Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is great but the Apple Watch Series 6 is still the best smartwatch

The Apple Watch is better than any smartwatches available for Android. It pains me to say this – my primary SIM card is in an Android phone far more often than it’s in an iPhone – but it’s true.

The good news for us is, Android smartwatches have improved significantly over the past year. The Oppo Watch has a gorgeous curved screen; the Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro has insane 14-day battery life and premium build quality, and the Fitbit Versa 2 spent months on my wrist in 2020. But of all these non-Apple offerings I’ve tested, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 is perhaps the best overall in terms of performance, software, and hardware — although I must mention that I have not tested the TicWatch Pro 3 yet, which we gave high praise.

While the Galaxy Watch 3 is very good, it still falls short of the Apple Watch Series 6 – and I’m not talking about subjective things like design, fit, and comfort, but rather crucial performance areas that aren’t as subjective.

Before I dive into why the Apple Watch 3 is better, I want to state that I understand it’s not a fair comparison in a vacuum since the Apple Watch locks you into Apple’s eco-system. In contrast, the Galaxy Watch 3 can technically work with any phone (although it works best with a Samsung). If you’re a frequent XDA visitor, you’ve likely already decided to be on Team Android. However, I think it’s worth highlighting areas Android smartwatches fall short and could do better.

Galaxy Watch 3 (left) and Apple Watch Series 6 (right).

Responding to notifications

We all have our reasons for wearing a smartwatch. Some people like the look; some want to track physical activities; others use it to tell time (crazy idea, I know). But for me, the biggest reason to wear a smartwatch is to save me from needing to pull out my phone every single time I have an incoming notification.

This means I don’t just want to be able to read my incoming text messages; I like the ability to respond to them as well. Unfortunately, this immediately disqualifies a chunk of Android smartwatches. Huawei’s proprietary OS running on its recent wearables does not let me respond to notifications at all. Fitbit’s OS only lets me respond with canned messages. The Oppo Watch running WearOS allows me to respond, but the methods to do so are not practical. Samsung’s TizenOS, almost by lack of competition, does the best job in the Android space — but the Apple Watch handles it better.

My preferred method to respond to text messages is by simply speaking to my watch, and the Apple Watch’s voice dictation tech is uncanny; it can pick up my words in real-time with 99% accuracy. I talk, and the Watch picks it up, even if it’s dozens of words spanning multiple sentences.

Voice dictation on the Galaxy Watch 3 is noticeably slower; it falls far behind my voice almost from the start, and while it does eventually catch up, it will usually have misheard a few words. If I have to guess, I’d say accuracy is around 75%.

Don’t believe me? I did a side-by-side test on video. Just as a test, I spoke the entire first verse of the iconic Fresh Prince of Bel-Air intro theme, and you can see that the Apple Watch Series 6 kept up with me almost word for word and came out with just a couple of mistakes. At the same time, the Galaxy Watch 3 fell behind early, and the finished text misheard/misinterpreted at least six words.

The Galaxy Watch 3’s mistakes are also non-sensical: what is “Delphia”? At least when the Apple Watch misheard, it still pushed out a word that makes sense grammatically.

Now here’s the thing: this is already a huge improvement for Samsung! I remember using an older Galaxy Gear watch around 2018 and was frustrated by its inability to keep up with even a five or six-word sentence.

Voice dictation is, of course, just one way to respond. Another method is to input words via an on-screen keyboard. WearOS shows a full QWERTY keyboard, which makes sense in theory but as soon as you begin pecking away at the tiny keys, you realize a smartwatch screen is far too cramped for a full keyboard.

Samsung and Apple understand this and have alternatives. Both offer a “scribble” mode that lets us use our finger to write out individual alphabets on the screen. But just like voice dictation, the Apple Watch 6 handles scribbling faster and more intelligently than the Galaxy Watch 3. WatchOS seems to have better autocorrect and response times compared to TizenOS. This shouldn’t be surprising considering the drastic difference in processing power, which I’ll cover in the next section.

SoC

The Apple Watch Series 6 runs on a brand new S6 chip based on the A13 Bionic chip used in the iPhone 11. Think about how crazy that is: that’s like an Android smartwatch today running on a Snapdragon 855.

The Galaxy Watch 3’s silicon, meanwhile, is the two-year-old Exynos 9110. There’s no real way to benchmark these two chips, but as I mentioned, the Apple Watch seems a far more capable at processing human speech, and apps launch noticeably faster on the Apple Watch 6 than on the Galaxy Watch 3 too.

Apps

The rest of the software outside of voice dictation also is a significant win for Apple’s WatchOS. The Watch app on iOS offers a more seamless experience than the Galaxy Wearable app. Both apps will redirect you to their native app store to download apps. Still, while iOS’s Watch app and App Store share the same design language and switch over immediately, Samsung’s Galaxy Wearable app looks nothing like its Galaxy App store, and switching over usually requires a few seconds of load times. It’s particularly jarring on my Fold 2 because the Galaxy Wearable app has a dark interface while the Galaxy App store has a white interface, so it’s a sharp jump to go from a pitch-black UI to a bright white one.

