Sony halves price of PlayStation Now streaming games service to go up against Microsoft, Google - CNET

Sony's slashing prices for its game streaming service.

Josh Miller/CNET

Sony isn't playing games with its PlayStation Now streaming games service. Starting Tuesday, the monthly price for the service will be cut in half, to $9.99 per month. Sony says it's taking the dramatic step in order to keep in line with competition.

The new price, which drops from the $19.99 per month it costs now, will be "comparable to other entertainment streaming services on the market," Sony said in a statement. 

While the move will likely be celebrated by subscribers, it offers yet another sign of how strongly companies are willing to compete to get our dollars. Streaming services have become all the rage, with all manner of companies offering TV, movies, music and, yes, even video games sent over the internet to your phone, laptop, tablet or console.

The popularity and ease of streaming technology has pushed a new generation of consumers drops cable bills, leading to a land grab effort by the likes of Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Google and even CNET parent CBS. 

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To attract ever more people, prices have dropped steadily. Disney Plus, for example, will cost $7.99 per month when it launches later this year, offering access to more than a dozen new original shows in addition to back catalog of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel films. Apple TV Plus, meanwhile, will charge $4.99 per month when it launches later this year, promising new shows from entertainment royalty like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell and Oprah Winfrey (not to mention, people who buy a new iPhone, iPad or Mac from the tech behemoth will get a year of Apple TV Plus for free).

While there are many streaming video and music services to choose from, Sony's PlayStation Now, which launched in 2014, has been one of the few gaming services available for years.

Part of that, industry executives say, is the higher cost of building and maintaining the ultra fast internet connections and powerful data centers capable of creating a game's intricate visuals, streaming them to a player, and then responding to button presses on a controller. Those costs helped to sink the early game streaming company OnLive, which shut down in 2015.

If price is the first hurdle, then you don't even get a chance to show your technology is superior

Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Creative Strategies

A new band of streaming services is starting up though, driven by falling costs of computer components and faster internet connections across around the world. They include Microsoft's Xbox team, which will begin testing its Project xCloud streaming service in October, and game maker Electronic Arts, which announced its game streaming service last year and began publicly testing it last month. Neither has said how much their respective services will cost.

"The power of instant access is magical, and it's already transformed the music and movie industries," Google's Phil Harrison said when he announced the tech giant's Stadia game streaming service in March. It's planned to launch in November, and will be free to use if you buy the game through Google. 

Not everyone's convinced though. Some people believe that eventually people will sour on having so many subscriptions.

"Most Americans want two, three or four subscriptions -- they certainly don't want 40 of them, and they aren't going to pay for them," Strauss Zelnick, interim chairman of CBS and CEO of game maker Take-Two Interactive, which makes hit titles like Grand Theft Auto V and the western epic Red Dead Redemption 2, said in an interview this summer. 

To help PlayStation Now stand out, Sony's relying on a back-catalog of more than 800 games available on the service, including its hit 2013 post-apocalyptic survival game The Last of Us, Bethesda Softworks' popular adventure game Fallout 4, and the fighting game Mortal Kombat X which was published by Warner Bros.

Sony said it'll be making some of its more popular games available on the service during the holidays, including the Indiana Jones-esque action game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, last year's epic God of War and Take-Two Interactive's hit Grand Theft Auto V.

That pressure to stand out and become one of the few eventual survivors is likely what's driving Sony's decision to drop its price so dramatically.

"Word of mouth is still important when convincing your peers and people you game with that this is a good solution," said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies. "if price is the first hurdle, then you don't even get a chance to show your technology is superior." 

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2019-10-01 12:00:00Z
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Here's when 5G could make an actual difference in your life - CNET

Smartphone companies like Samsung use Qualcomm's modems in their 5G devices.

Chris Monroe/CNET

There are so many promises about how faster 5G data will transform our lives, it sometimes feels mythical. Though lightning-fast download speeds are slowly coming to more carriers and phones, self-driving cars talking to each other, remote surgery and 5G replacing your home Wi-Fi feel more like advancements in some distant future. But at last, we're finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Qualcomm, which makes the 5G chips and modems that every 5G phone in the US will rely on, shared a road map (scroll to end) that spells out when we might start seeing 5G improvements beyond just fast download speeds. Qualcomm isn't the only major 5G player, of course -- Huawei, Nokia and Ericsson are all leaders, too -- but Qualcomm's investments in 5G research and development mean that it has a strong hand in getting the next wave of 5G benefits off the ground. So, its timeline is a good place to start.

