Microsoft isn’t giving up on its dual-screen dreams. The company is back this year with a new Surface Duo that looks like it might fix some of the original’s flaws. Instead of a finicky and low-quality camera, the Duo 2 packs a triple-sensor system on its rear, in addition to a selfie shooter inside. The device also has a narrower overall footprint, faster-refreshing screens and some updated software. There’s also support for Microsoft’s Slim Pen 2, which should make drawing and taking notes a more intuitive experience.

But despite having addressed many of the previous generation’s issues and adding some useful features, the Duo 2 remains a frustrating device. And at $1,500, it’s still a pricey product with a niche, limited appeal.

Hardware and design changes

By now, you’re probably familiar with the Duo’s proposition. The second generation features a pair of 5.8-inch screens connected by a hinge. It’s also running Android 11 this year, with some tweaks to improve multi-display use. Combined, the two panels offer an 8.3-inch canvas, which is slightly bigger than before. You can flip one screen all the way around to use the Duo 2 in a phone-like single-screen state, use one side as a stand to prop up the other half or have both displays facing you like a book or tablet.

Like the original, this thing is an attractive piece of hardware with an impressively thin profile and a sleek silhouette. The Duo 2 is a bit heavier than its predecessor, and even heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and I’d chalk most of that gain up to its camera module. Despite the chunky protrusion on the back of the right screen, though, the Duo 2 is evenly weighted and felt balanced when open.

David Imel for Engadget

My main concern when I first saw the camera bump was that two sides would no longer lay flush against each other when opened all the way up. But the bump was surprisingly unobtrusive, and while I didn’t mind using the Duo 2 as a single-screen device, it’s still a bit too wide to replace my phone, especially for one-handed use. Though the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is heavy and its screen is a little too narrow and cramped, it still offers a better experience in this mode.

When the panels are back-to-back, the system will keep the last screen you used active, while the other shows a message saying you can double tap it to switch over. It’s basically two phones sandwiching a camera and you can use one side at a time. You’ll notice odd aspect ratio issues here and there, thanks to the uncommon 1,892 x 1,344 resolution, but for the most part apps expand to cover the whole screen nicely if you enable the automatic span setting. It even worked with the notoriously finicky Instagram, except… photo captions would overflow into the edges and get eaten up, and Stories still had blank space flanking them. 

I did appreciate the 90Hz refresh rate when scrolling through my social feeds. The AMOLED panels are lovely, delivering crisp and colorful image and video quality. I do wish they got a bit brighter, though, since they’re about 200 nits dimmer than the iPhone 13 series.

When closed, the Duo 2 is basically useless since, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 3, it doesn’t have an “external” screen. If you want to read your notifications while the device is laying on a table, you’ll need to leave it open or with one display facing out.

David Imel for Engadget

But Microsoft tries to offer you at least barebones notifications while the Duo 2 is closed via the new Glance Bar. The inside edges of the screens are curved slightly so you can see a little bit of the display through the hinge. When the Glance Bar is enabled, you can see the clock and other system info on this tiny sliver, and it’ll light up in different colors when you have incoming calls or messages. It actually drew my attention to the fact that the Duo 2 didn’t charge overnight by glowing red to indicate the battery was low.

While the Glance Bar is somewhat helpful, it’s also super tiny, which means you need to have Superman’s eyesight to see the clock from more than, say, a few inches away, which basically defeats the purpose. Plus, the Glance Bar works with just first-party apps for now, which means you’ll only get alerted to text messages and phone calls. Oh, and Teams calls, in case you’re that wired into Microsoft’s ecosystem.

The best uses for the Duo 2’s dual-screens

You can also use the Duo 2 in a few other modes (or “postures” as Microsoft calls them), thanks to the hinge, which is sturdy and smooth. It’s easy to open without too much force, yet strong enough to prop up one screen without it budging. Perhaps the best way to use the Duo 2 is in Book and Tent modes, the latter of which is wonderful for playing games while seated at a desk. It’s also handy for keeping an eye on Twitter or a YouTube live chat while working on my laptop.

David Imel for Engadget

Then, when you’re ready to turn your attention to something more intensive, switch over to Book mode and hold the Duo 2 up with both displays facing you. This can be very immersive on any device, and I had a similar feeling with the Z Fold 3. It’s not ideal for idle doomscrolling while you watch TV or firing off a quick reply to your group chats, though. When you have both screens on they basically demand you be actively engaged — whether it’s reading a book, or building a shopping list on one side while looking at recipes on the other.

