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  • REVIEW: MICROSOFT SURFACE STUDIO 2

    REVIEW: MICROSOFT SURFACE STUDIO 2

    Clear your desk: Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 is here. Actually, you might want to get a new desk. That’s what I had to do, because the Surface Studio’s 28-inch display didn’t fit well on the cluttered desk where I normally sit. All week, WIRED people walked by my (new) desk and said one of two things: Why are you sitting over here? Or, Oh wow, look at that screen.
    The Surface Studio 2 is a personal computing workstation, a glossy hulk of a display with a sleek aluminum frame, a minimal base, and a hinge that lets you tilt the touchscreen display so that it hovers, nearly-flat, above your desk. It’s the second-generation Surface Studio—the first one came out in the fall of 2016—and most of its updates are internal. It runs Windows 10 Pro. This is a performance PC, designed for people who do a lot of heavy multimedia work. To an extent, it’s for people who enjoy playing PC games too.
    It also costs $3,500. Or really, for a configuration with the maximum amount of memory, $4,200. That price does include the keyboard, mouse, and a Surface Pen, but not the $99 Surface Dial, a puck can you place directly on the Studio’s giant display and turn and press and click to interact with apps. (You really don’t need this dial, though it’s a fun tool to take for a spin, pun intended.) While the Surface Studio 2 isn’t as costly or as powerful as Apple’s $5,000 iMac Pro, the machine that Microsoft is taking direct aim at with this, the price still puts it in the category of you-really-need-to-justify-it computers.
    But just look at this thing! (You can’t, because you are not here, staring at the screen alongside me; you’ll have to trust me.) It’s the kind of computer that makes you believe you’ll make great things with it when you’re not, you know, playing Forza or watching Netflix. You’ll be so productive! Think of how much you can fit on the screen, and more importantly, the detail you’ll be able to see. But really: You will work on your life’s oeurve on this computer.
    Like the first Surface Studio, the main attraction on the Surface Studio 2 is its 28-inch PixelSense display. That’s Microsoft’s trademarked phrase, and what it means is that there are roughly a bajillion pixels. 13.5 million pixels, to be exact, with a resolution of 4,500 by 3,000 and a brightness level of 515 nits. It has a 3 by 2 aspect ratio, which Microsoft starting using in its Surface computers back in 2014 and has stuck with ever since. (The iMac Pro, in comparison, has a 16:9 aspect ratio.)
    But the Surface Studio 2’s display is a touchscreen, which means you can move fluidly between the Studio’s Bluetooth keyboard, mouse, and actually touching the screen when the mood strikes you. And the mood will strike you: The screen is so luminous, you’ll want to reach for it. No matter that you’ll smudge up the Gorilla Glass that coats it. You’ll want to tap and swipe your way across it.
    The display isn’t dramatically different from the one on the original Surface Studio. It even has the same, inch-thick bezels. But Microsoft has made some improvements. The brightness and contrast have been bumped up. While I didn’t have the two Surface Studio models set up side-by-side for comparison (I would surely need another desk for that), colors showed well in photos in Lightroom and in Adobe After Effects, which my WIRED colleague Paul Sarconi usually works in and which he volunteered to use on the Surface Studio 2.
    At the top of the display there’s a Windows Hello facial recognition camera, which, again, was on the first Surface Studio. It’s been working more smoothly than Windows Hello has ever worked on a Surface laptop for me, although let’s assume I’m opening laptops at weird angles sometimes, whereas this is set in position. The display is enclosed in an aluminum chassis, which is attached to the base via two stainless steel arms.
    And then there’s the “zero gravity” hinge, named as such because of the way the display appears to hover above the base when you’ve tilted the screen way back. Some of you might recall that Lenovo tried to do this years ago with a 27-inch “tabletop PC” called the IdeaCentre Horizon. Things got awkward, more awkward even than its name suggested. Somehow, when Microsoft first introduced the Studio, it made tilting back a giant touchscreen look sexy. I can tell you in all honesty that I felt almost no need to actually use the Surface Studio 2 in this mode. But I wanted to. Sort of.
    MICROSOFT
    The base, which houses all of the Studio’s most critical components, is a nondescript gray box. All of its ports have been positioned on the back of the base, which means you’re reaching far behind the display to do something as simple as plug in your headphones. Along with that headphone jack, you get an SD card reader, an Ethernet port, four USB 3.0 ports, and one USB-C port. The USB-C port is both a positive addition and an imperfect one. Microsoft has left USB-C off of some of its newer Surface computers, so I’m thankful it’s represented here. But this USB-C port doesn’t support Thunderbolt 3, which would let you connect a variety of different devices to the machine.
    The biggest update to the new Surface Studio 2 is its internals. The first Surface Studio shipped with a sixth-generation Core i5 processor in its base model, along with a Nvidia GeForce 965M graphics card. This new Studio ships with a seventh-generation Core i7 chip and GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, the latter of which is a significant upgrade.
    It’s worth noting, though, that the seventh-gen Intel Core processor is already a generation behind, and Microsoft won’t say why it has gone with this chipset rather than using newer, more powerful Intel chips. But Microsoft is standing by its claim that the Surface Studio 2 is the fastest Surface computer it has ever shipped, likely because of the way the CPU and GPU are coupled and because of the change from a slower hybrid disk drive to a full solid-state drive. It’s also offering up to 2-terabytes of storage, and has bumped the base RAM from 8 gigabytes up to 16.
    This makes it a PC that’s very capable of supporting power-hungry media projects as well as console-level gaming, even if it’s not the most powerful workstation on the market. It easily handled Forza Horizon 4, which I was lucky enough to play for my job, and Paul said the Surface Studio 2 was a dream to work on for an afternoon using AfterEffects. The program was responsive when he called up multiple source files, and his project rendered quickly (“way faster” than it would on his MacBook Pro, he said, though that’s his day-to-day machine that’s been loaded with apps and files at this point.)
    Do you need the Microsoft Surface Studio 2 for your day-to-day work? Probably not, unless you’re a serious multimedia professional. Even then, you’ll have to make a critical choice between the Mac and Windows ecosystem, and for some people, that’s a deal-breaker—especially at this price. And as a workstation, it’s not as though the Surface Studio 2 is unparalleled. There is, of course, the iMac Pro.
    But in six short years, Microsoft has gone from making accessory hardware to making its own laptops to making a powerful workstation that is an absolute thing of beauty. That’s something I can get behind, impractical for me though it may be.
  • REVIEW: IPAD PRO (2018)

