streaming devices typically start at around $30, and can go all the way up to $200 (like the 64GB Apple TV 4K, for example). Sticks or dongles are generally more affordable, while set-top boxes tend to be pricier. The main reason to opt for a box over a dongle is if you need Ethernet connectivity. Some models also have additional features like Ethernet ports and faster wireless connections. (Roku’s set-top boxes, for example, have Dolby Vision, while its sticks don’t.) Another benefit of a set-top box is that they’re faster than older TV processors and are easier to upgrade over time.
There are some feature differences, too. Fire TV uses Alexa for voice commands, for example, while Google TV uses Google Assistant. In fact, when it comes to devices from Amazon, Google and Apple, it’s generally best to pick one that belongs in a previously chosen ecosystem. So if you’re already a committed iTunes user, an Apple TV would make more sense than the Fire TV. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, of course: If you depend more on streaming services than buying or renting shows, the ecosystem question isn’t quite as relevant. We’ll get more into the details of each system later in this guide.
Below are some recommendations for the best streaming sticks and other budget-friendly options. We also included suggestions for set-top boxes and devices geared toward gamers.
Engadget picks
The best streaming stick: Roku Streaming Stick 4K
Will Lipman for Engadget
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K, plus earlier iterations like the Streaming Stick+, has long been an Engadget favorite, and for good reason: It packs a lot of features into a small and affordable package. It has a straightforward user interface along with the widest selection of streaming options. All you need to do to set it up is plug it into your TV’s HDMI input and attach the power cable to your TV’s USB port. After that, you can finish the rest of the installation process via the TV interface and Roku remote.
As mentioned, Roku has a large selection of content. According to the company, you can choose to stream from more than 500,000 movies and TV episodes. Another useful feature is Roku’s universal search, which can find shows across a variety of platforms without prioritizing one over another. In contrast, Amazon’s streaming platform prioritizes search results from its own Prime video service.
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K also supports AirPlay 2, so it’s great for those who want to stream from Macs or iOS devices. Additionally, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K supports 4K, HDR streaming and Dolby Vision.
We especially like Roku’s private-listening feature that lets you listen to shows using headphones, which is useful if you don’t want to disturb other members of your household. You can do this via the Roku app, which is available on both iOS and Android. The app also works as an alternative to the physical remote control. This is especially handy for entering login and password information, which is a lot easier to do with a smartphone keyboard than having to hunt and peck using the remote.
In addition to the remote, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K also responds to voice commands, which you can use to search for your favorite shows, adjust the volume or enable closed captioning.
If you want an upgraded remote, consider upgrading to the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+. It has all the features of the Streaming Stick 4K, except it comes with the rechargeable Roku Voice Remote Pro as well. You can find your lost remote by saying “Hey Roku, where’s my remote?” and it has a built-in 3.5mm headphone jack so you can use the private listening feature without the app. It is almost $20 more than the Streaming Stick 4K, however, so unless you really need that fancy remote, we recommend the Streaming Stick 4K instead.
For years, Google’s Chromecast was a dongle without a remote. It was simply used to stream shows from your phone or laptop to the TV. The new Chromecast with Google TV, however, is completely different. Not only does it now have a dedicated remote control, but it ushers in a brand new menu interface plus Google Assistant smarts. While the Roku might be our overall pick, the Chromecast is best for those who like a more personalized interface and robust voice controls.
The highlight of the new Chromecast is Google TV, which is actually a revamped version of Android TV. The home screen is personalized based on your watching habits. There’s a rotating carousel of trending shows, curated top picks as well as category headers like “Continue watching” and “Trending on Google.” We especially appreciate the “Continue Watching” row as it offers a quick shortcut to catch up on programming you were — you guessed it — already watching.
There are also algorithm-generated recommendations such as “Shows about aliens” or “Shows about murder.” What’s nice is that most of the suggested shows are from services you’re already subscribed to. If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, you’ll appreciate the Live TV tab, which acts as a channel guide for the service. Google has said, however, that the tab should eventually work with other live TV services such as Sling or Hulu Live.