The Duo 2 is satisfying in this mode if you’re holding it vertically. Flip to landscape orientation and the entire UI just struggles to keep up, especially if you’re using swipe-based navigation instead of choosing the older Android home screen, with back and recent buttons. In general, the Duo 2 feels a little clumsy when held horizontally.

Software quirks remain

I want to commend Microsoft for all the work it’s done to improve the Duo 2’s software. Compared to the hot mess of last year’s model, the system feels a little more cohesive. Part of that has to do with better support for multi-screen devices in Android 11. But quirks still remain and they’re still too numerous for me to list individually, so I’m just going to give you a few examples.

Like I said before, the UI doesn’t know what to do with the swipe-based navigation and in landscape mode, the typical swipe up to go home gesture doesn’t work. Instead, you’ll have to swipe in from the right to either go home or see all apps. To go back, you can only swipe from the left — bad news for anyone who preferred it the other way.

David Imel for Engadget

Also, trying to type in this mode is still a pain — you’ll lose more than two thirds of the screen to the keyboard (and a weird row of empty space at the bottom), so good luck trying to see what you composed.

Even in Book mode there are annoying quirks. There’s a pervasive touch input issue that other reviewers noted on the original Duo and it explains why I felt the Duo 2 is sluggish and finicky. Throughout the system, whether it’s trying to switch lenses in the camera or open the settings menu in a game, the system sometimes just doesn’t register a tap. I’d need to jab at it repeatedly for something to happen.

There are other issues too, but they happen inconsistently enough that I felt like the Duo 2 was gaslighting me. For example, the Microsoft Start app would randomly launch on the left screen when I had an app on the right. I promise you this wasn’t because I accidentally swiped over to the left to see the Start feed; This is a ghost app that appears on its own. There’s also that Instagram caption overflow problem I mentioned earlier that seemed to go away, but would reappear now and then.

Camera performance

The camera was one of the most frustrating parts of the original Duo, and I was hopeful that the second generation would be vastly improved. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. To be clear, the hardware is better. You get a triple camera system with a 12-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel telephoto lens and a 16-megapixel wide option with a 110-degree field of view. The selfie camera also got an upgrade, going from 11-megapixels to 12.

Photos taken by the Duo 2 are better. In general, pictures were rich and bright, with sharp details, though the camera struggled in low light. There’s a weird cast in some of the photos where the camera seemed to white balance the same scene differently in back-to-back shots, but that’s a minor issue that other phones face too. More disappointing is the front camera, which delivered noisy, pale shots of my friends and I, and has a tendency to overexpose everything.

The biggest problem is that the Duo 2’s camera app still sucks. I thought that with a dedicated rear and front camera setup, the system would no longer have to guess what screen you wanted to use as a viewfinder. But instead of letting users decide which cameras they want to use at any time, Microsoft limits when you can use the rear cameras. If you unfold the Duo 2 so that the screens are more than 180 degrees away from each other, Microsoft disables the triple-sensor module and you’re stuck with the selfie option. Presumably, this is to prevent you from accidentally capturing the back of the device, but it just takes away user control. Why should Microsoft lock you out of the superior camera option on the Duo 2 just because the screens are open a little more than 180 degrees?

David Imel for Engadget

The UI is also supposed to allow you to use the spare screen as a photo viewer, so you can see your shots right after snapping them, but this didn’t happen consistently. And in a 10-minute photo shoot, the app crashed at least three times, showing a generic error message. To top it all off, the camera fails to keep up with rapid-fire shooting, sometimes taking a few seconds to snap a picture and save it to your gallery (I suspect this delay has more to do with the UI trying to pull up the image on the other screen than an actual processor issue). Throw in the touch input lag I mentioned earlier and the entire camera experience is a disaster. It’s as if Microsoft never bothered to test the camera at all.

Performance and battery life

Beyond the software quirks, the Duo 2’s high-end Snapdragon 888 chipset actually seemed to struggle at times. When I played a few rounds of Airplane Chefs in one-screen mode, the device ran hot and then completely stalled, leaving me unable to serve food to impatient passengers. This doesn’t just occur when I have the two screens flipped all the way around, either. On the whole, the area under the camera module tends to get warm. But when the Duo 2’s sides are stuck back to back, it seems to keep the heat from dissipating quickly enough.