Software update for the Apple Watch is one single update always. On the Galaxy Wearable app, different apps and services within the watch each require a separate download. So instead of tapping install once, you may tap eight or nine times in a day.

The selection of third-party apps in the Galaxy app store is also anemic. Not that name recognition is everything, but in Apple’s Watch app store, there’s a familiar brand every other swipe — Nike, Starbucks, NBA, New York Times, SoundHound, ESPN, CNN, and so on — while on the Galaxy Watch, the only familiar third party app most will have heard of Flipboard.

This is a problem that also applies to WearOS watches or Huawei’s smartwatches, and it will likely never be fixed, as app developers have far more incentives to build for the Apple Watch platform since iOS users spend far more on apps than Android users and the number of Apple Watches (and hence the potential market size) in the wild outweigh every other brand by a large margin.

The Apple Watch also handles Spotify better, with a better-designed interface that shows more information, including all my playlists and album art. On the Galaxy Watch 3, it’s a bare-bones UI.

Watch faces and complications

The selection of watch faces and complications, like third-party app selection, is also a lop-sided affair. The Apple Watch not only has dozens more watch faces to choose from, but they’re also, in my opinion, better looking, have a far more comprehensive range of styles, and some support multiple complications that are customizable. Samsung’s watch face gallery, on the other hand, all look similar, and only the main five or six let you customize complications, and then only for Samsung’s first-party apps like Samsung Calendar, Samsung Email, etc. Watch faces on Apple’s wearable can support third-party apps — for example, I have complications for Spotify and Google Maps on one of them.

Voice assistant

Apple’s Siri is by no means the best digital voice assistant – Google’s Assistant is almost objectively better at understanding context and finding the relevant information – but Siri is still far better than Samsung’s Bixby.

Siri can also automatically detect when I am speaking to it: anytime I bring the Apple Watch to my wrist and start speaking, Siri begins picking up my words. Even in a noisy environment like the middle of a busy street, it works well. To activate Bixby on the Galaxy Watch 3, you first have to say the trigger phrase “Hey Bixby,” and it doesn’t always work.

Fitness and health tracking

This part, thankfully for Samsung (and us Android users), is much closer. The most significant addition to the Apple Watch Series 6 this year is a blood-oxygen sensor to track oxygen saturation levels — this is something Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 and even the older Galaxy Watch Active 2 already offer. Likewise, for the Apple Watch’s ability to conduct an electrocardiogram (ECG) — Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 can do that too, having recently received FDA clearance to go live in the US. Both the blood-oxygen tracking and ECG are easy to activate on the Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch 3, but Apple’s wearable one-ups Samsung by being able to passively track blood-oxygen-level without prompt. This means the Apple Watch is more likely to notice irregular heart rhythm or blood-oxygen levels.

However, whether these wrist-worn wearables can provide accurate data for blood-oxygen saturation levels or heart rhythm remains to be seen, and the evidence seems iffy. Not only do I find the results inconsistent, but other reviewers, including our former colleague Max Weinbach, noticed the same.

Apple’s seems just as bad as Samsung’s, which often gave me readings that meant I should be at the hospital when actual medical equipment said I was in perfect health.

Basically, don’t trust these wearables for blood-oxygen quite yet. https://t.co/c0iM1iKDUu

— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) September 23, 2020

For more simple health tracking, such as basic heart rate and step count, both do a great job and seem accurate enough. Both are smart enough to automatically begin tracking hikes (or fast walking for extended periods) and cycling as exercises.

More complicated exercises, like gym sessions, will require manually starting the tracking. It’s here where Samsung and Apple takes a different approach. Apple classifies weight lifting as one exercise; Samsung breaks the act of lifting weights into nearly a dozen specific activities, like “bench press,” “squats,” “deadlifts,” and even “curls.” Serious weightlifters or bodybuilders who spend entire gym sessions honing in on one exercise may appreciate Samsung’s approach. Still, for most regular users, a one-hour weight lifting session will see us doing five to six different activities, so Samsung expects us to switch manually every time.

Samsung is better at sleep tracking, however. I wore both watches to sleep for a couple of nights as a test, and the Galaxy Watch 3 consistently gave me a more accurate time that represents the actual time I was asleep.

Where the Galaxy Watch 3 wins

While the Apple Watch Series 6 is almost certainly better than the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 (and most other Android watches) in all the crucial areas like software, watch faces, third-party apps, and notification management, there are some areas the Galaxy Watch 3 wins.

The Galaxy Watch 3 has better battery life, for example. Samsung advertises two-day battery life, and I’ve been achieving that and more. After a full 24 hour period away from a charger, my Galaxy Watch 3 still has 65% battery right now. The Apple Watch, meanwhile, needs charging at least once a day.

I also love the rotatable bezel of the Galaxy Watch 3 — the tactile feedback makes navigating UI via rotating the bezel feels very satisfying. You also get stainless steel on all Galaxy Watch 3 models, whereas Apple Watch 6 starts with aluminum, and stainless steel costs extra.