We also like that Google TV gives a lot of information about a specific show or movie, such as the Rotten Tomatoes rating and all of the different ways you can watch it. You can also add it to your watchlist right from the show page, regardless of what streaming service it’s on. Renting or buying the show can only be done from the Google Play Movies & TV store, however.
One of our favorite features of the new Chromecast is Google Assistant integration. You can make general queries, like asking for a five-day weather forecast. Best of all, contextual queries like “Find movies with Bill Murray” and “Show me true crime documentaries” all turn up highly relevant results. You can also control the TV entirely with voice commands, including powering it on and off and adjusting the volume.
The Chromecast with Google TV supports 4K HDR as well as Dolby Vision. However, it doesn’t support AirPlay 2 so it’s not quite as compatible with Macs and iOS devices. It also doesn’t currently carry Apple TV+ or iTunes videos. We should also note that unlike other streaming sticks, the latest Chromecast can’t be powered by a TV’s USB port; you’ll have to use the included 7.5-watt power adapter instead.
The best budget streaming device: Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite
Amazon
If price is of the utmost importance and you don’t need 4K, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick Lite is a decent alternative. At $30, it’s one of the cheapest streaming sticks on the market (it’s also frequently discounted, too). It supports FHD streaming with HDR and, just like its higher-end siblings, comes with an Alexa voice remote.
One of the reasons this is considered “Lite” is that this particular Fire TV Stick can’t control your TV; you still have to use your television remote to power it on and off or to adjust its volume. That’s not that big a deal, especially if it helps save you a few bucks. In comparison, the standard Fire TV Stick typically retails for $40, while the Fire TV Stick 4K costs $50.
Amazon’s Fire TV supports nearly all of the popular streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, YouTube TV and Hulu, among others. The Live page features Twitch out of the box. While you can’t use Alexa to control the TV, the Fire TV Stick Lite does let you use Alexa to search for shows and ask general questions like the weather forecast or the latest scores for your favorite sports team.
Despite its low price, the Fire TV Stick Lite is a decent streaming dongle. It comes with the updated Fire TV interface that adds features such as user profiles, a new main menu navigation bar with show recommendations, plus a scrolling list of your favorite streaming apps.
The layout isn’t quite as intuitive as Google TV’s and is more complicated than Roku’s, but it’s still easy enough to figure out. That said, the interface tends to prioritize Amazon Prime Video content, and there are a lot more ads than on other streaming platforms. It’s not the best streaming device out there, but it’s a good, inexpensive choice if you want to update an older TV set while spending as little as possible.
For a little more money, you could also upgrade to either the Fire TV Stick 4K or the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Both feature 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, but the Max has WiFi 6 support and a faster processor.
The Roku Express has the same user interface as the Streaming Stick+, but it’s housed in a compact set-top box instead. It doesn’t support 4K or HDR and the remote control lacks a voice command button. But if all you want is a capable HD streaming device, the Express fits the bill. If you insist on having 4K, however, consider the Roku Express 4K+, which retails for $40. It’s very similar to the Express, except it carries support for 4K, HDR and AirPlay, and it comes with a voice remote as well. That could well make it worth the extra money.
The Roku Ultra has the same features of the Streaming Stick+ and then some. There’s a wide selection of content, a simple user interface and support for 4K HDR streaming, AirPlay2 and voice commands. On top of that, the Ultra adds Dolby Vision support along with HDR 10+, USB connections, a microSD slot for external media, and Ethernet connectivity.
Like the Streaming Stick 4K+, the Ultra comes with Roku’s Voice Remote Pro. The remote also features a couple of programmable shortcut keys that you can map to specific commands, like “Launch YouTube” or “Play classical music.” Best of all, the Ultra features a remote finder in case you lose it in between your couch cushions. The Ultra is definitely the most capable Roku device on the market, but you’ll have to pay quite a bit more for it.
