OnePlus has just announced a three-year partnership with the esteemed camera manufacturer, Hasselblad, to “co-develop the next generation of smartphone camera systems for future OnePlus flagship devices.” Most excitingly, we can expect to see the first OnePlus x Hasselblad camera system, called ‘Hasselblad Camera for Mobile,’ in the upcoming OnePlus 9 Series!
We’re used to hearing (or reading) the word Snapdragon regarding processors, but there is a new Snapdragon in town! If you’ve been frustrated by breaks in connectivity, audio dropouts and glitches, latency issues, and poor audio compression when listening to audio over your wireless headphones, Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound is a phrase you’ll want to remember.
Today is World Hearing Day, and Loop Earplugs has an amazing giveaway to celebrate the event and raise awareness for hearing loss. They desire to open a conversation about the conception that earplugs are boring and ugly. To that end, they’ve created Loop Bling, a one-of-a-kind set of earplugs made of 18K gold, set with 120 diamonds, and valued at $10,000. The best part? You can win them!
Have you found a pair of true wireless earbuds that fit well in your ears yet? Many people like foam and silicon tips because they help cut out ambient noise and give a more secure seal, but some people hate the feeling of something being jammed into their ear canal. The Earin A-3 Earphones take a different approach; they have an open audio design which leaves them sitting in the user’s ears’ concha. The result is a surprisingly comfortable fit for just about everyone, but it’s also a slightly different experience from wearing and using many other earbuds.
Need a helping hand with your iPad? Whether you’re looking for a way to position your iPad properly so that you don’t have twenty chins during video calls, or a place to keep your iPad out of the fray while cooking from a recipe on it, or a holder for your iPad so you can use it as a secondary display in your office, the Twelve South HoverBar Duo for iPad looks like a handy all-in-one solution.
Who doesn’t love walking into a freshly vacuumed room that they didn’t have to clean themselves? I’ve been enjoying that with the Eufy RoboVac G30 Hybrid. Not only can it handle the daily morning vacuuming of my approximately 10′ x 14′ office, but it can even mop it for me — when I want it to.
If you’ve been looking for a vehicle that is big enough to haul the entire family but isn’t as huge as a full-size SUV, the all-new 2022 Kia Carnival might be the perfect fit. Replacing the outgoing Sedona, the front-wheel-drive Carnival can hold up to eight people comfortably and haul all their gear.
Due to the United States’ trade sanctions against Huawei, Samsung and Motorola make the only folding screen smartphones currently available here. But if you live elsewhere and don’t rely on Google apps or services, this might interest you. The Huawei Mate X2 has just been announced; it’s their foldable flagship smartphone updating the 2019 Mate X, and it appears to be an amazing piece of hardware. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-PCMCYcvBM&authuser=1
Spotify has become the go-to music and podcast streaming service for many with good reason. Breaking the traditional recording industry model and making the release of new material more accessible and monetizable for musicians and content creators, the service has made it possible for unknown talent to break out and for established talent to get their material out to even more listeners. Whether you use Spotify Free or Spotify Premium, you’ll be interested in today’s Spotify Stream On event.
A full Windows operating system isn’t necessary to accomplish much of what many people do on their laptops. Many of us have found that Chromebooks are an affordable go-to for getting things done. If you’re in the market for a new Chromebook, you’re going to want to check out the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2; it starts at $549, and pre-orders open today.
I love a large portable speaker, and my latest in for testing is the JBL PartyBox On-The-Go. This massive and multi-talented speaker pumps out 100W of bass-boosted sound that can easily fill a large room or the typical backyard. If you like to sing along, the PartyBox On-The-Go includes a wireless mic with adjustable gain, echo treble, and bass. If you or a friend plays guitar, they can plug-in and either strum along to the music or use the PartyBox as an amp to play their own compositions.
Pulling out a stick stylus is rather plebeian, right? I mean, pretty much anyone can get one of those. If you want to appear like you’ve got everything under control and are living large — even if only to those in your latest Zoom call — obviously, you need to put the $250 Adonit Prime Stylus on your credit card.
It’s not often that I whisper the words “gorgeous” to myself as I unwrap a laptop, but that is exactly what I did when I unboxed the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 PC. This slim, Shadow Black laptop has a bonded black leather lid, and it presents as a couture accessory. The laptop is gorgeous and begging to be touched. And on the inside? There is plenty of power and enough tech to show that this convertible beauty is a perfect marriage of form and function.
Remember when a portable battery pack that held 20,000mAh was a beast to lug around? Thankfully, those days are over. The 20,000mAh Aukey Basix Blade Series Power Banks are much smaller and lighter than many similar capacity Li-Ion battery packs. Wait until you see what I mean …
The Google Pixel 5 was released last October as the follow-up to the Pixel 4. Rather than offering an XL version as Google had done with previous Pixel flagship models, the Pixel 5 was more of a “take it or leave it” proposition. It came in one size, a choice of two colors, and only one user memory option. There are some upgrades and some compromises, but overall it’s solid. Even so, I can admit that I wasn’t as enthused with it from the start as I had been with the Pixel 3 XL and the Pixel 4 XL.
I could have used the Audew Epower-188 Multi-Function Jump Starter a few months ago. Kev and I were about to leave the Eldorado High School Homecoming Parade, and that was the exact moment my Jeep’s battery decided to die. Of course. And did I have a set of jumper cables with me? Of course not.
MediaTek has just introduced it’s latest 5G smartphone chipsets, the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100. These chipsets will give device manufacturers even more options to choose from as they design smartphone models that feature top of the line cameras, graphics, connectivity enhancements, and more.
Qualcomm has just revealed its follow-up to its flagship Snapdragon 865 Plus with the Snapdragon 870 5G Mobile Platform. Why should you care? Well, let me tell you …
This year’s CES may have been completely virtual and quite different from what we are used to, but it still served as an excellent introduction to the new tech that we can all look forward to in the coming year as we carry on with pandemic life. After going through the avalanche of the products that were introduced at CES, we have culled out the ones that we found most innovative and intriguing. So in alphabetical order, we present you with Gear Diary’s Best of CES 2021 Awards!
You might think it odd for a company like John Deere to be at CES, but after spending an hour with them yesterday, I can completely understand. Even though I’ve spent much of my adult life in an agriculturally-focused town managing a cattle ranch, I’d never paid much attention to the tech being utilized by the farmers in my area to produce food and fiber for human consumption. My eyes have now been opened.
Samsung held its latest Unpacked event this morning, signaling the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The latest Galaxy S21 phones have 5G, updated designs, hardware, and software, but the cameras are the star of the show.