There’s also the issue of eco-system and phone brand lock-in. If you’re getting an Apple Watch, you can only use it with an iPhone. The Galaxy Watch 3, meanwhile, will work with any phone, be it a Samsung or Apple, Huawei, or OnePlus. However, it’s still best to use with a Samsung phone, because if you use another Android, you’ll have to download the Galaxy Wearable app, as well as all the additional Samsung apps like Samsung Health, Samsung Email, and more, to be able to use the watch to its fullest capabilities.

I know this article may annoy some readers who think I’m using this article to prop up Apple. But as I’ve already explained at the beginning: I prefer Android to iOS, and my primary phone is Android more often than not. I’ve wished there was an Android option that worked as seamlessly and well as the Apple Watch. Two years ago, the gap was so huge it seemed like a pipe dream. But now? The Galaxy Watch 3 has closed the gap enough that I’m satisfied, but it can still get better.

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If you're not already invested in the Android ecosystem, the Apple Watch Series 6 is the best smartwatch you should buy. It outweighs the Galaxy Watch 3 in many ways, but crucially, it doesn't work with Android devices and you'll need an iPhone to be able to use it.

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The Galaxy Watch 3 offers a lot of good features, and while it doesn't compete with the Apple Watch Series 6 in certain areas, it's the best option if you have an Android phone.

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Spotify, Epic Games, and others join “Coalition for App Fairness” non-profit to oppose Apple and Google

The mobile software ecosystem is dominated by two big names: Apple and Google, both of whom control their respective app stores. This control has come under scrutiny, largely thanks to the recent attempt by Epic Games to bypass the app store fees with a direct payment option on its popular game, Fortnite. This was promptly followed up with the game getting removed from both the stores and then with Epic suing both Apple and Google. Now, several big-name developers like Spotify and Epic Games have come together to create a non-profit, called Coalition for App Fairness, to oppose the monopolies enjoyed by Apple and Google.

Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) has been established as an independent non-profit organization with Basecamp, Blix, Blockchain.com, Deezer, Epic Games, the European Publishers Council, Match Group (Tinder and Hinge), News Media Europe, Prepear, Protonmail, SkyDemon, Spotify, and Tile as its founding members. The group hopes to advocate for “enforcement and reforms, including legal and regulatory changes, to preserve consumer choice and a level playing field for app and game developers that rely on app stores and the most popular gatekeeper platforms“.

Apple strictly controls the hardware and software ecosystem on its own devices, with an approach that is frequently referred to as a “walled garden”. Google, on the other hand, is the dominant force behind Android. While Android is open source, it is missing a lot of crucial pieces that end-users have come to expect out of an “Android smartphone”. These include the Google Play Store and the Google Play Services framework, with the former being the primary means of app distribution and the latter being one of the most important background services on a phone that is needed for other apps to reliably work.

As CAF puts it forward, app stores (Google Play Store, Apple App Store) are a convenient location to discover apps. But as the Fortnite drama brought to light, the gatekeeper platforms that operate these app stores enjoy a very large amount of control. For years, app developers have been raising their concerns about the onerous and often arbitrary terms and conditions that govern these stores, including but not limited to the excessive 30% app store fees on every single transaction through the stores and their frameworks. CAF is advocating for fairness, not just in the app store fees, but also against anti-competitive policies and the lack of consumer freedom.

The Coalition of App Fairness proposes the following as rights for every app developer, regardless of the size or nature of the developer’s business:

1. No developer should be required to use an app store exclusively, or to use ancillary services of the app store owner, including payment systems, or to accept other supplementary obligations in order to have access to the app store.
2. No developer should be blocked from the platform or discriminated against based on a developer’s business model, how it delivers content and services, or whether it competes in any way with the app store owner.
3. Every developer should have timely access to the same interoperability interfaces and technical information as the app store owner makes available to its own developers.
4. Every developer should always have access to app stores as long as its app meets fair, objective and nondiscriminatory standards for security, privacy, quality, content, and digital safety.
5. A developer’s data should not be used to compete with the developer.
6. Every developer should always have the right to communicate directly with its users through its app for legitimate business purposes.
7. No app store owner or its platform should engage in self-preferencing its own apps or services, or interfere with users’ choice of preferences or defaults.
8. No developer should be required to pay unfair, unreasonable or discriminatory fees or revenue shares, nor be required to sell within its app anything it doesn’t wish to sell, as a condition to gain access to the app store.
9. No app store owner should prohibit third parties from offering competing app stores on the app store owner’s platform, or discourage developers or consumers from using them.
10. All app stores will be transparent about their rules and policies and opportunities for promotion and marketing, apply these consistently and objectively, provide notice of changes, and make available a quick, simple and fair process to resolve disputes.

The Coalition for App Fairness has issued an open call to all developers, to join them if they wish to change the monopolist control of app ecosystems.

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Story Via: NYTimes

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Save up to 95% on These VPN and Cloud Storage Subscriptions

Ask any cybersecurity expert for their top advice, and they will suggest using a VPN and backing up your files. If you would like to take heed of this advice without breaking the bank, check out these deals at the XDA Developers Depot. 

KeepSolid VPN Unlimited: Infinity Plan (10 Devices)

With over 400 servers around the world and military-grade encryption, KeepSolid VPN Unlimited is a great option. Named PC Mag’s Top VPN, this service offers unlimited protection on all your devices and absolutely no logging. Worth $299, lifetime subscriptions covering 10 devices are now $59.