For those who want a slightly higher-end option and have a lot of Apple devices, the Apple TV 4K could be worth a splurge. It can stream in 4K HDR and Dolby Vision, plus it supports AirPlay 2 for streaming from Mac and iOS devices. The tvOS platform has an attractive and clean user interface that’s also easy to use. There’s also a “One Home Screen” feature that lets you sync apps and their layout across multiple Apple TVs, and you can use Siri to search for your favorite shows.
As you might expect, the Apple TV is also the only set-top box that works with the entire Apple ecosystem. This means that you can use the Apple TV to buy and rent movies from iTunes, access music and podcasts, play games from Apple Arcade and run apps like Fitness+, Apple’s line of workout classes.
iPhone owners in particular are likely to benefit from owning an Apple TV. You can hold your handset up to the box during setup to transfer all of your settings and enter passwords directly through the Remote app, which is itself easily accessible via iOS’s control center. Plus, if you spring for the new 2021 model, you’ll get the improved Siri remote and new features like high-frame rate playback.
For those who want an all-in-one device that lets you stream movies, run a PLEX media server and play games, consider NVIDIA’s Shield TV Pro. It currently runs Android TV, which is a little outdated at this point, but there’s a possibility that it could be upgraded to Google TV in the future.
Thanks to its capable TegraX1+ processor, the Shield TV Pro can stream in native 4K and it can also upscale 720p and 1080p video to 4K with the company’s AI neural network. It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10, has 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and two USB-C ports. Additionally, there’s a gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI socket and a microSD card slot. Since it runs on Android, you can use it to play most games from the Google Play Store.
The main reason you’d choose the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro over other machines is that it gives you access to NVIDIA’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service. As long as you have a relatively speedy internet connection, you can play top-tier PC games that are streamed online to your Shield TV Pro.
The best gaming console for streaming: Xbox Series X
Engadget
Even though both Sony’s PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X can stream video, it’s the Xbox that we think is the best gaming console for the job. It can play 4K Blu-Rays and supports all of the usual streaming video apps including Apple TV+ and Disney+. However, the PS5 can’t stream Disney+ in 4K or Dolby Atmos, which is disappointing if you ever want to watch The Mandalorian in all its cinematic glory.
Fortunately, that’s not the case with the Xbox Series X. On top of that, the Xbox Series X (and S) also support Dolby Vision for streaming video, which is especially great for people with newer TVs. Of course, the Xbox is also a pretty great gaming machine, and it offers access to Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service that has a large library of titles.
Following the ROG Phone 5 and 5s, ASUS decided to skip Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in favor of the more efficient 8+ Gen 1, which brings us to the new ROG Phone 6 series today — almost a year after the 5s. In a nutshell, this beastly gaming phone is all about its faster 165Hz 6.78-inch display, 720Hz touch sampling rate, up to 18GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, bigger 6,000mAh battery, enlarged internal cooling system and IPX4 splash resistance, in addition to its handy ultrasonic triggers and proven audio performance by Dirac. The most notable change, however, lies within the revamped clip-on cooler, which has now integrated a thermoelectric chip and yet doesn't require external power.
This new AeroActive Cooler 6 is noticeably bulkier than before, partly because of its larger, more ergonomic physical buttons — and there are now four of them instead of just two. It also has a bigger kickstand that flips out from the bottom (though not necessary), and there's a spring-loaded clamp at the top to secure (and activate) the cooler. The new Peltier cooling chip inside — positioned right over the phone's processor when mounted — is sandwiched between the fan and a large piece of copper plate, and there's also a humidity sensor nearby to help avoid condensation.
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You can toggle between four cooling modes in the updated Armoury Crate app's console: "Smart" is basically automatic, "Cool" is fan only, "Frosty" is fan plus Peltier chip, and "Frozen" is pushing the Peltier chip to the max, but this is only available when there's external power plugged into the cooler. ASUS claims that in "Frozen" mode, the AeroActive Cooler 6 can lower the ROG Phone 6's surface temperature by up to a staggering 25 degrees Celsius. The cool air blowing out of the two sides serves as a nice bonus for gamers with sweaty palms (like me).