Then there’s the countless number of times apps have just died on me. I handed the Duo 2 off to a friend with OneNote on the right screen, so they could try the keyboard. It refused to pull up the keyboard and shortly after stopped registering any touches. We closed and opened the device and the app still wasn’t working. Only a force quit revived OneNote. Oh and sometimes when I was using just one screen in landscape mode, a screenshot would capture the home screen instead of the app I was using on it.

David Imel for Engadget

The one thing I’m impressed with is that the Duo 2’s battery life isn’t any worse than before — which is a very low bar. This year’s model clocked 10 hours and 16 minutes with our video rundown test playing on one screen and the Android home page on the other. The original Duo came in at 10 hours and 32 minutes, and considering the faster screens, that seems fair. For what it’s worth, the Fold 3, which has a 120Hz panel, lasted 14 hours and 3 minutes.

Wrap-up

I could go on about all the little ways the Duo 2 struggles, but that would take forever. Some of them are minor and just require a little adjusting, while others, like the camera app, are downright unforgivable. Things Microsoft introduced to improve the experience, like the triple rear cameras and Glance bar, are only slight improvements. I appreciate the faster screens, but at this price they’re almost a given. I haven’t been able to test the Slim Pen 2, but it’s worth noting you’ll have to pay an extra $130 for it.

Like the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Duo 2 is suffering a sort of identity crisis. Neither device works well as a phone replacement, but at least Samsung’s foldable has reliable software and good cameras. Despite the improvements, the Duo 2 is still a kind of gimmicky device that’s costly to boot and only people with $1,500 to burn and who really need a dual-screen phone should buy it.

Photos by David Imel (@DurvidImel)

So, will Facebook pull the trigger and change its name? Maybe it's an attempt to dominate the conversation around the, ugh, metaverse, which has been around for years, perhaps to follow Google’s own reorganization around Alphabet or to simply create some distance from all the negative publicity, sentiment and impressions that Facebook is now associated with.

If the change is metaverse related, it could be very important to the company’s unreleased social virtual reality world called Horizon Worlds.

The funniest take I’ve seen, from Time’s Alex Fitzpatrick, is that Facebook is doing it just to meddle with people that write about the company, like how we remind readers that Google is now just a facet of the bigger Alphabet entity, a bullet point that we sometimes have to mention.

— Mat Smith

Is Apple’s M1 Max really the fastest laptop chip ever?

Apple is making some big promises with its new Macbook Pro chips

Apple

This week’s Upscaled show is all about Apple’s promises with its newest chips. The new M1 Pro and M1 Max bump the core count to eight high-performance and two low-power cores and add 16, 24 or 32 GPU cores. With twice the high-performance CPUs and up to four times the GPU cores as the original M1, these chips should be incredibly fast. Could Apple offer a compelling laptop option for gamers?

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Netflix CEO says he 'screwed up' on Dave Chappelle as employees stage walk out

But Ed Sarandos continues to stand by the Chappelle special.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he "screwed up" communication with employees following backlash over Dave Chappelle's The Closer, according to a report from Variety.

He also stood by the show, saying the company heavily values "artistic expression." His comments come just ahead of a planned walkout today organized by LGBTQ+ staffers, creatives and allies.

As part of the walkout, employees will reportedly have a list of demands for Netflix, and Sarandos has been meeting them to hear their views. He said that while the company is "deeply committed to inclusion," it's equally committed to "supporting artistic freedom with the creators who work at Netflix."

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Some Windows 11 users can start testing Android apps

Only a handful of apps will be available at first.

Engadget

Microsoft has released an Insider Preview beta that enables the Amazon Appstore and support for running Android apps within Windows. Only 50 apps are available as part of the initial test (such as the Kindle app, Lords Mobile and Lego Duplo World), but Microsoft is promising more in the "coming months."

The aim, as before, is to make Android apps feel like they belong in Windows 11. You can multitask, check notifications and use Windows accessibility features. Mouse and keyboard input is available, but many apps will predictably benefit from a touchscreen.

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DJI's new cinema camera has a built-in gimbal and LiDAR focus system

The LiDAR should offer 'sharper, faster and more reliable focusing.'

DJI

DJI has revealed the Ronin 4D, a new cinema camera system with a built-in 4-axis gimbal, 8K resolution and LiDAR rangefinder that promises "sharper, faster and more reliable focusing." With a price starting at $7,199, it's clearly aimed at the professionals, but we can all dream, right?