Here are five next-gen milestones that could actually affect you.

Now playing: Watch this: 5G means more than just fast downloads to your phone

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Every high-end phone could be 5G in 2020

Qualcomm has said it before: all premium phones will support 5G next year. It's a confident statement that both predicts and reflects the trend we're seeing with phones like the Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G, LG V50, OnePlus 7 Pro 5G and others. But there's a little nuance here, too.

The pattern so far points to a pricier 5G version of every mainstream phone, for example, as we see with the Galaxy S10 Plus and Galaxy S10 5G. 4G-only options are still valuable during the 5G transition because they come with a lower price tag. And phone-makers like Samsung want to flood the market with options at every price point, to capture a wide swath of buyers. 

"Every high-end phone that gets launched next year will be 5G. Every single one." Qualcomm CTO Jim Thompson @CNET #5G

— Jessica Dolcourt (@jdolcourt) September 24, 2019

While we'll see more 5G phones next year, it's a likely bet that we'll continue to see what we're seeing now -- a 5G option for every major lineup. By 2021, when the networks are fully developed and prices start to come down, it's more likely that every premium phone model will support 5G from the get-go, without a 4G variant to provide a cheaper option. 

That said, keep an eye out for one-off handsets for 5G service only, like foldable phones and "affordable 5G" devices aimed at specific markets, like the Galaxy A90 5G. Regions with more developed 5G networks, like Korea, may also see more 5G phones (without 4G variants) if the rate of adoption continues to climb. 

5G laptops will appear in 2020, too

Lenovo has already announced its intentions to make a 5G connected PC in early 2020, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see several other 5G-capable laptops surface at January's giant CES tech show, along with a carefully managed in-booth demo. We may not actually see those laptops hit the market for awhile, but you'd better believe that some laptop-makers will lunge at the chance to be one of the first to bring 5G to computing -- just as you see happening right now with phones.

Our first experiences with 5G carriers have been choppy. That's not unexpected when you consider that 5G coverage and reliability are just starting to get off the ground. But once carriers like Verizon, Sprint/T-Mobile and AT&T begin to build out not just pockets of 5G but whole neighborhoods where you can get ultrafast connections in major cities, Qualcomm bets that the hunger for 5G laptops will follow.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The mobile-chip leader already powers always-connected 4G PCs like the Asus NovaGo. Always-connected 5G PCs are simply the next step. 

The main difference between 5G laptops and 5G phones is that there will be far fewer of them, even when 5G starts becoming much more stable and widespread. Phones are connected to the network by definition. You can live your whole life without needing a cellular data connection on your laptop, so long as you've got Wi-Fi or a hotspot.

Fixed 5G that replaces your Wi-Fi router: It's slowly begun

5G hubs that work like Wi-Fi for your for home are already here. One example of fixed 5G is the HTC 5G Hub with Sprint, a device that plugs into your router to deliver home broadband in the form of the mmWave flavor of 5G (the wireless spectrum carriers are using to deliver 5G). The goal here is to compete with the dominant cable provider, a potential boon if you live in an area with few home broadband options.

Fixed 5G uses a different part of the network than your mobile phones (it isn't the same as hotspotting your phone to power a device), but it's designed to deliver the same dramatically high speeds, say between 500Mbps to over 1Gbps (gigabit-per-second) in practice, with perhaps faster speeds down the road.

While you might be able to subscribe to home 5G if you live in the right place, it's still extremely early days. The devices and coverage areas are few and far between. Data plans are expensive, and if you blow past the data cap (which is easy to do when you're streaming movies, games and music), you'll drop down to much slower data speeds -- about 3Mbps if you use Verizon's 5G hotspot and 2G speeds with Sprint's HTC 5G Hub. 

Sprint's HTC 5G Hub brings 5G to your home network.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Self-driving cars that talk to each other

The 5G-connected car is one of the most compelling future scenarios. In one demo Qualcomm likes to show, an autonomous car outfitted with 5G sensors runs the same route as a car without 5G. The 5G-powered sensors take in data from other connected vehicles, understanding when a car door is opening, if there's an obstruction in the road and when pedestrians are finished crossing the street. At the end of the demo, the 5G-connected car is better informed of obstructions and arrives at the destination much faster.