Degoo Premium: Lifetime 10TB Backup Plan

With more cloud storage than Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive combined, Degoo Premium lets you back up all your devices. Your data is protected by AES-256 encryption, and automatic file detection keeps everything up to date. Order now for $99.99 to jump on the lifetime 10TB plan, worth $3,600. 

ThunderDrive Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription

Based on Tier IV data center facilities that run six times faster than Amazon storage, ThunderDrive also keeps your files locked behind 256-bit AES encryption. It’s worth $1,200, but you can grab the 2TB lifetime plan now for $59.

EurekaDrive Starter Plan: Lifetime Subscription (100GB)

Looking for website storage? EurekaDrive provides a secure home for backing up your hosted files. The platform offers 30-day recovery, unbreakable SSL security, and 100GB of storage. Lifetime subscriptions are worth $195, but you can get the Starter Plan now for $39. 

Zoolz Cloud Backup for Home: 1TB of Cloud Backup Storage

Ideal for long-term backup, Zoolz uses affordable cold storage based on ultra-secure AWS infrastructure. This service can automatically back up your computer, hard drives, and even NAS. Order now for $19.99 to get 1TB for life, worth $199.

Polar Cloud Backup: Lifetime Subscription (2TB)

Optimized for Mac and Windows, Polar Backup uses deduplication and block-level uploads for faster service. Your data is protected by AES-256 encryption, and stored on AWS servers. Thanks to a double price-drop, lifetime 2TB subscriptions are down from $590 to just $49.99.

Prices subject to change 

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NewPipe tests new Unified Player UI with seamless fullscreen switching

NewPipe, the open-source YouTube client for Android, is a great alternative to the YouTube app for those of you who don’t have Google Play Services on your phone or don’t want to see ads on the platform without paying for YouTube Premium. The client doesn’t use YouTube’s APIs and simply parses the Youtube website to extract data and play any videos you want, without any restrictions or ads. However, the app’s interface looks a bit dated compared to the official YouTube app and its overall user experience isn’t as fluid. To address this, the developers behind NewPipe are now testing a new Unified Player UI with support for seamless fullscreen switching, and more.

A test build with the new UI is now live on NewPipe’s GitHub, and here’s a quick rundown of everything new in the build:

• Main, background, popup players now connected via one service, one view, one fragment, one activity, and one gesture listener
• Main player located in a view with comments, descriptions, etc. So you don’t need to open another window for viewing a video. Everything in one place
• The playback position is synchronized between players. Easy to switch from one to another
• The expandable player at the bottom of the screen has a new cool animation and additional features like long-click to open channel of a video, play/pause/close buttons, and swipe down to dismiss
• In-player integrated buttons for opening in the browser, playing with Kodi, sharing a video have been added
• Better background playback that can be activated in settings. Allows to automatically switch to the audio-only mode when going to background and then switching to video-mode when returning to the app
• Player service will be stopped automatically when the user removes the app from the recent apps menu
• There are two different behaviors related to orientation changes:
  • with locked global orientation the player will change orientation to landscape and will change it back after pressing back
  • with enabled global autorotation, the player will detect orientation changes and will change UI to fullscreen or default size
• Previous features like brightness control, open popup player when going to background, action chooser when clicking on a link, etc are working as expected
• Tablet screens are now supported

Our Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rahman, tried out the latest test build on his device and has shared the following screenshots:

The new unified player UI in Newpipe is so much better. You can play the video on the details screen in portrait and rotate to landscape to seamlessly switch to fullscreen, just like the YouTube app.

You can track the development progress here. https://t.co/C2kCs39Kl9 pic.twitter.com/r6qRI1sU1I

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) September 25, 2020

In case you like what you see and want to try it out on your device, you can download the latest APK by clicking on “2020-09-22” in the source linked below.

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Source: GitHub

Via: Reddit

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The new Zen Mode from OxygenOS 11 is now available for OnePlus phones on Android 10+

OnePlus debuted Zen Mode in OxygenOS alongside the launch of the OnePlus 7 series. Back then, the feature just aimed to help users put their phones down to help them focus on more important tasks. Over the years, the app has gained new features such as more duration options, daily reminders, zen challenges and more. OnePlus debuted a new, redesigned Zen Mode UX with its OxygenOS 11 update. Now, the new Zen Mode app is beng made available to other OnePlus phones on Android 10 through the Google Play Store.

With OxygenOS 11, Zen Mode not only received a redesign, but it also gained a few features. There’s now a multi-person Zen Mode which creates a room where other can join in and ensure that no one is using their phones.

The new Zen Mode update works only on OnePlus phones running Android 10 and above. Here is the changelog for the update:

Changelog

Changelog:

Welcome to the newly designed Zen Mode!

1. Adding a variety of themes to bring you a more immersive meditation experience
2. You can create a room and invite your friends to join you to start a focus challenge together
3. Record daily Zen moments and review the journey of concentration

You can get the new update through the Google Play Store. Alternatively, you can sideload the apk from APKMirror.

