For GoPro cameras, battery life has never been a strong feature — in fact, the Hero 9 outlasted the Hero 10 by almost half an hour when we tested out the newer camera. Now, the company has launched a new battery grip, called Volta. Combined with the GoPro's own battery, the Volta grip can deliver up to four hours of 5.3K recording at 30 fps. It also comes with integrated camera buttons to give you access to one-handed controls while the GoPro is mounted. You can even use it as a remote control up to 98 feet away, and if you need a tripod for your shoot, you can flip out its built-in legs. The versatility goes further: You can use it to charge, well, anything from its USB-C port.
If you’re in deep with GoPro’s camera series, this could very well replace half of your existing peripherals. You might also like the new Creator Edition package, which includes two mods that feature a built-in directional microphone, 3.5mm mic-in, HDMI-out ports and LED lighting.
The standalone Volta grip will set you back $130, and it’s available now.
The vulnerability let intruders access your stored videos.
Bitdefender says it informed Wyze of a major security vulnerability in the Wyze Cam v1 in March 2019, but that the device maker didn't inform customers, recall the product or fully patch the problem in the three years since. In fact, Wyze couldn't completely fix the issue — while it did mitigate the problem with patches, the company appeared to discontinue the camera in January as "hardware limitations" prevented a proper update.
The vulnerability let attackers remotely control the camera without having the value normally needed to authenticate. While they couldn't watch live video as it was encrypted, they could steer the camera, switch it off and access videos saved on the SD card.
OnePlus’ latest flagship phone is a stylish device with a powerful processor and the ability to recharge incredibly quickly thanks to 65W (and in some regions 80W) SuperVOOC tech, courtesy of Oppo. However, the OnePlus 10 Pro can’t quite stand up against the best phones out there, with a sometimes middling camera performance. At least it’s cheaper than last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro.
The Human Genome Project 'only' sequenced 92 percent.
If you're thinking "Wait a minute — didn't scientists produce the complete human genome sequence almost two decades ago?" Well, you wouldn't be wrong. The Human Genome Project finished sequencing 92 percent of the human genome back in 2003, but the techniques available at the time left the remaining eight percent out of reach until recent years.
In a series of papers published in Science, the T2T Consortium has reported how it managed to fill in almost all of the missing spots except for five, leaving only 10 million and the Y chromosome only vaguely understood.
Stretch is not quite as exciting or as terrifyingly adorable as the Hyundai-owned company's Spot robotic dog, but it can make loading, unloading and moving boxes in warehouses a lot easier. Boston Dynamics is now accepting reservations for deliveries in 2023 and 2024, because it's already sold out this year due to strong pre-order demand. DHL is one of the early Stretch customers, signing a $15 million deal with Boston Dynamics to equip its warehouses in North America with the robots over the coming years. TechCrunch reports both Gap and H&M will have the robot in their warehouses, as well.
In January, the ESA announced E3 would be an online-only event, citing concerns over "COVID-19 and its potential impact on the safety of exhibitors and attendees." According to a statement yesterday, even that isn’t happening. The ESA said "E3 will return in 2023." The association added it "will devote all our energy and resources to delivering a revitalized physical and digital E3 experience next summer."
Up to five players could share a subscription at a special rate.
Unlike Netflix, Spotify and many other subscription services, the Xbox Game Pass currently has no option for multiple users to share one account. This has been a common frustration among Xbox players over the years, particularly those who live with other Xbox gamers. Game Pass subscriptions are tied to specific Xbox profiles, allowing players to sign-in from anywhere. The family plan will reportedly allow up to five players on a single subscription and should debut later this year. A family plan could give Microsoft an extra edge over Sony’s Playstation, which recently announced its revamped set of subscription plans.
Apple has rolled out updates for its mobile, tablet and desktop operating systems, and they come with a fix for two zero-day vulnerabilities. As Ars Technica notes, the bugs can give bad actors access to the internals of the operating systems if exploited. Apple said in its patch notes that it's aware "of a report that [the issues] may have been actively exploited," but it didn't expound on whether it has detected instances of the bugs being used to gain entry to customers' devices. The tech giant attributes the vulnerabilities' discovery to "an anonymous researcher."