But reality could be decades away. This capability (which Qualcomm calls 5G NR Cellular V2X) has a target of 2021 for its first commercial use. But before 5G in autonomous cars can become common, the self-driving vehicles have to, as well.

The first cars that can drive themselves without any driver input or oversight could emerge in the early 2020s, but they'll be rare and highly regulated. That is, there will likely be only a few of these vehicles approved to work in tightly constrained areas for really specific purposes, say within a 10-square mile geofence. The safety of self-driving cars is a touchy subject, and the industry will likely proceed with caution.

Self-driving vehicles need the green light before being steered by 5G.

Pony.ai

Cheaper, lower-powered 5G to your smartwatch

5G connectivity is expensive, from the chips that help a device ping the network to the carrier that provides the service. For wearables like your smartwatch, fitness tracker and smart glasses (maybe like Amazon's new Echo Frames), the full 5G treatment might be overkill, and expensive enough to keep it off wearables even when 5G phones become more ubiquitous.

But lower-powered 5G could reduce prices while keeping wearables connected. Right now, this variation on 5G, referred to in the image below as NR-Light, is on the tablet for future discussion -- but it isn't in development yet. Look for the first of their kind no earlier than 2023. 

For more on the speedy data technology, read up on all the myths surrounding 5G and how 5G can help shape the world beyond fast phones alone. 

A peek at Qualcomm's 5G development plans for future releases.

Qualcomm

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2019-10-01 11:00:01Z
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ARM-based Surface: why Microsoft has to bet big on this processor - The Verge

Of everything Microsoft is rumored to be announcing this week, the ARM-based Surface is far and away the most important thing to my mind. This is not what I would have told you a month or two ago, honestly. It’s surprising because there are really important storylines for everything Microsoft is set to announce. Let’s just strafe a few of them before digging into ARM.

Take the Surface Pro, for example. Microsoft hasn’t changed the overall design in years, so it feels overdue for a bezel-killing update. At the very least, Microsoft will hopefully bow to the inevitable and include a proper USB-C port on it.

The potential dual-screen device hits on so many long-running Microsoft stories I can’t even begin to list them all. There’s the ancient history of the Courier concept, the old history of Microsoft trying and failing to make Windows Phone successful, and the recent history of hardware boss Panos Panay hinting that Microsoft needs to do something in mobile, even if it’s not specifically a phone.

Command Line is The Verge’s daily newsletter about personal tech. You should subscribe! We’ll be trying something a little different with the newsletter format over the next few weeks, and I’m really eager to hear your feedback. Please feel free to email me at dieter@theverge.com if you have thoughts. -Dieter

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You’ve also got Lenovo out there showing how to make a foldable PC feel like a prototype, but can Microsoft make something that feels mainstream? A lot will ride on the rumored “Lite” version of Windows — which has its own dubious Windows S mode predecessor to leave behind, and potential competition with Chrome OS to look ahead to.

Then there’s the Surface Laptop. Any heads-up competitor to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is worth paying attention to right now. Sure, Microsoft has the Surface Book line, but the Surface Laptop line is much more mainstream. It also, as I’m sure we’ll be reminded of this week, has an excellent keyboard. Plus, the idea of Microsoft potentially leaving Intel processors out of one of its flagship devices is definitely going to cause a stir.

So why, with all those rich veins of tech analysis to mine, am I most interested in the ARM-based Surface? Because it’s the future of mainstream Windows computers, and Microsoft had better not screw it up.

The benefits of switching to ARM are manifold. The main one is battery life, which is often rated above 20 hours for a laptop. That’s substantially better than anything Intel currently has to offer. It also makes it significantly easier to add LTE options (and, presumably, 5G) to hardware. ARM processors also tend to run cooler than x86 processors, which frees up manufacturers to experiment with different (read: thinner and lighter) form factors.

So: longer battery life, easier cellular integration, and thinner devices. As nice as the Surface Pro can be, there is a limit to how much it can improve in those areas, and that limit’s name is x86.