The Zenmuse X9 camera is exclusively for the Ronin 4D. It's available either in a 6K model that can handle 6K at 60 fps and 4K at 120 fps, and there’s the 8K 75 fps version. It can capture files in RAW, ProRes or H.264, allowing maximum flexibility in production. DJI claims 14 stops of dynamic range, and it should be good in low-light thanks to the dual-native 800/5000 ISO.

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‘Cyberpunk 2077' PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrades delayed until 2022

CDPR also postponed its upgraded version of 'The Witcher 3.'

Despite CD Projekt Red insisting at the beginning of September it was still on track to release the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Cyberpunk 2077 by the end of the year, that's no longer the case. The developer now plans to ship the console and PC upgrades for the same game in the first quarter of 2022 (i.e. by the end of March).

In its financial report for the first half of 2021, CDPR included a chart suggesting that around a third of its development staff was working on Cyberpunk 2077 support and the current-gen version as of June 30th.

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The biggest news stories you might have missed

Netflix says 142 million households watched Korean series 'Squid Game'

'God of War' heads to PC on January 14th

Razer reveals new mics for pro and casual streamers

PayPal might buy Pinterest

The Talli Baby tracker is a one-touch system for logging kids’ activities

Engadget Deals: The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is $200 off at Amazon right now

Amazon adds 60 more stations to its Fire TV local news app

The robotic artist known as Ai-Da was scheduled to display her artwork alongside the great pyramids of Egypt on Thursday, though the show was nearly called off after both the robot and her human sculptor, Aidan Meller, were detained by Egyptian authorities for a week and a half until they could confirm that the artist was actually a spy.

The incident began when border guards objected over Ai-da's camera eyes, which it uses in its creative process, and its on-board modem. “I can ditch the modems, but I can’t really gouge her eyes out,” Meller told The Guardian. The robot artist, which was built in 2019, typically travels via specialized cargo case and was held at the border until clearing customs on Wednesday evening, hours before the exhibit was scheduled to begin.

“The British ambassador has been working through the night to get Ai-Da released, but we’re right up to the wire now,” Meller said, just before Ai-Da was sprung from robo-jail. “It’s really stressful.”

Ai-Da is slated to participate in the Forever is Now exhibit, which is slated to run through November 7th and features a number of leading Egyptian and international artists, is being presented by Art D’Égypte in conjunction with the Egyptian ministry of antiquities and tourism and the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs.

“She is an artist robot, let’s be really clear about this. She is not a spy," Meller declared. "People fear robots, I understand that. But the whole situation is ironic, because the goal of Ai-Da was to highlight and warn of the abuse of technological development, and she’s being held because she is technology. Ai-Da would appreciate that irony, I think.”

We saw the 11-inch iPad Pro go on sale last week, and now Amazon has an even bigger discount on the 12.9-inch model. The 256GB WiFi version is $200 off right now, bringing it down to an all-time low of $999. That's also the same price as the 128GB model, so you're essentially getting double the storage at no extra cost.

This year's iPad Pros are all about the M1 chipset inside. The upgraded processor makes the tablets run just as smoothly as Apple's MacBook Air M1 — apps open nearly instantly, multitasking is seamless, and we were impressed by the tablet's ability to easily play laborious games and piece together 4K video. You're also getting the new Center Stage camera here, so you'll always be in the middle of the frame when you're on FaceTime calls.

The 12.9-inch model has the added perk of a Liquid Retina XDR display, which will make a difference when you're watching movies. You may not notice a big jump in quality when editing Google Docs or browsing the web, but the improved backlighting system helps make dark things darker and bright things even brighter in videos. Also, it's screen size makes it more similar to a device like the MacBook Air — with the proper accessories, it makes a powerful, flexible laptop replacement.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

The US Commerce Department has announced new rules related to the export and resale of cyber intrusion software. Once the limits come into effect in 90 days, companies that want to sell their hacking tools to countries “of national security or weapons of mass destruction concern” will need to obtain a license from the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The policy also covers nations that are under a US arms embargo.

Per The Washington Post, the rule is complicated. There are already many limitations on the export of intrusion software. Similarly, there are opportunities for companies to obtain exceptions. The main point is that the policy would cover the sale of software to countries like China and Russia. It would also limit the sale of programs like NSO’s Pegasus spyware, which some governments have used to target dissidents and journalists.

“The United States Government opposes the misuse of technology to abuse human rights or conduct other malicious cyber activities, and these new rules will help ensure that US companies are not fueling authoritarian practices,” the Commerce Department said.