One of the vulnerabilities called CVE-2022-22675 affects all three operating systems and gives hackers a way to execute malicious code with kernel privileges. That means they can get complete access to their target's system and hardware. The other vulnerability, CVE-2022-22674, affects macOS and could lead to the "disclosure of kernel memory" or the the memory used by an operating system. They're the fourth and fifth zero-days Apple has fixed this year so far, which includes one that can be exploited to track sensitive user information.
In addition to fixing the zero-day vulnerability affecting iPhones, iOS 15.4.1 also remedies an issue caused by the update before it. Apparently, iOS 15.4 went out with a bug that could cause an iPhone's battery to drain more quickly than expected. The update fixes an issue that could render Braille devices unresponsive, as well.
Back in 2021, engineer Ken Pillonel did what Apple refuses to do when he made the world’s first iPhone with a working USB-C port. Now, Pillonel has flipped the script with his latest project: the first Android phone with a Lightning connector.
Admittedly, an Android phone with a Lightning port doesn’t have nearly the same sort of cross-over appeal as a USB-C iPhone, but that’s OK. In his initial video, Pillonel says the device was meant to be more of a fun project created to “balance the chaos” unleashed by his previous device, with the release deliberately timed for April Fools’ Day.
However, putting this thing together was no joke, because while the concept might be silly, the Lightning port on the Android phone (in this case a Samsung Galaxy A51) is fully functional for both charging and data transfer. “[This] was a complex modification that required some out-of-the-box thinking,” said Pillonel. And when I got the chance to ask about the project’s biggest challenges, Pillonel told Engadget the hardest part was figuring out how to make everything actually work together.
“The Lightning cables sold by Apple are not ‘dumb,’” he said. “They will only charge Apple devices. So I had to find a way to trick the cable into thinking it was plugged into an Apple device. And the whole thing needs to fit inside the phone, which is another challenge in itself.”
Thankfully, Pillonel has learned a thing or two since his previous project, which helped lay the groundwork for his latest device. “I would say it was easier to do than the first USB-C iPhone for two reasons,” he said. “The first is that I’m getting better at it because I’m learning new things every day, so hopefully I can finish these mods faster and faster. The second reason is that the quality of the finished product is nowhere near what it was for the iPhone.”
And while I would posit that an Android phone with a Lightning port is a definite downgrade in terms of usability compared to a standard USB-C port, that doesn't seem to bother Pillonel. “I don’t expect anyone in their right mind wanting to do this to their device,” he said. “It was for fun, I just wanted to see if I could do it.”
So what’s the next move for this unique gadget? For those looking for more details about what went into the project, Pillonel says he’s working on a full-length explanation video coming soon to his YouTube channel. As for the phone itself, Pillonel says he’ll probably just keep it after running into issues when he put the original USB-C iPhone up for auction on eBay, which ended up garnering fake bids in excess of $100,000.
“I didn’t want to force trying to sell it because that’s not really who I am. I want to focus on my engineering and science projects,” Pillonel said. And while these custom mods might not be everyone’s dream device, they’re a great example of what can be done even without the help of the companies that originally made them.
You no longer have to copy-paste or otherwise contort yourself to share a YouTube clip through Snapchat. As of today, Android and iOS users can share YouTube videos directly through the Snapchat Camera, whether it's to Stories or individual Snaps. You can apply creative layers like text, and automated stickers will take Snapchat viewers directly to a video in either the YouTube app or a web browser.
You just need to tap "share" in the YouTube app and choose Snapchat when it's an option. This is the first time you can visually share YouTube links, Snap said.
This won't be as alluring as sharing vertical videos from common alternatives like TikTok and Instagram. It should save you some hassle if you find a must-see YouTube video, though, and it should be particularly helpful for sharing Shorts that are well-suited to Snapchat's app.
Microsoft realizes it has crammed Your Phone with features as of late, and it's giving the software a rework to help you manage all that content. The company has unveiled a rebranded Windows 11 Your Phone app, now called Phone Link, that includes a redesigned interface. The updated software puts notifications out front to make sure you don't miss an important alert. You'll also have tabbed navigation that should help you better manage apps, calls, messages and photos.