    REVIEW: IPAD PRO (2018)

    LIKE A COLLEGE graduate ready to head off into the workforce and start a career, Apple has graduated the iPad from tablet school. As he prepared to lift the curtain on the new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro last week, CEO Tim Cook explained that Apple sees the iPad as a personal computer now. Apple says that new designation makes iPad the top-selling line of PCs in the world.
    It’s a fair comparison. After using a new iPad Pro 12.9 for a few days, I can say that it’s most definitely a refreshing, positive step forward for the iPad. It could also be called a “computer.” Is it the right computer for you? That’s another story.

    As Thin As Can Be

    The first thing you’ll notice about the new iPad Pro is what it’s missing. Like the iPhone XR and its peers, the Pro has no home button. Instead, its screen stretches from edge to edge… to edge to edge. All four sides are rimmed with thin and equally-sized black bezels, making it easier to forget where the top of the device really is. Sometimes iOS will actually point out where the power button is on the edge because, rightfully, it thinks I may have forgotten.
    The back of the 5.9mm aluminum shell feels incredibly sturdy, and sheds the tapered edges that have defined the iPad for most of its existence. The back is now flat like the bottom of a box, right up to the side. The design looks like a refined version of the iPhone 5. The shape also feels like what the original 2011 iPad was trying to accomplish—this time with no bump in the back, except for the camera.
    The Liquid Retina LCD displays are huge, stretching 11 or nearly 13 inches, depending on which model you choose. They’re gorgeous and packed with pixels. Like the iPhone XR, the corners of the display are rounded thanks to precision-milled glass and a host of other tech treats. Color is vibrant and precise enough for Photoshopping and minute color tweaking if needed. (Apple tests the color accuracy of its displays in 160 different points.) The Pro also adapts the warmth of its display to the lighting in your room.
    The new iPad Pro also comes with Face ID, which uses a collection of cameras, sensors, and algorithms to identify your face in a way that it claims is more secure than fingerprint authentication or passwords. It works well, and doesn’t require that cut-out notch on the screen like the iPhone. It’s not quirk-free, though. We usually hold our iPhones in a portrait (vertical) orientation because that’s just how they fit in our hand. With an iPad like this, you almost always use two hands, and that means there isn’t really a “right” or “wrong” way to hold it. From time to time, my hands would sometimes accidentally block the Face ID camera when I held it in landscape (widescreen) orientation. And if I’m lounging around, my face may also be out of view. As I’ve gotten used to keeping my head in front of the tablet screen, and my hands away from its front-facing camera, Face ID evolved from a hindrance to a helpful, secure aid. I’ve never bothered to add a passcode or use Touch ID on older iPads. Now it’s easy enough that I just might.
    The 7-megapixel front camera is also pretty proficient at selfies, Animoji, and video chatting—-provided your hand isn’t blocking it. The 12-megapixel shooter is also up to iPhone standards, though I’ve found it a little too cumbersome (and embarrassing!) to use a 13-inch tablet as a camera while I’ve roamed around San Francisco this weekend. Apple did show me some impressive demonstrations of its augmented reality capabilities, made possible by that camera. I examined the inside of a plant to learn all about how it lives in an app called Plantale, and had fun bringing a Lego Ninjago playset to life as an iOS game. I grew up as one of those kids who hated damaging his beautiful Lego creations. I may have had more fun if I could have blown them up digitally.