Among the 42 countries involved in the Wassenaar Arrangement, a pact that sets voluntary export controls on military and dual-use technologies, the US is one of the last to impose limits on the sale of hacking software. Part of the reason for that is that the country has spent years working on the rules to ensure they don’t prevent cybersecurity researchers across the globe from working together to discover new flaws.

DJI has revealed the Ronin 4D, a cinema camera system with a built-in 4-axis gimbal, 8K resolution and LiDAR rangefinder that promises "sharper, faster and more reliable focusing." With a price starting at $7,199, it's aimed at professionals, but shows DJI's technological prowess both with gimbals and camera technology. 

The "Zenmuse X9" camera is designed exclusively for the Ronin 4D and should give dedicated camera manufacturers pause. It's a full-frame interchangeable model that can use either DJI's DL or Leica M lenses (along with other mirrorless lenses via adapters) and comes with no less than nine built-in neutral-density (ND) filters for controlling exposure.

DJI

It's available either in a 6K model that can handle 6K at 60fps and 4K at 120fps, or an 8K 75 fps version. It can capture files in RAW, ProRes or H.264, allowing maximum flexibility in production. DJI claims 14 stops of dynamic range, and it should be good in low-light thanks to the dual-native 800/5000 ISO. 

The gimbal itself is one of the first to offer Z-axis stabilization, DJI said. The aim is to reduce vertical jarring when a camera operator walks or runs, a trick that usually requires considerable skill. Helping in that regard is the Ronin 4D's relatively small size and 4.67 kg (10.3 pounds) heft, excluding the lens and storage card. It uses data from downward time of flight (ToF) sensors, forward and downward dual-visual sensors, a built-in IMU and a barometer. It also comes with DJI's ActiveTrack Pro (similar to that found on its consumer gimbals and drones), which uses AI to power framing and tracking. 

tomgo.tang/DJI

As for the LiDAR focusing system, it offers "43,200 ranging points reaching as far as 10 meters, locating subjects quickly and accurately, even in low-light environments," DJI said in a press release. It didn't mention any other autofocus technology used by the camera, though it "supports human face/body recognition and framing of any subject." It also noted that the system "measures the distance to the subject without relying on surface textures or hunting for edges," implying it doesn't employ contrast-detect AF. 

The system supports full autofocus, manual focus and "Automated Manual Focus" (AMF) that allows camera operators to "pull focus with extreme precision." The general idea with AMF is that the autofocus handles most AF chores, but allows the operate to intervene manually at any point. 

DJI

Other features including a long range (20,000 feet) video transmitter that outputs a 1080/60p feed to remote monitors, three storage methods (USB SSD, CFexpress Type-B and DJI's proprietary PROSSD 1TB), built-in microphones along with 3.5mm mic ports and XLR ports via an expansion plate, and a battery with up to 2.5 hours of shooting time. 

The Ronin 4D with a 6K camera costs $7,199, while the 8K model is $11,499. Both come with the gimbal, camera, LiDAR range finder, a monitor, hand grips, top handle, a carrying case and a battery. That's a lot, of course, but less than some cinema camera systems by themselves — and DJI's Ronin 2 cinema stabilizer runs $8,000-plus without any camera at all. 

You finally have a chance to try Android apps in Windows 11 — provided you're willing to live on the bleeding edge for a while. Microsoft has released an Insider Preview beta that enables the Amazon Appstore and support for running Android apps within Windows. Only 50 curated apps are available as part of the initial test (such as the Kindle app, Lords Mobile and Lego Duplo World), but Microsoft is promising more in the "coming months."

The aim, as before, is to make Android apps feel like they belong in Windows 11. You can multitask, check notifications and use Windows accessibility features. Mouse and keyboard input is available, although many apps will unsurprisingly benefit from a touchscreen.

The beta is only available in the US for compatible devices using AMD, Intel and Qualcomm chips. This won't do much to satisfy those frustrated that Android apps weren't available on launch. You'll still have to wait a while before an official release, let alone an Amazon catalog large enough to make a meaningful difference. It's a start, though, and it suggests the delay won't be as long as you might have feared.

The free news app on Amazon Fire TV now offers local channels in another 60 cities, including Charleston, Wichita, Tucson, Reno, Raleigh-Durham and Honolulu. That means live and on-demand local news coverage is now available for 158 cities. Amazon has also almost doubled the total number of channels from 126 to 259.