The switch to ARM is also exciting precisely because we know of a tablet that runs on an ARM processor that’s so fast and powerful that it flat out smokes comparably priced laptops in benchmarks. That tablet, of course, is Apple’s iPad Pro. It’s so fast that everybody has been assuming that Apple will switch the Mac over to an ARM processor sometime soon.

In principle, there’s no reason an ARM-based Windows tablet couldn’t reach similar heights of performance. And Microsoft will surely feel pretty good about getting the Surface on ARM before the Mac makes the change over.

Microsoft is making the right bet by going with ARM because it needs to find something that can be more innovative than Intel. Getting ARM right simply opens up so many more opportunities for Microsoft than sticking with Intel does. It’s not just making thinner tablets that could go up against the iPad. It’s completely different form factors — that dual-screen device, for example, would be a good candidate.

Chrome OS continues to be a thorn in Microsoft’s side — especially in the education market. ARM could help drive the cost of Windows machines down while keeping overall quality up (that last part is vital so as to avoid flashbacks to the netbook era).

That all sounds great, but you know that there’s a “but” coming. Here it is: to date, ARM-based Windows laptops have been bad. They’re slower and still have some compatibility issues to work though.

So while ARM is the right bet, it’s also a very risky bet. As Microsoft’s first ARM-based Surface, it needs to be fast enough for most people’s everyday use — and I mean without any slowdowns for most tasks. That wasn’t quite the case with the Surface Go, which could handle simple tasks, but was far too easy to bog down. Reportedly, Intel talked Microsoft out of using ARM last year with the Surface Go. Maybe that was right for the Go, but I can tell you from personal experience that it meant battery life has been really disappointing.

With a big processor change and eye-popping battery numbers, I bet more people will be tempted to buy this ARM Surface than the Go. That means more pressure on Microsoft to deliver something that’s fast enough. And that pressure will be compounded because whatever Microsoft releases is bound to end up being compared directly to Apple’s iPad Pro.

So far, we haven’t seen evidence that any ARM-based Windows machine is really up to that challenge.

Supposedly, salvation for Windows on ARM is coming in the form of the Qualcomm 8cx chip. I have no idea if that’s what Microsoft will go with and on top of that, nobody has any idea if the 8cx will really be as good as promised. The only laptop using it we’ve laid our hands on is the Galaxy Book S. Early looks were promising, but nobody has actually reviewed it because it hasn’t been released yet.

Whatever chip Microsoft chooses, it needs to deliver something that can convince lots of users that it’s powerful enough to be their main computer. The original idea for the Surface was to show the rest of the industry how to make better Windows computers. Now Microsoft needs to do it again with ARM.

---

Today on The Verge

+ Microsoft Surface event: rumors, leaks, and what to expect

A very good list from Tom Warren. I know you’re expecting me to opine on the potential of a folding, dual-screen device — but I won’t do that today. Instead, I want to focus on something else: that ARM-powered Surface. It is Microsoft’s biggest opportunity and also its biggest risk.

+ Google’s Project Jacquard is available on new Levi’s jackets

I wear a Levi’s Trucker Jacket (or a knockoff thereof) nearly every day. I am obsessed with smartwatches and wearables and gadgets. If there’s an ideal customer for this jacket, it is me. So I reviewed it and am impressed with how much the technology has progressed in the past couple years — but not so impressed that I would spend the extra money for the Jacquard version of this jacket.

+ HP’s Spectre x360 13 seems like an improvement in almost every way

HP is making really good-looking and unique laptops — and that OLED option is really tempting. I was all set to rage about how much I would want this laptop if weren’t for the fact that HP obstinately refuses to include Precision Touchpad drivers, but — wonder of wonders — it does. It’s always dangerous to assume there isn’t a deal-breaking problem on a just-announced laptop, so wait for reviews. Still: this could give whatever Microsoft announces a run for its money.

Just Elon Musk things

Elon Musk aims to put SpaceX’s Starship in orbit in six months

Loren Grush provides essential context for the “prototype” Starship in this story, but graciously refrains from listing the 100 times Musk has overpromised on a timeline in bullet point form.

“This is going to sound totally nuts, but I think we want to try to reach orbit in less than six months,” Musk said. “Provided the rate of design improvement and manufacturing improvement continues to be exponential, I think that is accurate to within a few months.”