The refresh also brings visuals more in line with Windows 11's look and feel. It will be easier to get started, for that matter. An upcoming Windows 11 update will let you set up Phone Link by scanning a QR code.
The release comes alongside a renaming of the Android app to Link to Windows (formerly Your Phone Companion) to better illustrate its role. Phone Link won't necessarily eliminate the urge to check your device, but it might prevent the flood of information from becoming overwhelming.
Google Meet video chats should now be more useful if you need to get work done, or just don't want them monopolizing your screen. Google is rolling multiple Workspace updates that include offering Meet video chats directly in Docs, Sheets and Slides. You can start a virtual meeting and carry it over to the document you're working on to help you collaborate without flipping between tabs. You can also present that content if it's ready to go. This should be available in the "coming weeks," Google said.
You will have the freedom to switch tabs if you want, though. Google is also introducing much-needed picture-in-picture support (at middle) to Meet sometime in April. You'll need to use Chrome, but the feature will let you see up to four video tiles in a separate window while you jump between other tabs and apps. This will be helpful if you need to show different tabs during a presentation, but let's be honest — it will also help you keep a video chat running when you can't (or don't want to) devote your full attention.
Google
Other upcoming Meet improvements include in-meeting emoji reactions (due in April) and the option to add your own video tile from the interactive Companion Mode and your laptop camera (arriving later this year). Meet hardware is starting to offer automatic noise cancellation, too. The collaborative Spaces environment, meanwhile, will finally offer inline threading to keep your conversations tidy.
The improvements are acknowledgments that remote and hybrid work are here to stay despite return-to-office plans at many companies. At the same time, they appear to be genuinely helpful features that might encourage you to use Workspace... and, of course, skip rivals like Microsoft Teams.
Instagram is making it a little easier to chat while browsing your feed. The app is adding a new multitasking feature that allows users to quickly respond to incoming messages without switching back and forth between their feed and the inbox.
With the change, new chats will appear at the top of your feed while browsing, and you can respond by tapping on the message. The app is also adding a shortcut to make sharing posts a little quicker. Instead of scrolling through a list of contacts, users can designate four friends that will appear as shortcuts when tapping and holding the share button.
The app is also adding a music sharing feature, so users can swap 30 second previews of songs coa Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music
Instagram
Ever since Meta began merging Instagram and Messenger, Instagram’s in-app chat has been steadily getting more features — and becoming more like Messenger. Now, those who have opted to link their inboxes, will also see a tray at the top of their DMs indicating which of their friends are currently online, much like the Messenger feature.
Instagram is also adding a Slack-style @Silent shortcut, similar to the update Messenger showed off earlier this week. Adding @silent to messages allows them to be delivered without triggering a notification. (It’s not clear if Instagram plans to adopt more of the “command” shortcuts in the future.) And, finally, group chats are getting a polling feature of their own, so polls will no longer be limited just to Stories.
As is often the case, these updates won’t be available everywhere all at once. The company says the new features “are available in select countries, with plans to expand globally,” but didn’t elaborate on which countries, or how long it would take for the changes to reach everyone.
Last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro was one of the best phones of 2021 – which surprised some of us. The company substantially improved the cameras and packaged a high-spec phone in a premium body. Now, after several other OnePlus phones have launched with lower prices (and lesser specs), the $899 OnePlus 10 Pro, is finally here. The phone has long been available in China and the company has been teasing its new flagship since January.
With a cheaper price, a 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen, Snapdragon’s latest processor, a bigger battery and a gorgeous new green color option, the OnePlus 10 Pro sounds like it has everything it needs to repeat the success of its predecessor, but I’m left feeling underwhelmed.
Hardware
Mat Smith/Engadget
The camera unit, which includes three sensors and a flash, is surrounded by metal which bleeds over the edge to the frame of the 10 Pro. It’s an understated design touch, but I’m glad it looks different from older OnePlus models, its Oppo stepsiblings and other phones doing the same old camera sensor layout. Different is good.