Amazon launched the app in late 2020 with channels in a dozen cities, and it expanded to 88 cities in March. The app includes news coverage from regional divisions of ABC, CBSN, TEGNA, Cox, The EW Scripps Company and Altice USA. While the app doesn't yet offer coverage from quite as many stations as NewsON (which has more than 275 channels), it's baked into Fire TV — you don't need to download another app.

When you visit the Local News tab in Amazon's app, Fire TV will automatically add stations from the closest metro area. Viewers can also access live and on-demand coverage by asking Alexa to "play local news."

Razer has refreshed its lineup of microphones aimed at streamers with new versions of two Seiren models. The Seiren V2 Pro and Seiren V2 X are both plug and play mics with a high pass filter to mitigate unwanted low frequencies and an analog gain limiter to tackle voice distortion.

The mics each have a gain dial and mute button as well as a headphone jack, while the V2 Pro also has a volume dial. They’re both said to be fully customizable for mixing and sound profiles, and there’s integration with audio mixing software via Razer Synapse.

The V2 Pro is a dynamic microphone with 20 Hz frequency response to pick up a full range of audio, according to Razer. The company says it’s an improvement on its Elite offering and it delivers “rich and powerful vocals” with “superior clarity and noise dampening.”

Meanwhile, the V2 X is a new version of the Seiren X, which emerged in 2017. It's a 25mm condenser mic with a supercaridoid pickup pattern, which Razer suggests bolsters the device’s voice isolation capabilities. The company is promising “crisp and natural vocals” with the V2 X as well.

Razer recently introduced a webcam and capture card for streaming newbies and an entry-level headset for console gamers. However, the latest mics are aimed at professional and casual streamers who might want to improve the sound quality of their streams. The V2 Pro costs $150, while the V2 X is $100. Both are available now, as is the Seiren Mini, which Razer debuted a year ago.

On Wednesday, Samsung held its last Unpacked presentation of the year. The company headlined the event with the announcement of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 Bespoke Edition, a version of its clamshell foldable you can customize in a variety of colors. Specifically, you can choose between two frame tones (black or silver) and five front and back panel hues (blue, yellow, pink, white or black), for a total of 49 possible combinations. Each Bespoke Edition Galaxy Z Flip 3 also comes with matching wallpaper and cover screen.

If you ever want to update the look of your phone, Samsung will offer an Upgrade Care service where you can send it in for a palette swap. That should come in handy if you ever feel like you went overboard on your first design attempt and made something completely garish. Outside of the additional customization options, the Bespoke Edition Galaxy Z Flip 3 is identical to the model Samsung released in August. So expect the company’s best foldable yet.

Samsung

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 Bespoke Edition is available to order today from Samsung’s website in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Korea and UK. It starts at $1,100 and comes with 12 months of Samsung Care+ protection. As each device is made to order, delivery times will vary.

Alongside the Bespoke Edition Galaxy Z Flip 3, Samsung announced a software update for the Galaxy Watch 4. Available to download today, it comes with four new watch faces, including one called Info Brick that you can customize to display the fitness and health stats you want to see most. If you’re a fan of the existing Animals watch face, it’s now possible to add up to four complications to the interface.

Samsung

As part of the My Photo+ watch face, you can now choose to use a GIF instead of a still image. In the same vein, Samsung has redone the animations that are part of the step challenge to make them more playful. There’s now a cute bear there to encourage you to walk your 10,000 steps.

The update also adds a new knock-knock gesture you can assign to launch your favorite app or feature. For instance, you can bind the gesture to create a new reminder or open a list of workouts. Lastly, you can tweak the sensitivity of the fall detection feature to trigger even if you fall after standing still. With the update, Watch 4 owners can also get a free 60-day subscription to Strava.

Samsung

Rounding out the event, Samsung announced two Maison Kitsuné special edition Galaxy Buds 2 and Galaxy Watch 4 models. Set to cost $250 and $400 when they go on sale later today, the devices come in a new “Moonrock Biege” color and feature the usual design flourishes that the fashion house is known for.

Samsung

The watch comes with two straps. One in the aforementioned Moonrock Beige color and the other in a tone called “Stardust Gray.” The leather case the earbuds come is made from that same color. If you buy one of the wearables, you’ll get access to a playlist curated by the Kitsuné Musique music label. Both devices will be available in limited quantities in select markets across the world.