Zen Mode is one of the implementations from OEMs for digital detox. Other initiatives, like Digital Wellbeing from Google, also work towards the same principles. While our smartphones are exciting pieces of technology, we do tend to overuse it and end up getting addicted to it. Digital detox as a principle helps us detach from our smartphones and enjoy the world around us a little more. These apps make us cognizant of our digital habits, and help us keep our phone down.

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OnePlus Zen Mode (Free, Google Play) →

Thanks to XDA Senior Member Some_Random_Username for the tip and screenshots!

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live Review: Tasty design with room for improvement

There are only so many ways you can do something uniquely; after a point, you’re bound to make a repetition that could cause your product to start resembling some of the key characteristics for that established product segment. Smartphones are rectangular glass slabs, laptops are slabs with keyboards, and truly wireless earbuds are either circular or have a stem on them. So when a product comes along that strays away from the established order, we’re bound to take note. That’s precisely what is happening with the Galaxy Beans Galaxy Buds Live.

When the Buds Live first leaked in their stemless, kidney-bean design, I was more than intrigued. I had so many questions: How do they fit in the ear? How big are they? How do they fit in the case, and how do they stay in there? How easily do they fall out? Will they be uncomfortable? How would they noise isolate? And would they feature noise cancellation? While Samsung’s official launch and accompanying marketing and advertisements have answered a fair few of these questions, I hope to bring some of my own perspectives after having used the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live, alongside the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ and the Sony WF-1000XM3.

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live: Specifications

Specification	Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
Dimensions & Weight	Buds: 27.2 x 17.3 x 15.5 mm, 5.6g (each) Case: 50.0 x 50.2 x 27.8 mm, 42.2g
Battery and Charging	Earbud: 60mAh (each) Case: 472 mAh Wireless charging support
Speaker and Mic	12mm driver tuned by AKG Bass duct Three microphones
Connectivity	Bluetooth 5.0 BLE Codec: AAC, SBC, Scalable Codec
Sensors and other features	Proximity sensor Accelerometer Touch-sensitive sensor Hall sensor IPX2 water resistance
Colors	Mystic Bronze, Mystic White, Mystic Black

Note: Samsung India loaned us the Galaxy Buds Live for this review. This review is after twelve days of use. Samsung has no inputs in the contents of this article.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live — Design and Build

While the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ are pretty much the same as the original Galaxy Buds, the Galaxy Buds Live are unlike anything you have seen in the market. The shape has a stark resemblance to kidney beans, and Samsung wanted to call them Beans at some point too. It is a unique design for sure, with the exterior surface of the Bean-like earbud coming in with a glossy finish, and the interior surface having a more muted matte-finish. The Mystic Black color variant that I have does get some fingerprints onto the shiny surface, but they aren’t prominently visible. The matte finish alleviates some of that cheaper-feel that was much more apparent on the Buds+, and that’s good because these earphones aren’t cheap.

This was the best-fit position for me, with the speakers relatively deep into the ear canal and the Buds Live pressing against the ear.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live have a unique design unlike anything on the market right now.

There is a specific way that you need to wear the Galaxy Buds Live. Most earphones are quite intuitive in this regard, but the Buds Live have such a unique form factor that you do need some assistance to figure it out. For larger ears, the Buds Live needs to settle at the very bottom of your ear, almost running parallel to the ground (but not entirely). This way, the two speaker grilles are the deepest and closest to your ear’s auditory canal. There is a protruding wing tip towards the top of the matte side, which along with the bean-shape, press the Buds Live flush against your pinna (if you want to be more specific, at the bottom of the concha in your auricle). Samsung includes another larger pair of wingtips, but I found that the default was the better fit for me and the larger ones were quicker to cause discomfort. For smaller ears, the Buds Live settle into a more upright position.

This is the wrong fit for my ear size, as the Buds Live are not snug into the ear. This leaves a very large gap between the Buds and the auditory canal. However, this is how they would fit on smaller ears.

The Galaxy Buds Live, when worn correctly, never actually fall out.

With the way that the Buds Live are shaped and how they sit and press, it does present a sensation of underconfidence if you are wearing them wrong — it feels like they will fall out if you move around too much. If you do it correctly (and depending on the shape and size of your ears), the Buds Live will sit in almost flush, and the underconfidence will vanish. In my usage, once I figured out how they need to be put in, the Buds Live never actually fell out. They are snug to the point that I have gone on small runs without them falling out. But your mileage may vary simply because of how different our bodies can be at an individual level.

As far as comfort is concerned, I do feel comfortable wearing the earphones for about 4 hours at best. Beyond this time point, the snug fit on the pinna starts causing soreness and discomfort. The Buds Live only has rubber elements on the wingtips, and the rest of the body is hard plastic, so all the tolerance needs to come from your body. If you have smaller ears, I can see this being a problem, even though Samsung claims that it has extensively tested the Buds Live and its design on a wide variety of ear shapes and sizes. To Samsung’s credit, the Buds Live are lightweight, with a weight lower than even the Buds+, so you don’t feel any heaviness in your ears.