The rest of the phone’s back is covered in a translucent finish that reminds me of the back of the iPhone 13 Pro. The OnePlus logo seems to be etched into this; I actually thought it was a sticker at first. There’s still some Hasselblad branding, too, along the side of the camera unit, but thankfully it's a little subtler than previous designs.
OnePlus’s Alert Slider has clung on for its eighth year. Once again, it’s located above the power button and switches between silent, vibrate and full volume modes, each of which can be manually adjusted to your preferred levels. There’s a USB-C port, supporting 80W SuperVOOC charging and stereo speaker grilles along the bottom edge. Finally, as usual, there’s a volume rocker on the left edge.
OnePlus has upgraded the selfie camera to a 32-megapixel sensor, but it’s still a pinhole camera set in the top left corner of the display. The front-facing camera works with face unlock, while there’s also an in-screen fingerprint scanner. Both seem faster than OnePlus’ last-gen phone, and the fingerprint sensor has been shifted higher up the phone panel, making it easier to access.
While the OnePlus 10 Pro looks different from last year’s 9 Pro, there’s an awful lot of spec overlap. Both models have the same size screen and run at 1,440 x 3,216 resolution, with adaptive refresh rates of up to 120Hz. This year’s phone does have an upgraded LTPO display, however, which OnePlus says is better optimized for dynamic changes in refresh rates. But you’d be hard-pressed to notice any difference between the 10 Pro and 9 Pro's screens; both are crisp, bright and colorful. While more and more phones are beginning to arrive with adaptive refresh rates, OnePlus does it better than most, dipping as low as 1Hz for static content on your phone screen, meaning less power drain. According to OnePlus, the upgraded screen should translate to 1.5 hours of additional use versus last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro.
Cameras
Comparisons with last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro come up yet again with the cameras. The company heralds this as its second-generation Hasselblad camera, with improvements to the OnePlus Billion Color Solution (which still struggles to sell itself as a compelling feature) and an updated Hasselblad Pro mode, which I’ll explain later.
Glancing at the spec sheet, even if the camera array itself looks notably different, the OnePlus 10 Pro has very similar camera sensors – and in fact there’s actually one less than last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro. Yes, we’ve lost the monochrome sensor, which shouldn’t be a big deal. It was a low two-megapixel sensor and I didn’t miss it at all. Otherwise, all the numbers match: a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 50-MP ultra-wide lens – this time capturing across 150-degree views, and – like the OnePlus 9 Pro – a middling 8-megapixel telephoto option that tops out at 3.3x optical zoom.
My experience matches what Chris Velazco said last year in his review of the 9 Pro. The primary sensor captures detailed images, especially in well-lit surroundings. OnePlus has further refined the sensor to improve dynamic range and noise reduction in images, and you’ll still get the best shots from the pixel-binned 12-megapixel mode. If you do want to capture all the detail you can, however, there’s a high-res shooting mode that’s easily accessible through most of the camera app’s modes.
The new ultrawide camera gets a few tricks, too, including a new fish-eye capture mode that’s a bit of a gimmick, but it’s fun nonetheless. You can switch between a mild and strong fish-eye effect. I’m not going to win photography awards but the results are clean and it’s a harmless addition.
Mat Smith/Engadget
The telephoto camera remains the weakest part of the OnePlus camera setup. Given the 8MP resolution, shots seem blurry and low on detail. Sometimes my photos just lacked color and vitality, which is a shame because I use the telephoto cameras on phones a lot as it offers some degree of compositional freedom when framing my shots. (I can’t believe I just wrote the phrase “compositional freedom.”)
OnePlus’ flagship held its own against an iPhone 13 Pro and Pixel 6 Pro, but it wasn't the best. The cameras occasionally struggled with scenes with high dynamic range.
When shooting this scene, with a plant in front of an open fire and a bright neon sign in the background, the 10 Pro couldn’t quite tame the aggressive lighting, blowing out the neon light a little too much. The iPhone captured the scene in slightly warmer tones, while the Pixel seemed cooler. When I compared the photos, however, it was the OnePlus 10 Pro, even if it lacked the detail and dynamic range, that had nailed the colors of the room. Perhaps that Hasselblad partnership is actually working? Even then, would I prefer a more accurately colored shot or a wider dynamic range? The latter.