The company also provided some figures from more realistic scenarios. After a 60-minute session in the notoriously resource-intensive Genshin Impact (at 60Hz), "Frosty" mode lowered the phone's surface temperature from 44.8 degrees Celsius to 37.2, and "Frozen" mode took it down further by one degree. Under the same test environment, the ROG Phone 6 was apparently able to maintain an average frame rate of 59.7 fps while staying cool at 37.2 degrees Celsius in "Frosty" mode, whereas the iPhone 13 Pro Max apparently reached a lower 56.8 fps but higher 46.3 degrees Celsius, and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra allegedly only managed 47.3 fps while reaching 47.9 degrees Celsius. This goes to show how cooling is key to maintaining a stable frame rate over a long period.
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Sadly, the AeroActive Cooler 6 — along with its own bumper case — is an optional accessory for the ROG Phone 6 series, so you'll likely have to pay extra for this handy piece of kit. But there's some good news for existing fans: ASUS plans to release a variant of this attachment for the ROG Phone 5 and 5s as well, and it'll make use of the old pogo pins instead of the USB-C side port. Release date to be announced later.
The ROG Phone 6 series comes in two flavors: the regular ROG Phone 6 and the higher-end ROG Phone 6 Pro, with the main difference being the latter has the small "ROG Vision" PMOLED display on the back for showing off customizable animation graphics, as opposed to just having an RGB-illuminated ROG logo. Internally, the Pro packs up to 18GB of LPDDR5 RAM instead of just 16GB. The trade-off — if you want to call it that — on the Pro is that it only comes in "Storm White," while the regular model also offers a "Phantom Black" version. Save for the different camera module layout, "ROG Vision" positioning and printed graphics, the two ROG Phone 6 variants bear a strong resemblance to their immediate predecessors — to the point where they can share the same glass screen protector and ROG Clip controller.
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The modular Kunai 3 Gamepad — now available in white as well as black — has once again been granted a life extension by way of a bumper designed for the ROG Phone 6. If you already have this controller since the ROG Phone 3 or 5, you'll only need to get the new bumper in order to attach these Joy-Con-like sticks. Or you can just slot them into the same old gamepad grip and use the entire assembly wirelessly via Bluetooth.
The ROG Phone 6 packs an improved (apparently) main camera featuring a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor, along with a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 5-megapixel macro camera. On the other side, there's a 12-megapixel selfie camera with a Sony IMX663 sensor — as seen on the compact Zenfone 8. The main rear camera is capable of shooting videos at up to 8K@24fps, though I'd imagine most people would default to 4K@60fps to get the best of both worlds.
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On the software side, the ROG Phone 6 runs on Android 12 with ROG UI (you can switch to the less flashy Zen UI), with ASUS promising at least two major OS updates and at least two years of security updates. There's the usual Armoury Crate app which is mainly for accessing your game library, as well as the console for customizing your system lighting, the rear "ROG Vision" screen (6 Pro only, of course), the AirTriggers and more. When in a game, you can toggle the redesigned "Game Genie" dashboard by swiping in from any of the two top corners of the screen while in either orientation. Here, you can quickly toggle the screen frame rate, key mapping, screen recording, performance modes, do not disturb, crosshair and more.
The new AirTriggers 6 now lets you map up to 14 specific touch points, and you get a total of nine input methods with these two ultrasonic buttons, including the new "press and lift" — basically toggling one set of actions for pressing down on the trigger, and then toggling another set of actions when lifting from the trigger. That said, casual gamers like myself will likely just use the classic tap (to fire) and maybe slide (to reload). If needed, you can also map motion gestures with touch points in Armoury Crate.
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The ROG Phone 6 series includes a bumper case and a 65W USB-PD charger (which takes just 42 minutes for a full charge). As far as availability goes, ASUS has only shared that the ROG Phone 6 series will start from €999 (around $1,000) for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage configuration in Europe, whereas the ROG Phone 6 Pro will only have one version in Europe: 18GB RAM with 512GB storage for €1,299 (around $1,300). Prices and models will obviously vary across different countries, so stay tuned for further updates.