+ Here are some pretty photos, too: SpaceX’s massive Starship test rocket shines in Boca Chica, Texas

+ Tesla’s Smart Summon feature is already causing chaos in parking lots across America

This is going to be a fun new way for everybody to figure out who’s liable for accidents. And by “fun” I mean “thousand-yard-stare inspiring.”

Today in Pixel leaks

+ Android 10’s impressive Live Caption feature will likely launch on Pixel 4

This is legit the best thing about Android 10. It’s a win for accessibility and a win for people who just want to see what the YouTubers are saying without having to turn sound on. I increasingly leave closed captioning on for all television that I don’t care about turning into a cinematic experience, and I expect I’ll be doing the same on phones.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/1/20887386/microsoft-surface-event-pro-7-arm-windows-laptops

2019-10-01 11:00:00Z
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Microsoft Surface event: rumors, leaks and what to expect - The Verge

Microsoft is holding a big Surface hardware event in New York City on Wednesday, October 2nd. The company has been teasing this event continually on Twitter, and is even inviting Surface fans to attend. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will be in attendance, alongside Surface chief Panos Panay. It seems like we’re on the cusp on a significant event, perhaps as big or bigger than the Surface 2015 event when the Surface Book, Microsoft Band 2, Surface Pro 4, and three Lumia phones were introduced.

There haven’t been any major leaks about what we might see on Wednesday, but rumors suggest we’ll see some refreshes of popular devices like the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, alongside a new mysterious ARM-powered Surface. The most significant part of the day could be Microsoft ushering in its dual-screen plans for Surface and beyond, and a new Windows variant to make those plans a reality. Let’s explore what we’re likely, and unlikely, to see on Wednesday.

Microsoft refreshed the Surface Pro lineup with the sixth edition last year in a new black matte finish, but crucially without USB-C connectivity. We’re expecting to see the Surface Pro 7 arrive on Wednesday, complete with USB-C support. How Microsoft adds USB-C to its Surface Pro 7 isn’t exactly clear, but we’re hoping the company simply replaces the Mini DisplayPort with USB-C at the minimum and keeps a USB-A port for compatibility. Patents from earlier this year suggested that we might even see some type of new Surface Type Cover with a future Surface Pro.

Outside of USB-C, it’s highly likely the Surface Pro 7 will include Intel’s latest 10th Gen processors, and perhaps even some new color options (according to rumors). There could even be a new Surface Pen with wireless charging, as a recent FCC filing revealed a new stylus is on the way.

Microsoft has been rumored to be working on an ARM-powered Surface for months now, and it’s likely we’ll see the unveiling on Wednesday. Unlike previous Surfaces with Nvidia Tegra ARM chips inside (Surface RT, Surface 2), Microsoft is rumored to be working with Qualcomm on this particular Surface. That means the device will likely be powered by Qualcomm’s latest 8cx chip, which was first unveiled nearly a year ago.

We haven’t seen many ARM-powered Windows laptops throughout 2019, but Samsung surprised us with its new Galaxy Book S recently and a promise of 23 hours of battery life. If Microsoft creates a Qualcomm-powered Surface then it could be the push that other OEMs need to take this type of device seriously. Windows on ARM still lags behind regular Windows 10, thanks to some app compatibility and generally poor performance from previous Qualcomm chips, but the Snapdragon 8cx could change things.

Little details have leaked about Microsoft’s Surface ARM plans, and it’s not really clear what type of device we’ll see this processor in. Microsoft leaker WalkingCat has revealed that Microsoft could introduce a “Surface Pro with thinner bezel and LTE,” hinting that this might be the ARM-powered device that has been rumored. LTE is a natural byproduct of using Qualcomm’s chips, and you’d expect a different design to the traditional Surface Pro. If the rumors are accurate, then it would be surprising to see Microsoft use the “Surface Pro” moniker on an ARM-powered device.

Microsoft looks set to launch new Surface Laptop 3 models on Wednesday. While the existing Surface Laptop 2 comes in just a 13.5-inch edition, it looks increasingly likely that Microsoft will launch a 15-inch model. Rumors have also suggested that Microsoft will use AMD processors in the Surface Laptop for the first time. If you put the AMD rumors and 15-inch rumors together then it’s likely we’ll see a larger Surface Laptop 3 with AMD chips inside.