    Yet As Powerful As a PC

    The inside of the iPad is just as impressive as the outside. The Pro has an A12X Bionic chip, which is kind of a turbocharged version of the processor that’s packed into every iPhone XS and XR. It has eight cores: four for super demanding work, like playing Fortnite, and four more for easier tasks, like perusing your email. This year, it can mix and match those cores more efficiently, giving it almost 2x better multi-core performance than before. The graphics chip also pumps out around 2x more power, all without compromising the 10-hour battery life every iPad has gotten.
    Apple claims the new iPad Pro is faster than 92 percent of all laptops sold in the past year, including some with an Intel Core i7 CPU, and compared its game graphics prowess to an Xbox One S. No apps or games I’ve used have been able to make the Pro break a sweat at all and benchmark numbers have been impressive.
    Photographers and video editors might like the new storage options. The Pro comes with 64GB of memory by default, but you can bump that number as high as 1TB. And since this tablet has a USB-C charging port, you can more easily connect it to a camera, external monitor, and other accessories. Yes, that is singular. There is only one port. Start shopping for dongles if you need more. Apple now sells a ton of them. And pick up some good wireless headphones while you’re at it. Though Apple’s redesigned quad speakers sound amazing for a tablet (or laptop), the headphone jack is gone.

    Pencil or Keyboard?

    Apple redesigned its two key accessories for the new iPad Pro. The new Apple Pencil ($129) and Smart Keyboard Folio ($179) each got noticeable upgrades this year. The one you choose may indicate how much you’ll like your new iPad Pro.
    No laptop can emulate the drawing capabilities of the Apple Pencil, or feel as natural to hold and use with touch.
    The Apple Pencil is my favorite. It now has a matte plastic design and comes flat on one side so it can magnetically snap onto the edge of either size iPad Pro—automatically pairing via Bluetooth and charging. It’s hard to stress how much of a game changer this simple magnetic charging is, but it eliminates a lot of needless steps. The Pencil is always charged, paired, and ready to go. (Just be careful; it can still snap off in your bag.)
    I’m a god-awful artist, but I found myself doodling on the iPad Pro. Three years after its debut, the refined Pencil is still the most responsive, accurate digital writing tool I’ve ever used. It’s fun to try out different virtual drawing tools, like colored pencils, and as a leftie, I love that iPad never thinks I’m trying to draw with my palm.
    The 12.9-inch Pro is still a huge tablet, but feels more manageable this year thanks to the thinner bezels. In fact, it’s now about the size of a magazine (or sheet of paper, as Apple likes to point out), which is a comfortable, familiar size for reading and writing.
    The Smart Keyboard Folio is also improved. It magnetically snaps onto the back of the tablet with an equally pleasant click and also just works. It now has two angles you can choose from and the keys are naturally spaced and have enough travel (depth) and click to them that it didn’t take me any time to adjust from my MacBook Pro. My only complaints? It would be nice to have even more angles, and the larger iPad can feel a bit unstable if you use it on your lap. Since the camera sits on the left side, it’s tough to frame yourself properly for a video chat.