The Buds Live comes in a rounded-square case, which is easily pocketable. The resting cradle for the Buds Live within the case is not very deep, but the earbuds do not fall off because the magnets do a good enough job at it. The magnets for keeping the lid shut are stronger than those holding the buds in place — just a curious observation. Continuing my nitpick, the magnetic snapping action when putting the earbuds back into the case is stronger than it was on the Buds+ but still underwhelming compared to the Sony WF-1000XM3, but I concede that this is just a personal nitpick. I prefer the pill-shaped case for the Buds+ over the jewelry-box-like case of the Buds Live, but there is nothing that is fundamentally wrong with the Buds Live’s case shape, so both the options are correct. What I would wish for Samsung to change is the glossy finish, as it does not do justice to a premium product and makes it feel cheaper than what it can punch.

The “lip” on the Buds Live case extends all across, while the Buds+ case only had it on the front.

The Galaxy Buds Live case has an LED indicator on the inside to indicate the charging status of the earbuds, and another LED indicator on the outside to indicate the charging status of the case. There is an indentation/gap that runs around the case separating the two halves, so you can easily open the case without needing to hold it in any specific way. The USB Type-C port exists below the hinge on the outside. You can use the port for charging the case, or you can choose to charge using a Qi-certified wireless charger. Samsung includes a short USB Type-A to Type-C cable in the box, so you have the means to charge them up right out of the box.

The Buds Live continues with the IPX2 rating from the predecessor, meaning it can resist light splashes of water. So that is light sweat, but that’s about it. You don’t want to take them out when it’s raining. I hope Samsung considers making the next generation better in terms of water resistance, considering how much it rains in my region.

Samsung has succesfully given the earbuds its own identity.

To wrap up the section, the Galaxy Buds Live have a unique design, one that does set it apart and ensures that no one mistakes them for an AirPod or any other TWS on the market. The design works out for short and medium wear durations for me. But because the TWS are so different, the comfort and the fit does boil down to the individual and the shape and size of their ear. It’s difficult to label it “good” or “bad”; it’s just “different” with no real mainstream comparison. Samsung wanted to give the earbuds its own identity, and they have been pretty successful to that end.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live — Features

Easy Pair

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live shares a lot of its software features with the Galaxy Buds+. The first pairing process is super simple: You have to open the lid, and the Galaxy Buds Live are already in pairing mode, meaning that you do not need to undertake any complicated pairing gestures or actions to use them with your first device. From that point, you can enter in manual pairing mode by placing the buds back into the case and reopening the lid (you don’t need to take out the Buds). You can also touch and hold both earbuds for three seconds to enter pairing mode if you don’t want to place them back into the case.

If you have a Samsung smartphone with the Samsung SmartThings app installed, the pairing process is even more straightforward. The Galaxy Buds Live also does not support Google’s Fast Pair. Note that you can use either of the earbuds individually for playback, too.

Multi-device Switching

Much like the Galaxy Buds+ (post their updates), the Galaxy Buds Live are capable of multi-device switching. It’s not as seamless as Bluetooth multipoint that can shift audio focus intelligently. Still, it’s a lot less friction against entirely unpairing/disconnecting from one device to connect to another. Presuming that you have connected with the devices once before, you can tap on the Buds Live entry on the desired device, and the Buds Live will receive their audio input from them. Just to be clear, there’s definite room for improvement, but if you are hopping around a few devices through the day, at least you won’t have to pair your Buds multiple times throughout the day. I definitely wish to see Bluetooth multipoint in the next generation, though.

Controls

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live have a touch sensor located on the top part, but I found that touching squarely around the middle guaranteed a response. There’s no clear demarcation for the touch area, but since the buds aren’t too large by themselves, you will confidently get touch inputs correct unless you make an active effort to touch the top edges only. Like the Galaxy Buds+, a single tap on either bud plays and pauses tracks. A double-tap will play the next track, and a triple tap will play the previous track. If a call is incoming, you can double-tap to accept. And once accepted, you can double-tap to end the call. Touch and hold lets you decline calls.

The Samsung Wearable app lets you reconfigure the single touch and hold command on the left and right earbud individually to any of the following four options: Voice command, Active Noise Cancellation, Spotify, or Volume Control (Right earbud for Volume Up, Left earbud for Volume Down). Note that the Galaxy Buds Live, like the Buds+, do not have auto-pause on removal/auto-play on insertion, even though they can detect when they are removed. On the flip side, you can’t really not touch the touchpad while removing or inserting the earbud.

You can lock the touch controls too. But unlike the Buds+, there is no “Double Tap Earbud Edge” feature here. I don’t really miss its absence either way, but just something to note if you are invested in it.

Connectivity

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live support Bluetooth 5.0 for connecting to devices. For codecs, the Buds Live, the Buds+, and the Buds support SBC, AAC, and the scalable Samsung codec (proprietary). You can only take advantage of the Samsung scalable codec on Samsung’s devices, and as mentioned before, an ecosystem lock-in becomes crucial to experience the best sound out of these earbuds.

For wireless range, I can get an uninterrupted connection for around 10 meters. Performance on this end is at par with other truly wireless solutions. Latency is also an issue with the Buds Live, and I get about a 150ms delay in sounds. You can live with it if you are just casually watching videos, but perhaps not so much for live gaming as you are likely to be at a small disadvantage. I’ve found that turning off Active Noise Cancellation helps improve the latency marginally, bringing it down to about a ballpark of 120ms. There is no Gaming Mode to be found on non-Samsung devices, so keep that in mind too.

