Tag

Hands On

All articles tagged with #hands on

gaming3 days ago•37 min saved

Valve’s Steam Machine nails couch-friendly PC gaming, with caveats

Jay Peters spends weeks with Valve’s Steam Machine and finds it surprisingly well-suited to TV gaming: a tiny, silent box that boots quickly and pairs nicely with the Steam Controller, offering a better-looking, smoother experience than consoles. But at $1,049, plus drawbacks like no GPU upgrade and SteamOS limitations, it’s hard to justify over building a faster PC or sticking with the Steam Deck, though he’d buy one today if he could get the waitlist spot.

via The Verge|

#gaming #hands-on #steam-deck

tech6 days ago•32 min saved

Trump Phone lands: Verge’s first impressions of the gold T1

Dominic Preston reports on The Verge’s hands-on with Trump Mobile’s T1 Phone: a gold, tacky device that arrives with a charger and Truth Social preinstalled; setup is smooth and the fingerprint sensor works, but in the UK it won’t yet connect to LTE/5G, and there’s a tiny pre-existing scratch and a cheap-feeling build, suggesting it’s more novelty than a serious handset—full review coming next week.

via The Verge|

#gadgets #hands-on #mobile

gadgets16 days ago•36 min saved

Google Home Speaker Review: strong sound, fiddly controls

The Verge’s hands-on review of Google’s $99 Home Speaker finds surprisingly strong, room-filling audio and reliable wake words, but its minimalist design makes the touch controls and status feedback less intuitive. Built to showcase Gemini, the device can cast, group, and pair with a Google TV, and it supports multi-room audio, yet the experience hinges on Gemini’s broader capabilities and may not replace existing speakers yet.

via The Verge|

#ai-artificial-intelligence #gadgets #gemini

gaming21 days ago•16 min saved

Ace Combat 8 Soars Past Expectations in Hands-On Preview

At Summer Game Fest 2026, the author went hands-on with Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve and came away impressed by the aircraft visuals and flight feel, even as the demo posed a challenging, timing-heavy mission sequence; a rocky start gave way to steady progress, and the overall takeaway is that Ace Combat 8 looks set to deliver a strong, long-awaited entry with sharp squad banter and satisfying aerial combat when it launches in October.

via Kotaku|

#ace-combat-8 #bandai-namco #flight-sim

technology1 month ago•4 min saved

Star Fox on Switch 2 Bets Big on VTuber-Style GameChat

A hands-on with Star Fox on Switch 2 shows Nintendo’s new GameChat uses VTuber-style face tracking for immersive pilots; camera quality is mixed, but multiplayer shines and could influence future Star Fox entries if the concept catches on.

via Gizmodo|

#gamechat #hands-on #nintendo

gadgets1 month ago•16 min saved

Glimmer of promise, questions remain for Google’s tiny-screen smart glasses

Gizmodo’s Ray Wong tested a prototype pair of Google’s screen-equipped smart glasses at I/O, demoing Gemini Intelligence features like real-time translation, weather widgets, music from posters, and a Nano Banana-generated moon selfie. While the on-device tools show potential, the minuscule display underscores limited utility and a sparse third-party app ecosystem. The piece suggests Google may be downplaying the glasses to avoid direct comparisons with Google Glass, implying the device might function more like a smartwatch than a phone replacement, with privacy concerns and a cloudy path to broad adoption.

via Gizmodo|

#ai #gadgets #gemini

technology1 month ago•5 min saved

Aura Glasses Bring Android XR to a Lightweight, App-Rich Experience

Google and Xreal's Project Aura are compact XR smart glasses that run Android XR with a neck-worn compute puck, delivering a wide 70-degree spatial field and support for multiple floating app windows; hand tracking works for pinching and dragging but eye tracking is missing, and a few glitches remain. Demos included a Gemini-powered object look-up and a Demeo gaming scenario, plus an external monitor mode via USB-C; while the hardware looks polished for glasses, the experience isn't as immersive as a headset and pricing/release details are still TBA, with a global launch planned later this year.

via Gizmodo|

#android-xr #google-i-o #hands-on

technology2 months ago•17 min saved

iPhone 18 Pro Max Design Leaks Point to Mini Dynamic Island and Variable Aperture

Hands-on with design dummy units shows a ~25% smaller Dynamic Island (about 14.98 mm) and a thicker camera bump with larger lenses, fueling rumors of a variable aperture for the main 48 MP sensor; the body is slightly taller and wider to accommodate a bigger battery, with existing cases possibly still fitting.