    The Best Tablet

    By every measure I can think of, these are the best, most powerful, most capable iPads I’ve ever used. They put other tablets to shame.
    But Apple has begged the question: Can an 11-inch ($799) or 13-inch ($999) iPad Pro replace your need for a MacBook or Windows PC at work? It’s possible, but you’ll need the right kind of occupation, and a lot of patience and determination.
    No laptop can emulate the drawing capabilities of the Apple Pencil, or feel as natural to hold and use with touch. It’s not even close. The iPad Pro has a clear lead over PCs there.
    As a more traditional work PC, it sometimes struggles. In a pinch, the iPad Pro and its Smart Keyboard are usable. For example, I wrote this review on the Pro in Google Docs while also opening webpages on the right side of my screen, but it took me longer than normal to do research and collect links—and a good long while to figure out how to do other tasks. I wanted to use the normal web version of Docs, but I had to use the app. My office also uses a collaboration tool called Airtable that wouldn’t work in an iPad browser. It also tossed me to the app, which lacked key features. Attaching specific files was kind of a nightmare in the Gmail app, too. Some apps, like Spotify, don’t allow Split View multitasking (side-by-side viewing) at all yet. You have to use them full screen. Spreadsheets are also tougher (slower) to manipulate in the apps I’ve used.
    I found solutions to all of these problems, and I’m sure I can keep finding creative solutions to make the iPad Pro work as a PC, but the hassles will keep coming. The iPad’s web browsers are still treated more like their less-capable smartphone counterparts, and the apps that are supposed to work in their place also sometimes lack desktop features. Part of this is the fault of developers, but Apple bears responsibility, as well.
    It doesn’t feel like the world is ready to treat my iPad as an equal to a PC yet—even if that iPad is a lot more powerful and user friendly. Now that Apple has declared the iPad is a PC, it should take more of the guardrails off of iOS and strongly encourage developers to treat it like they do the Mac. It’s time for iOS to grow up and get a job.
    The iPad Pro is one of the most powerful computers you can own. It could be the best PC, too. Or better than a Mac. For now, it still has to settle for being the best tablet money can buy.
  • REVIEW: KINDLE PAPERWHITE (2018)

    REVIEW: KINDLE PAPERWHITE (2018)

    AMAZON’S KINDLES AREN’T quite as innovative as other new consumer electronics. This is a good thing. A Kindle shouldn’t have a Twitter app to distract you from the book you’re reading, nor does it need Alexa to squawk at you after launching an Audible book. Kindles have been rightly limited to an E-Ink display, the ability to buy more media from Amazon, and your own joy of reading.
    The new Kindle Paperwhite, available today, takes those essential features and makes them better. It’s the fourth generation of the Paperwhite, and it falls squarely between the less expensive Kindle and the pricey Kindle Oasis in Amazon’s e-reader lineup. The $130 Paperwhite is the best selling Kindle ever, and all signs point to this new one helping Paperwhite maintain its Most Popular status. It has a sleeker design, more storage, an updated processor—and now it’s waterproof.
    While Kindle hasn’t adopted the technologies we’ve seen creep into all of our other new gadgets (OLED displays! voice assistants! multi-lens cameras!), it has improved. I’ve been using the new Paperwhite for the past six days while traveling, and it has worked great. I haven’t been able to test Amazon’s “six weeks” battery life claim yet, but I can tell you I’ve been using it for days and it’s still 60 percent charged.

    Read Between the Lines

    The new Kindle Paperwhite’s looks are still largely uninspiring, but the design has been refined. The previous Paperwhite had a recessed display, which meant there was a tiny cliff leading from bezel to screen. On the new Paperwhite, the bezel is flush with the display. It has a smooth, unobtrusive front design.
    Pool lovers and bathtub readers will greatly appreciate the addition of waterproofing to the Paperwhite.
    It has the same 6-inch, black-and-white, 300 ppi (pixels per inch) display as the previous generation, but the new Paperwhite adds an additional LED light. Owners of the previous Paperwhite complained that it had obvious shadows when you popped up the display’s brightness, and they were right. This was especially noticeable near the bottom of the device, where there was a gap in the LEDs. As I look at the new Paperwhite right now, with the display brightness set to 100 percent, I see no noticeable bruises on the display.
    Most Kindles are infinitely holdable, but this one is even more so: Amazon says it’s 10 percent thinner and lighter than the last Paperwhite. I was only able to do a brief side-by-side comparison of the two models, so I can’t say whether this makes a huge difference over a long period of time.
    But I can say that the new Paperwhite, on its own, is comfortable to hold in the hand for an extended period of time. If you opt for a model with both WiFi and LTE radios, it will be slightly heavier. Amazon’s fabric-and-plastic accessory case also adds more weight, and extracting the Kindle from the case is still a nail-breaking activity, but a case is worth it for the extra protection.
    Speaking of protection, this new Paperwhite is waterproof, up to two meters for 60 minutes. It took Amazon a decade to waterproof the Kindle; the second-generation Kindle Oasis, which came out last fall, was the first Kindle with this claim. Now that Kindles are waterproofed, there’s no turning back. Pool lovers and bathtub readers will greatly appreciate this addition to the Paperwhite.