On Samsung devices (like the Samsung Galaxy M31s that I tested these on), you do get a Gaming Mode that claims to minimize audio delay, and that lets me get it down to under 100ms with ANC and even lower without ANC.

Galaxy Wearable App

The Galaxy Wearable app is a recommended download for unlocking certain customizations on Samsung’s wearables, but you don’t necessarily need it for basic functions and controls. A lot of these features overlap with what is experienced with the Buds+ too.

Galaxy Wearable (Samsung Gear) (Free, Google Play) →

The app is primarily used when you need to read a precise measurement of the battery level on the individual buds and the case. You also need it to download and install firmware updates for the TWS. With past earbuds, some of these updates brought along useful functions, so I do recommend keeping the app installed and checking it regularly. You can also reset the earbuds from within the app.

There is also an equalizer within the app with a few presets. However, you cannot fine-tune the settings or create a custom profile, which continues to be a major oversight on Samsung’s hearables. There are third-party apps that can do this, though. Further, you can also have the Galaxy Buds Live read your notifications aloud to you. This can be done either in a summary format (just the name of the app) or in detail (with the notification content). You can set the feature up on a per-app basis, too. The Galaxy Wearable app also has a Find My Earbuds feature which plays a loud beep on the earphones. Frankly, if you have actually lost your earbud, the feature is practically useless as you can barely hear the sound unless the earbud is within 10cm of your ears. You can also switch on Ambient Sound mode to relieve some pressure in your ears, but the effect is weak, as I mention in the next section.

Active Noise Cancellation

One of the highlight features on the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live is that they finally bring Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to Samsung’s most popular hearable lineup. While the Buds+ featured a toggle within the Galaxy Wearable app for toggling Ambient Sound, the Buds Live replaces this toggle with one for ANC.

Does the ANC on the Buds Live work? Long story short, yes, ANC does work. But there are caveats that need mentioning, especially around noise isolation.

Active Noise Cancellation on the Buds Live does work, technically speaking. When you pop in the earbuds and toggle the ANC, you get the signature pop in your ears, bringing about a feeling of change in pressure. However, because of the Buds Live’s unique design that doesn’t completely seal the ear, there is very little noise isolation that they can experientially offer. As a result, the ANC’s net effect feels weak — the pop is weaker, and the degree to which noise is canceled is significantly weak.

In comparison, the Sony WF-1000XM3 continues to be my personal benchmark for the right combination of passive noise isolation and hard-working active noise cancellation. I have an overhead fan at my desk, and with the Sony’s, I can barely hear it at about 10% of the noise it makes, while still keeping the audio volume on the lower end. With the Galaxy Buds+ at a moderate volume setting, I can drown out some of the noise because of the noise isolation alone and hear about 60-70% of the noise it makes. With the Galaxy Buds Live at a moderate volume setting, I can still hear the fan at a good 50-60%. The Active Noise Cancellation does a good job, but it’s just not enough to really make a difference compared to shipping just an effective noise isolation system. The gains as against the Galaxy Buds+ are marginal at best. Switching off ANC on the Buds Live brings the fan back into focus with as much as 90% of its noise being audible. ANC is doing some heavy lifting, but it also needs its buddy, noise isolation, to truly deliver a stellar experience. As it currently stands, the Buds Live are not very good at muting your surroundings.

Samsung is on the right path, though, and I look forward to an audio accessory that incorporates both noise isolation and active noise cancellation. Perhaps they can incorporate noise isolation within this unique design for the next generation? A man can hope.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live — Sound Quality and Voice Quality

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live feature a 12mm driver tuned by AKG. I still consider myself an amateur in audio assessment. To my “average consumer” audio perception, the Galaxy Buds Live does a good job but do get held back because of the lack of perceptible noise isolation.

The overall sound quality on the Buds Live is an upgrade over the Buds+.

Using this thread from the Head-Fi forums as a reference, the sub-bass on the Buds Live come off better than they did on the Buds+. The same audio from the Halo theme that I previously commented on being not as majestic on the Buds+ now sounds punchier on the Buds Live. The bass kicks on the Dogfighter theme have a decent kick to them, but nothing that gets a bass lover excited. The sub-bass is also more substantial, like on the Cowboy Bebop theme, but not enough to overpower the vocals. These are improvements over the Buds+, but not class-defining for the TWS category as the Buds+ had a lot of ground to cover. Other areas are closer to the Buds +’s excellent performance, namely vocals, mids, and highs. The Buds Live handles them very well, so overall, sound quality by itself is an upgrade over the Buds+. However, the lack of noise isolation can be felt throughout, so you should enjoy your music in a relatively quiet environment.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live continue on the legacy from the Buds+ when it comes to mic performance. My experience with voice calls has been great on the Buds Live, as it did on the Buds+ too. Samsung has figured out voice call quality much better than Sony and a lot of others have, and the Buds Live gets a thumbs up as well. They’re pretty good for talking on the phone without needing to touch your phone.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live — Battery Life

The Galaxy Buds Live claim to offer a battery life of up to 6 hours on a single charge with ANC turned on, and the claim seem to be holding up. I can wear the Galaxy Buds for a maximum of 4 hours and some minutes before the discomfort forces me to pop them back in, and I usually end up with over 25% battery in the Buds Live left at that stage — the math checks out. The case adds in another two and a half cycles (claimed 20 hours in total). The net battery backup is marginally better on the Buds Live than it was on the Buds+. To compare, the Buds+ lasted longer without needing to be put back into the case, but the case itself had lower battery capacity compared to that on the Buds Live.