It’s not clear if the smaller 13.5-inch model will be refreshed or even include AMD chips, but it would be surprising to see Microsoft just launch a Surface Laptop 3 in one new size and no refresh on the smaller model.

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 might even appear without the infamous Alcantara fabric covering. WalkingCat has hinted that Microsoft could launch a Surface Laptop 3 without Alcantara, and even include removable SSDs as an option. If both changes are true, they’d appeal to a number of commercial customers who need to swap out drives and don’t want to look after the Alcantara fabric like a luxury handbag.

The big surprise of the day will likely be Microsoft’s tease of the future of Windows. We’ve known for a while that Microsoft has been working on a dual-screen Surface device, codenamed “Centaurus,” and the October 2nd event could serve as the first unveiling of this new type of hardware. Microsoft has been building a new dual-screen device for more than two years, and it’s designed to be the hero device for a wave of new dual-screen tablet / laptop hybrids that OEMs are expected to launch throughout 2020.

Microsoft demonstrated this new device during an internal meeting earlier this year, showing that work on the prototype has gone beyond the early stages. A key part of this hardware will be Windows Lite, the codename for a new Windows variant that will power dual-screen devices. Also known as “Santorini” internally, Windows Lite is more of a Chrome OS-like version of Windows designed specifically for dual-screen and foldable devices.

Intel has been pushing OEMs to create dual-screen devices, and a lot of the hardware could look similar to Microsoft’s original Courier concept or even include foldable displays in the future. The Windows Lite interface will be similar to Windows as it exists today, but it will be more of a mix of what Microsoft does with its Surface Hub shell and the limited functionality of its Windows Phone Continuum user interface. The underlying parts of Windows Lite are built on Microsoft’s new Composable Shell (C-Shell) and Windows Core OS, a more modular version of the existing Windows Shell that powers many parts of Windows 10.

How much Microsoft reveals about its dual-screen Surface plans and even Windows Lite remains to be seen, but we’re expecting to see some type of teaser on Wednesday. These devices aren’t expected to be ready until next year, so we won’t likely see final hardware or even software, but just a brief glimpse of the future of Windows.

Alongside the more traditional Surface devices, we could be about to see some type of Surface speaker. Microsoft surprised us all with Surface Headphones last year, and a new patent suggests the company is working on a portable speaker for Microsoft Teams.

The portable speaker itself appears to have a similar design to Google’s Home Mini, with fabric wrapped around the top and volume buttons with the ability to make, receive, and mute calls. That hints that this is related to Microsoft Teams and meeting rooms, and one of the inventors is a principle design manager for Microsoft Teams devices. The device also appears to have a removable base, perhaps to allow it to charge and be positioned around a meeting room.

Microsoft also demonstrated a prototype for a new consumer version of Microsoft Teams earlier this year, dubbed Microsoft Teams “for life.” It’s designed as an extension of Microsoft’s chat app for friends and family. Microsoft is experimenting with features like sending location, shared family calendars, and document sharing. We may see this new version of Teams alongside a potential Surface speaker.

There’s clearly a lot planned for Wednesday, but we’re not expecting any updates to other Surface products like the Surface Book 3 or Surface Go. While a 15-inch version of the Surface Laptop 3 could certainly rival the Surface Book, we’d still expect to see this product updated at some point in the near future. Likewise, a new Surface Go doesn’t seem likely for Wednesday, especially if Microsoft is about to unveil an ARM-powered Surface Pro.

Microsoft is also rumored to be working on Surface-branded earbuds to take on Apple’s AirPods. Amazon just launched its own Echo Buds with Alexa built in, and Microsoft unveiled its first Surface Headphones at its Surface event last year. We haven’t heard any additional rumors about these potential Surface earbuds appearing before the end of 2019, so it would be surprising to see them on Wednesday.

The Verge will be covering Microsoft’s Surface event live, with a dedicated live blog and all the news as it happens. Microsoft’s Surface event starts at 10AM ET / 7AM PT on Wednesday, October 2nd.

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2019-09-30 12:00:00Z
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Xiaomi’s Mi 9T Pro is one of this year’s best phone bargains - Circuit Breaker

With the barely believable Mi Mix Alpha and its wraparound display dominating attention last week, you could have been forgiven for not noticing the other phone Xiaomi announced at its event, the Mi 9 Pro 5G. Xiaomi has released a lot of phones that look and feel very similar this year, and frankly it’s getting hard to keep up.