    Balanced Books

    The Paperwhite now ships with a minimum of 8 gigabytes of internal storage, double what it shipped with before, and goes up to 32 gigabytes of storage if you’re willing to cough up $160 (that’s for a version of the Paperwhite that shows you ads). Amazon says this means you can download “thousands of books,” for those who want to attempt such a thing.
    While the new Paperwhite features the same amount of low-power RAM as previous Kindle models, its processor has been updated. But here’s where the Kindle stutters, and would make those used to reading on a tablet frustrated. Page turning on the Paperwhite is fine, but waking up the device can take five seconds or longer, which feels endless. Typing in a WiFi password on the Paperwhite’s “experimental” browser, so you can download an Audible book, is painful. The Paperwhite froze up entirely—twice—when I encountered the photo-filled middle section of the book The Wave.
    This Kindle also offers the option to listen to Audible, following suit with last year’s Oasis. Based on my relatively brief experience using Audible (I prefer to read text than listen), it works fine. It doesn’t have any speakers, though, so you’ll need Bluetooth headphones to listen to books.
    The software experience has also been improved with the release of this new hardware, and includes new features that will roll out to all Kindles. Amazon’s long-standing Whispersync feature, which ensures your page location, bookmarks, and highlights are synced across all of your devices with the Kindle app, is there. But Amazon has now found more ways to recommend books to you on the home page (Amazon gonna Amazon).
    One of my favorite new features is the ability to custom name a preset with a certain font type and size. So when I read the Kindle while running on a hotel treadmill this week, I could go into the Page Display dropdown menu, tap on the “Treadmill” preset I created, and pop the font up to a larger size. Actually creating the preset is a little klugy—you have to set the font first, and then name it and save it rather than indicating you want to create a preset and then creating it—but you can set up to five of these.
    The real question, of course, is how the new Paperwhite compares to the top-of-the-line Kindle Oasis. Should you even consider the Oasis? It’s pricier, yes—but the Oasis has the largest and brightest display with the most LED lights, and its back is made of aluminum. In addition to its touchscreen, it has page-turn buttons; the Paperwhite only has the touchscreen. The Oasis also has built-in ambient sensors that automatically change the display’s brightness as you move into different lighting environments.
    But the new Paperwhite, with its lighter design, waterproofing, and support for Audible, has caught up to the Oasis in some key areas. As I was using the new Paperwhite, I had no sense of FOMO or thoughts of wanting to upgrade to the Oasis instead. And again, the new Paperwhite costs a lot less. You can use the extra bucks instead to buy more stuff on Amazon, which has always been the most clever part of Amazon’s hardware design.


  • Review: DJI Osmo Pocket

    Review: DJI Osmo Pocket

     This mobile gadget puts a stabilized, drone-style camera into a handheld grip, enabling you to shoot super-smooth video as you walk, run, ski, or skydive.

    Imagine a DJI drone. It’s an expensive, powerful, covetable gadget that appeals to a certain subset of tech buyers, like people who care a lot about capturing video in specific scenarios.
    Now picture a much, much smaller version of that; a DJI device that doesn’t fly but still captures amazing, stable video. It’s expensive for what it is. Also, it will appeal to a certain subset of tech buyers, people who care a lot about … you see where I’m going with this.