I had to see if anything had truly changed between the two OnePlus flagships, so I compared a few sample photos. While many were indistinguishable from each other, the 10 Pro edged out last year’s 9 Pro when it came to nighttime photography, which could be due to computational improvements and a faster chip – or OnePlus’ own internal calibrations and tweaks. Having said that, OnePlus’ night photography and AI assistance are a little too heavy-handed for my liking; they made some low-light scenes look artificially bright.
Software-wise, the new Hasselblad Pro mode works across all three camera sensors, adding fine control like ISO levels as well as 12-bit RAW capture for those willing to dive deep into image editing. OnePlus’ RAW+ image format is also here, which attempts to combine all the information of a photo, but it’s augmented by the computational image capture we’ve seen in most phones over the last few years. Was I using RAW+ capture over the stripped-down auto mode? Most of the time, no. But it’s more flexible for users willing to push the 10 Pro’s cameras to their limit.
Performance and software
Mat Smith/Engadget
OnePlus has long been able to balance a streamlined Android experience close to stock while adding its own tweaks and features. The OnePlus 10 Pro continues that approach despite the closer collaboration with Oppo and a shared codebase. In fact, the latest version of OnePlus’ OxygenOS, version 12, was apparently one of the reasons that the 10 Pro took so long to arrive after its debut, with more time needed to tweak the software for regions beyond China.
I still appreciate the ability to easily switch off OS additions I don’t need. The OnePlus Shelf is a pop-up menu that can be pulled down from the top right corner of the phone. It groups together several adjustable tiles – like those widgets you’ve been able to add to your homescreen on Android phones for about a decade.
In short, I don’t need it and would get frustrated when it pops up instead of the standard Android drop-down menu containing setting toggles and my notifications. Thankfully, I can just tap the settings cog inside the Shelf, and turn the entire feature off.
One addition I won’t be disabling is a new AI adaptive brightness feature. The OnePlus 10 Pro can learn your display brightness preferences and make adjustments, hopefully before you do. Artificial intelligence features inside smartphones are often hard to notice in day-to-day use (think: battery optimization features that are meant to adapt to how you use your phone and reduce power consumption). But OnePlus’ adaptive brightness soon appeared when I would check the 10 Pro in the early hours of the morning, helping to shield me from an unnecessarily bright screen before I’d even had my coffe
There are also a few gaming improvements to make the most of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The HyperBoost game engine, courtesy of Oppo, tries to stabilize frame rates during gaming sessions, while also increasing the responsiveness of the touchscreen through a new feature called O-Sync. Both suffer from my issues with behind-the-scenes AI optimizations. It’s also not compatible with streaming games from Xbox Cloud Gaming or Stadia, which is how I game on smartphones most of the time.
The OnePlus 10 Pro wasn’t fazed by anything I threw at it – which has been true for most phones powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. When playing a video on repeat, the 5,000mAh battery took over 14 hours to run down – which isn’t great compared to roughly 17 hours from Samsung’s Galaxy S22+.
Benefiting from Oppo’s R&D, the OnePlus 10 Pro supports 80W SUPERVOOC charging. Yes, fast charging isn’t anything new for OnePlus, but damn, this is genuinely fast. With the appropriate charger (don’t worry, there’s one included with the phone), the 10 Pro can be fully charged in a mere 32 minutes. If you want even faster charging, OnePlus says 80W SUPERVOOC can charge the phone from 0 to 61 percent in just 15 minutes; I got around the same figures when recharging the phone myself. It’s a strong feature, and importantly, something that the OnePlus 9 Pro doesn’t have.
Wrap-up
Mat Smith/Engadget
OnePlus was on a roll. Last year, it proved it could deliver a true high-end smartphone rival to the likes of the iPhone and the Galaxy S series with the OnePlus 9 Pro. But with the OnePlus 10 Pro, the company has struggled to push the envelope further.