Another Xiaomi phone that I’ve been using in recent weeks, the Mi 9T Pro, very much falls into that category. Nothing about its spec sheet particularly stands out even within Xiaomi’s lineup, let alone the Chinese smartphone landscape at large. That I’m only getting around to writing about it this week is down to quirks of Xiaomi’s convoluted naming schemes and global release schedules. But I still think it’s one of the most notable phones of the year.

To put the Mi 9T Pro into context, allow me to briefly explain the Mi 9 line. First off, the flagship Mi 9 and mid-range Mi 9 SE were announced in February. As is typical for Xiaomi, the Mi 9 paired high-end specs (Snapdragon 855, etc) with an affordable price (£499 / €449). I reviewed the Mi 9 when it came to Europe in April; it was good. Then in June, a cheaper €329 variant called the Mi 9T was also released in mainland Europe.

The Mi 9T, however, was a completely different phone. It had a slower Snapdragon 730 processor, a notchless display, a pop-up selfie camera, and an all-new design. All-new, that is, if you hadn’t been paying attention to Indian phone launches the previous month, when the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro were announced. The Mi 9T is just a rebranded Redmi K20.

Now here we are in the fall with the £399 Mi 9T Pro, which is a rebranded Redmi K20 Pro. Why Xiaomi didn’t put this phone out earlier in the year is beyond me, but Europeans shouldn’t sleep on it. It’s even more flagship-like than the Mi 9, at an even lower price.

The Mi 9T Pro’s spec sheet looks pretty standard if you’re used to following Chinese phones, but drop this thing into an AT&T store and it’d be as high-end as anything else. You’ve got a Snapdragon 855 processor, notchless 6.4-inch OLED screen, in-display fingerprint sensor, pop-up selfie camera, 4,000mAh battery, and triple-rear cameras including a 48-megapixel primary unit alongside telephoto and ultrawide lenses. It’s basically a OnePlus 7 Pro without the high refresh rate screen, except it starts at £399 instead of £699. (Conversions being what they are, US residents should think of this as a $399 phone.)

What makes the Mi 9T Pro different to Xiaomi’s other high-spec-low-cost endeavors — take last year’s sub-$300 Pocophone F1, which crammed the fastest parts available into the cheapest body possible — is that it doesn’t compromise on design. There are lots of neat flourishes here, from the tiny circle in the pop-up camera module that lights up when the phone is charging to the way the holographic rear panel shimmers in response to its surroundings.

Now, the Mi 9 remains a sleeker device in a few ways. It has a few flagship-esque touches, like wireless charging and a better haptic engine. It’s also noticeably thinner, although it does have a smaller battery and omits the headphone jack. The design is certainly more understated, if that’s your thing. Overall, though, the 9T Pro feels like a more balanced, capable phone for most people — not to mention a cheaper one.

The phone’s price, however, actually sparked some controversy in India when it was released as the K20 Pro. Many Indian tech followers, who are often both very knowledgeable about phone specs and keen to get the best value possible, were disappointed in the K20 Pro’s 27,999-rupee ($395) price point after expecting something more in line with the Pocophone F1. (The $7,000 gold version didn’t help.)

Xiaomi found itself having to justify the price in an open letter to Indian fans, pointing out that its features don’t come cheap. But given the Pocophone precedent, those who prioritize price-performance over everything else won’t have been satisfied.

In Europe, though, this is arguably the best-value flagship-class phone around — and I do call this a flagship-class phone. It’d probably be a big deal in the less competitive US market, too, if Xiaomi had ever figured out how to sell phones there. If you’re looking to buy a phone at around this price point, I can’t think of a better option.

Xiaomi releases phones at such an intense pace and in such seemingly random locales that it’s easy to ignore individual models and just think of the lineup as a collective hive mind devoted to being pretty good for whatever the price is. Sometimes, though, the company transcends the sweet spot and delivers something of really incredible value. The Mi 9T Pro, or K20 Pro, is one of those times.

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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/9/30/20890945/xiaomi-mi-9-pro-hands-on-review-price

2019-09-30 10:02:00Z
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