    That’s the essence of the Osmo Pocket. It’s the latest gadget in DJI’s Osmo line of handheld gimbals—tri-axis devices that tilt and pan and pitch along with the person who is shooting video, which helps keep the captured footage relatively stable and free of shakes. Some of these Osmo products support an existing smartphone; others have built-in cameras themselves. The new Osmo Pocket offers both. It also stands out because of its diminutive size, as its name suggests. It’s easily gripable, definitely pocketable. Also: It’s fun.
    But! (You knew there was a but.) At $349, it’s not cheap. You’ll almost certainly want to buy some accessories, too, if you want to maximize the Pocket. And while the Pocket captures impressive footage and still photos, it’s a bit of a tweener device. It has some of the attributes of a newer GoPro, but its form factor and lack of waterproofing rule out some activities. It supports a smartphone if you just want to shoot video with that; but if you’re going to do that, you should at least consider the much-cheaper Osmo Mobile 2.
    Speaking of smartphones: The Osmo Pocket feels like it very well could go the way of the Flip, that handy pocket camera that was decimated by emerging smartphone technology. But in the meantime? It’s fun.

    Video Star

    The Osmo Pocket measures just 4.8 inches tall and weighs four ounces. It feels you’re like holding a thick, rectangular toothbrush in your hand. Except, the head of the Osmo Pocket isn’t a toothbrush. Protruding from the stick is a slim, curved neck and a kind of mini-robot head that houses a 1 and 2/3-inch sensor. This isn’t the same kind of full-frame sensor you’d find in a serious camera, but it’s still a respectable size. The Osmo Pocket captures 12-megapixel still images and, more notably, full 4K video at up to 60 frames per second.
    You can also attach a smartphone, via Lightning or USB-C, directly to the Osmo Pocket and use DJI’s Mimo app as a live viewfinder. There are also extra controls within the Mimo app, so you’ll probably want to utilize those in certain settings. But the device itself also has a small LCD touchscreen, and after using the Pocket a few times I’m convinced that capturing video on the tiny thing itself is a large part of its charm.
    The Pocket’s interface is intuitive. Below the LCD screen, there are two buttons, one for powering on and off and toggling through certain functions (three presses on the plain button puts it into selfie mode, for example) and one for recording or shooting a still. There’s also a USB-C charging port on the bottom, and a slot for the microSD card on the side. The Pocket lasts for a couple of hours if you’re shooting HD video; the battery drains significantly once you switch to 4K capture, and the Pocket can get toasty in 4K mode.

    Right On Track

    Swiping through all of the Pocket’s built-in settings is intuitive, too. The first time I used it I went rogue, figuring it out in the car before embarking on a coastal tour to see elephant seals, and experienced minimal confusion using the Pocket. You swipe down on the LCD touchscreen to go to Settings, which is where you’ll enable things like Superfine video mode or Glamour still photo mode (the glamour FX are very real). Swipe up to adjust the gimbal’s settings—like whether you want the Pocket in Follow mode or FPV mode, which will impact how much the Pocket will “follow” you or the subject you’re capturing. Swipe to the side to switch from Photo to Video capture, and vise versa, or to set up a time-lapse or switch things into slow motion.
    The Pocket’s abilities to follow you or your subject as you’re capturing video is one of its standout features. Both the Pocket and the Osmo Mobile 2 gimbal support “Active Track,” which locks on a subject in the frame and will follow them as they move around. But the Pocket also has face tracking, so it zeroed in on my face as I used the Pocket in selfie mode and followed my head movements. At times, the Pocket followed me so closely that it felt like it was peering at me. This is a dream feature for influencers, who often have to shoot themselves doing cool things (or basic things) in order to feed the social media hype machine; they might not know, depending on their camera rig, if they’re staying in frame or not.
    But that buttery smooth video—that’s what you’re really getting with a handheld gimbal like this. That trip to see elephant seals, which have their breeding season around this time of year, involved hiking a coastal trail and hoofing it over sand dunes to get to the main event. The 4K, 60 fps video I captured from that day was cinematic in quality and had the kind of professional sheen that shows up in expertly shot videos (and is often lacking from shaky smartphone videos).
    At the same time, some of the video and stills I shot on that gray, windy day highlighted some of the Pocket’s drawbacks. Some of the still photos were blown out, and there’s no real way to adjust exposure on the device itself. For that, you’ll need to attach your smartphone to it and run the DJI Mimo app, which offers a variety of manual controls.
    And the built-in mic on the Pocket picked up on all kinds of wind and sharp noises. In general the audio capture is just OK. For more professional sound, you’ll want to use an external mic, which also might mean picking up a USB-C adapter. The accessories you’ll want for the Pocket add up quickly; the wireless module I’ve been using costs $59, and the external controller wheel will cost you the same. The Pocket isn’t waterproof—that alone means it’s not great for your surf sesh, although its form factor might limit that somewhat too—but you can buy a third-party waterproof case for it.
    The DJI Mimo app has a robust array of features once it’s connected to the Pocket. But it also has its quirks. Thumbnails for the images and videos on my smartphone’s camera roll appeared out of order in the Mimo app, which made importing select clips a nightmare. Despite the Pocket having incredible 4K video capture, the Mimo app compresses those clips before it lets you import them and edit them within the app. Connecting the wireless module, which offers options for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, required a couple of app restarts before the Pocket and my smartphone appeared to want to talk to one another.
    Neither the Pocket nor the app will stream live video either. Which means the Pocket lacks one of the major appeals of capturing video on smartphones, at least for some people. The Osmo Pocket is really occupying a niche space between smartphones and GoPros and much bigger professional cameras—and thanks to software, image stabilization is getting quite good on those devices too. It’s hard to say if the Pocket will take the world by storm beyond the vloggers who have already embraced it.
    But did I mention that it’s fun?