The OnePlus 10 Pro has impressive fast-charge capabilities, a gorgeous screen that’s incrementally better than last year’s model, while OxygenOS continues to add more to the Android experience without derailing it. I especially like how the green version looks, but at the same time, the smartphone competition moves fast.
(While I tested the covetable green version, in the US, OnePlus is selling the black model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $899 in the US. The company says the green version, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, will arrive later. The price is still TBC. )
OnePlus might have nailed its cameras last year, but it’s not at the same level of the best phone cameras in 2022. Its computational photography seems overly aggressive and the telephoto camera, again, disappoints compared to the competition. When the Pixel 6 Pro costs the same, the OnePlus 10 Pro is hard to recommend over Google’s own flagship, even to die-hard OnePlus fans looking to upgrade from the OnePlus 9 Pro. At least it’s slightly cheaper.
You'll most likely never buy a GoPro camera for its battery life. As we mentioned in our review of the Hero 10, it has never been the brand's strong suit — in fact, the Hero 9 outlasted the Hero 10 by almost half an hour when we tested out the new model. Now, the company has launched a new grip called Volta that could extend a GoPro camera's battery life by up to three times. Combined with the GoPro's own battery, the Volta grip can deliver up to 4 hours of 5.3K recording at 30 fps. When we took the the Hero 10 for a spin, it only lasted for an hour and 15 minutes.
In addition to its built-in 4900 mAh battery, Volta also comes with integrated camera buttons to give you access to one-handed controls while the GoPro is mounted. You can even use it as a remote control for up to 98 feet away. And if you need a tripod for your shoot, you can flip out its built-in legs anytime. Volta is compatible with both Hero 10 and Hero 9, but it will also charge any USB-C device, including the GoPro MAX and older models.
Alone, the Volta grip will set you back $130, or $91 if you're a GoPro subscriber. However, it also comes bundled with the new GoPro Hero 10 Black Creator Edition. The company has put together a neat package for creators to make it easy to grab everything they need in one go. In addition to the camera itself and a Volta battery grip, the bundle comes with GoPro's Media Mod and Light Mod. Those modifications add a built-in directional microphone, 3.5mm mic and HDMI-out ports, as well LED lighting with four level of brightness up to 200 lumens to the camera.
As you can guess, the bundle is cheaper for subscribers that pay the company $50 a year. New members will even be able to get the package for $532, which represents quite a substantial discount from the $760-or-so total price of the items when purchased individually.
If you're looking for a new Windows laptop, you may find what you need in Amazon's one-day ASUS sale. Today, the online retailer has a number of ASUS laptops on sale, with some up to $250 off. Likely best for most people are the ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED and the ZenBook 13 Flip OLED, which are down to $650 and $745, respectively. You can also grab the ZenBook Duo 14, a dual-screen laptop that earned a score of 84 from us, for $906, which is $194 less than usual.
If you go for the standard ASUS ZenBook 13, you're getting an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, along with a 13.3-inch 1080p OLED display. The Flip version shares the same display, RAM and storage, but runs on an 11th-gen Core i5 processor. While we didn't review these exact models, we did put the ZenBook Flip S through its paces and gave it a score of 84 for its sleek design, powerful performance and lovely OLED display.
The main difference between the Flip S and the Flip on sale today is that the former runs on a Core i7 processor and has a 4K OLED panel. Otherwise, you'll get a similarly premium Windows experience from both machines. Also, both the standard ZenBook and the Flip have ASUS' unique and convenient NumberPad 2.0, which is combined with the trackpad and illuminates only when you need it.
As for the ZenBook Duo, it's best for those who want something a bit different in their next laptop. Its main screen is a 14-inch 1080p touch panel and it also includes a 12.6-inch matte touchscreen that sits above the keyboard and lifts up slightly when you open the laptop. That's one of the new features ASUS built in to this second-gen laptop that makes it easier to use and more viable as your daily driver. The latest ZenBook Duo also has better dual-screen software and much improved build quality than the previous version. The keyboard and trackpad area are still a bit cramped for our liking, but if you're going to invest in a dual-screen notebook, this is one of the few solid options available right now.
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