Once you run out of juice on the case, you can charge it up through the USB Type-C port or through a Qi-compatible wireless charger. Wireless charging is a nice touch for a TWS accessory, and it works out well if you are invested in the wireless charging ecosystem.

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Samsung Galaxy Buds Live — Concluding Note

When I concluded my Galaxy Buds+ review, I noted how I missed the Sony WF-1000XM3’s sweet active noise cancellation. That set high hopes for the Galaxy Buds Live and its active noise cancellation as the highlighting feature. When looked at through this myopic lens, the Buds Live are underwhelming, and you’d be disappointed if you bought them only to experience ANC in its glory. The sound quality is good, but the lack of noise isolation is a regular speed breaker in your journey of tranquility.

What the Galaxy Buds Live does well is stand out from the crowd of AirPod-clones and Buds-wannabes. The main focus of the Buds Live is its design — it’s funny to look at, but it works well enough to the point of genuine surprise. They always feel like they will fall off your ears, but they don’t — and that’s a testimony to Samsung’s engineering behind this new design. The kidney bean-like shape (rajma, as it is called in Hindi) is a good conversation starter, and every friend that has seen these in my ears has requested a closer look and to wear them too, much to my annoyance in this COVID world.

What the Galaxy Buds Live does well is stand out from the crowd of AirPod-clones and Buds-wannabes.

Are the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live a good upgrade over the Galaxy Buds+? I say no. Not because the Buds Live are bad per se, but because the Buds+ are still pretty darn good. The Galaxy Buds+ have now fallen in price in India, retailing at ₹10,490 (~$142) while the USA still gets them for $150. The Galaxy Buds Live, on the other hand, are more expensive at ₹14,990 (~$204) in India and $170 in the USA. Based on my experiences with both, the Buds+ are easier to recommend to just about every average consumer. They are a better value purchase and much more evergreen in that sense. The Buds Live are for the consumer who values bleeding-edge design and isn’t afraid of taking risks, and that isn’t every consumer.

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are Samsung's next generation TWS, featuring a radical open design and ANC, alongside very good battery life and a wireless charging case.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

$170 at Samsung

Buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live: Samsung.in || Samsung.com
Buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds+: Samsung.in || Samsung.com

Where does Samsung go from here? There’s one direction that makes sense to me, and that is figuring out that sweet spot of Active Noise Cancellation alongside Passive Noise Isolation. Whether that comes with adding an in-ear rubber tip, or by migrating to a new design, or by packing in ANC in the Buds+ design — that is something to watch out for in 2021.

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Amazon takes on Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA with new Luna cloud gaming service

In a bid to capture a slice of the steadily growing cloud gaming pie, Amazon today announced a new cloud gaming service called Luna. The service takes on similar offerings from Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, and gives users the option to play the latest games without any additional hardware requirements. Luna is currently available in early access exclusively in the U.S. on compatible Fire TV, PC, Mac, and iOS devices. Amazon plans to add support for Android devices in the near future.

As with other cloud gaming services, Amazon is offering a Luna+ subscription at an early access pricing of $5.99 per month. As part of the subscription, you will get access to unlimited hours of play, a growing library of AAA games, up to 1080p/60fps gameplay (4K/60fps coming soon), and the ability to stream on two devices simultaneously. During early access, Luna+ includes games like Resident Evil 7, Control, and Panzer Dragoon; adventure games like A Plague Tale: Innocence and The Surge 2; platformers like Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair and Iconoclasts; and fan favorites like GRID, ABZU, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Along with the Luna+ subscription, Amazon has partnered with Ubisoft to offer a new gaming channel. Players who subscribe to this channel will get access to their favorite Ubisoft titles in 4K resolution, mobile gameplay support, and access to new Ubisoft titles as soon as they launch. This will include upcoming titles like Assassins Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, and Immortals Fenyx Rising, which will go live on the service the same day they are launched. Furthermore, Luna will offer players native Twitch integration, giving them access to game streams from the platform right on their device.

Amazon Luna subscribers will be able to play their favorite games with the controller of their choice, as the service supports both keyboard/mouse input and Bluetooth controller input. Amazon is also releasing its own Luna Controller with Cloud Direct technology, which features Alexa integration and a multiple-antenna design for low latency gaming. Amazon claims that its first-party controller can reduce latency by 17-30 milliseconds compared to other supported input devices. The Luna controller is available at an introductory price of $49.99 during the early access period.

If you’re in the U.S. and you’re interested in trying out Amazon Luna, you can request an early access invitation by following the link below.

Request an invitation to Amazon Luna

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