    BUY NOW

  • How to Pick the Right Diamond Cut for Her

    Are you ready to take that important next step in your life? Congratulations! Proposing to your girlfriend can be a nerve-wracking event and choosing the right ring to pop the question with is the most important part. After all, she’ll be wearing that ring every day for the rest of her life.
    So, what do you need to look for when buying a ring? Remember the 4 “C”s: cut, color, carat, and clarity. Ideally, you’ll want to pick a ring that meets the highest standards for your budget in all three categories.
    However, the cut is the most obvious of the three. There are various cuts to choose from, including round, princess, and oval.
    Keep reading for help deciding which diamond cut is best for her.

    Look at Her Other Jewelry

    Our first tip is to look at what she already has. Look at her rings, earrings, and necklaces and observe the shape of the diamond.
    If she doesn’t own a lot of diamonds, that’s okay! Look at how the metals and other gems are shaped. Does she have a lot of twisting circles or more bold corners?
    Use this as a basis of what she may like, considering primary and secondary shapes.

    Consider Her Personality

    Our second tip is to evaluate her personality. A woman’s favorite diamond cut can be connected to different aspects of her personality.
    If you’re in love with a sophisticated and glamorous woman, consider the most popular shape: round. This classic diamond cut emits a sense of eternal beauty. Round diamonds tend to sparkle the most and reflect light with every move.
    Is your girlfriend more bold and contemporary? Does she watch New York Fashion Week and look out for jewelry trends from the Met Gala? If so, consider a princess cut. As the second most popular shape, princess cuts focus on bringing beauty to a square diamond. The sharp edges and angular design create a clean-cut and modern ring.
    If she is elegant and loves timeless jewelry, consider the radiant cut with the Asscher being a secondary choice. They both contain soft edges and rounded corners to create a lovely ring that will never go out of style.
    Does she love anything vintage inspired, from house decor to vintage watches? Then, consider an emerald cut. This elongated diamond screams vintage-glam. An oval diamond can act as a secondary option. It gives a similar feel as the emerald cut while being based off a rounder silhouette.

    Get A Professional Opinion

    Of course, not all women will fall so easily into one of these categories. If you’re still having trouble deciding on a diamond cut, get an opinion from a professional. A jeweler, like anillos de pedida, can help explain all the different cuts to you, and give you some valuable insight on what your future wife might love.

    Choosing the Right Diamond Cut

    Finding the right diamond cut can be a daunting task. There is so much more than just round or square to choose from.
    When deciding on a cut, start by looking at her other jewelry. What shapes does she seem to stick with time and time again?
    Then, consider her personality. For example, a classic round diamond might be best for those glamorous women out there. But, a princess cut might suit a bold and fashionable woman.
    Did you enjoy this article? Check out our blog for more great content.

  • How to Accessorize For Every Dress Style

    Strapless, one-shoulder, A-line – you’ve got every style of dress to match the various occasions on your social calendar.
    The same jewelry and accessories just won’t go with every style. This post will show you how to accessorize for every dress style in your wardrobe.
    From statement necklaces to delicate earrings, every piece has a place and an outfit. Accessories can make all the difference in your total look. Keep reading to learn the essentials for choosing accessories.