via Notebookcheck|

#camera-bump #dynamic-island #hands-on

tech3 months ago•55 min saved

Gemini on-device task automation: slow, clunky, but surprisingly impressive

The Verge tester Allison Johnson tries Gemini’s new on-device task automation on the Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S26 Ultra. Limited to a small beta set of food-delivery and rideshare apps, it runs in the background and can execute real tasks (like ordering dinner or reserving a ride) but is slow, occasionally trips over app quirks, and requires user confirmation. Still, it’s the first time an AI assistant actually operates on a phone in a practical way, offering a promising but imperfect glimpse of a future where apps are driven by AI rather than purely human-centric interfaces.

via The Verge|

#ai #google #hands-on

gadgets4 months ago•15 min saved

Apple's M4 iPad Air: More Power, Same Look

Apple's M4 iPad Air sticks to the familiar design but adds a notable under-the-hood upgrade: the M4 chip, 12GB of unified memory (up from 8GB), and a modest boost in CPU (about 20–30%) and GPU (around 15%) performance. For everyday use it won't feel dramatically different, but creators using heavy apps like Pixelmator Pro or Final Cut Pro will benefit from faster handling of large files, making the iPad Air feel noticeably snappier even though the hardware look remains the same.

via Gizmodo|

#apple #gadgets #hands-on

tech4 months ago•56 min saved

Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display actually delivers

Allison Johnson goes hands-on with Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra and is impressed by Privacy Display, a dual-layer screen that narrows viewing angles to keep prying eyes from seeing your screen. Not a brand-new tech, but implemented well with on/off toggles and customizable privacy options. The S26 Ultra gains a slimmer aluminum body, brighter main and telephoto lenses, adds AI photo editing and early Google Gemini integration, and keeps the $1,299 price for 256GB/12GB RAM.

via The Verge|

#galaxy-s26-ultra #hands-on #privacy-display

tech4 months ago•50 min saved

Galaxy S26 series sticks to updates as prices climb

Samsung’s Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus are mostly software updates with a higher price tag, while the Galaxy S26 Ultra gains a new Privacy Display. In the US, the S26 and S26 Plus get a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip (Ultra also uses it in other regions), the S26 Plus adds faster 20W wireless charging, and the S26’s battery grows to 4,300mAh. Storage starts at 256GB for both base models, with prices at $899 for the S26 and $1,099 for the S26 Plus (RAM remains 12GB across the lineup). Features like Audio Eraser, Google Gemini-powered tasks, scam detection, and contextual keyboard hints are highlighted as updates likely to reach older models too. Overall, a modest upgrade that costs more.

via The Verge|

#galaxy-s26 #hands-on #mobile

tech4 months ago•56 min saved

Purse Computer: turning a foldable phone into a light workstation

A Verge writer tests Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 as a portable workstation by pairing it with a slim travel keyboard (Logitech Keys 2 Go) and a kickstand case, dubbing the setup “Purse Computer.” The piece walks through the evolving workflow, including workarounds for app windows and Slack in Chrome, and notes tradeoffs like poorer battery life and occasional app quirks. It’s pitched as a convenient laptop substitute for short trips, not a full-day replacement.

via The Verge|

#foldable-phones #gadgets #hands-on

technology5 months ago•89 min saved

AR glasses translate Bad Bunny in real time during the Super Bowl halftime

A Tom’s Guide writer tests the Ray-Ban Meta Display smart glasses at the Super Bowl halftime, using built‑in AI translations to understand Bad Bunny in real time. The in‑lens overlay provides concise translations without pulling you away from the show, though accuracy isn’t perfect and lines can be missed if the camera doesn’t catch the right moment. Gesture controls exist but voice input remains the easier option. Overall, the experience deepens appreciation for the performance and shows the glasses can translate lyrics on the fly, though it’s not flawless; price is about $799.

via Tom's Guide|

#augmented-reality #bad-bunny #hands-on

tech5 months ago•57 min saved

Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones: a playful slimline helper with limited cleaning power

Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones is a $599 ultra-slim cordless vacuum with no traditional handle and four fluffy cone rollers designed as a stylish touch‑up companion to a robot vacuum. It’s extremely lightweight and easy to maneuver, with a magnetic dock, but its suction is modest and it won’t clean carpets; at roughly 20–30 minutes of runtime, it’s best for stairs, baseboards, and quick spot-cleaning rather than whole-home cleaning, and it uses Bluetooth with a limited Dyson app.

via theverge.com|

#dyson #hands-on #home-appliance