    3 Things to Consider when Choosing Accessories

    The three most important factors to consider when picking out jewelry, hair pieces or scarves are:

    • Color
    • Scale
    • Style

    Here’s how to use these three factors to best compliment your dress style.

    Color

    Color choices are among the most important in your overall outfit. Choosing colors that clash only brings negative attention to you. Accessory colors should compliment the dress style you’re wearing as well as your skin tone.
    Accessories with bright, vibrant color work great with black, white or a neutral colored dress. The simple color of the dress makes your bright accessories pop.
    If you’re wearing a colorful dress, the accessories should be a simple color that pairs well with it.
    For a simple and effective style, choose primary and secondary colors that are next to each other on the basic color wheel. Primary colors are the basic red, blue and yellow, and secondary colors are the result of two primary colors mixed together, like red and yellow making orange.
    When primary and secondary colors are the same level of lightness or darkness, they create a stunning, stylish outfit.
    Have fun trying different colors of dresses and accessories to see what looks best with your features and skin tone. Avoid wearing more than three colors in your whole outfit.

    Scale

    How simple or dramatic your dress is will also determine how simple or dramatic to go with accessories. If your dress has an animal print, big stripes or patterns, simple accessories are the way to go. Dresses with ruffles or sequins match best with understated jewelry as well.
    Scale is especially important when it comes to purses and handbags. Your body type is a determining factor when deciding on the right handbag to compliment your dress style.
    For example, if you’re tall and thin, a shorter purse like a clutch will look better. Women who are short should stay away from purses with long straps. Medium-sized handbags pair well for curvy women, whereas petite women will want to avoid large satchels that appear too big with their small frames.

    Style

    The accessories you choose say a lot about your fashion style. You can dress up a plain dress with glamorous, chandelier earrings or keep the look plain with pearls. Shoes, belts, scarves – they all play a part in telling your fashion story.
    With a light sundress, you might like playful accessories such as chunky jewelry, a slouchy handbag, and colorful flats.
    If you’re wearing a little black dress for a girl’s night out, you might like edgy accessories like a studded handbag or a thick cuff bracelet.
    And with an elegant evening gown, glamorous accessories like a large cocktail ring and an embellished clutch would look great.

    Tips for Accessorizing Dress Styles

    Finding the right jewelry, shoes, and accessories are equally as important as picking out the right dress for your occasion. Accessories can make or break the look you’re going for.
    With attention to color, scale, and style, here are a few more tips to keep in mind when choosing the right accessories for any dress style.

    1. Every Accessory Should Add Something to the Look

    Over-accessorizing and under-accessorizing are all too common of errors among women. Before leaving the house, take another once-over in the mirror to see if any jewelry pieces aren’t serving your look. On the flip side, do you need to add a piece of jewelry?
    Sentimental pieces don’t have to be worn with every dress. Each accessory should compliment you and the dress. If it doesn’t, save it for another outfit.

    2. Buy Versatile Accessories

    The same necklace might not work with every dress type, but one headband or handbag can go with various styles of dresses. An accessory is much more valuable when you can get a great deal of use out of it.
    Some sentimental accessories can even be versatile. For example, a late grandmother’s large cocktail ring looks great with her granddaughter’s long sleeve homecoming dresses. The accessory adds interest and emotion to the dress.

    3. Accessories Should be Appropriate for the Occasion

    While style has become more lenient in today’s society, it’s still important to give off the appropriate tone and vibe with your jewelry and accessories. Any contrast in your accessories should further compliment the dress style.
    Sophisticated crystal earrings may look great on you during a day full of meetings, but avoid those shimmery pieces if you’re giving a presentation. The shimmer is distracting and will take away from your speech.
    Experiment with different styles and always use your best judgment when choosing accessories for your dress.

    4. Work with Your Skin Tone

    When choosing colorful accessories, be conscious of your skin tone. Choose gemstones that look great against your skin color. Try different hues of turquoise, gold or silver to see what looks best against your skin.

    5. Work with Your Facial Features and Body Frame

    Be aware of where you’re drawing attention with your accessories. The layout and size of your jewelry can complement your body features. For example, layering necklaces can add immense style to a dress but too much can overpower your body frame.
    Keep the length of your necklaces in mind as well as the width of your cuff bracelets. You don’t want to draw attention in a negative way.
    Accessories are a fun way to dress up or dress down any dress style. By being conscious of color, scale, and style and using your best judgment of your own features, you can create various styles with any dress.

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