Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit Review: A lot of work goes into installing these affordable light panels

Smart LED light panels are all the rage right now and I can see why. A spectacular set of smart lights can instantly change the atmosphere of a space, whether it’s your office or your living room, adding that bit of flair to your smart home. When done right, you even get capabilities such as voice control through your phone or smart speaker over your intelligent lighting. Names like Nanoleaf and Govee are probably the first to pop up when thinking of wall lights with fancy ambient modes and color customizability options.

You’ll be pleased to know that there is an abundance of cheap alternatives in this category. Options like the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit cost almost half as much as the ones offered by name brands. There are a few tradeoffs that you’ll have to live with, but you still get access to premium features such as Google Assistant, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit integration.

As is the case with most Chinese products though, the software side is a little weak and the physical design could use some work too. Despite the option to extensively customize every single light module, Cololight had to compromise somewhere. My review is going to unravel these problems and assess whether this affordable set of wall light panels is worth your attention.

Cololight RGB Light

The Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit is accessible to all thanks to its low price tag. You get a satisfying color payoff, fun options in-app, and voice assistant support. Prepare yourself for a complex installation process and a finicky companion app though.

Pros:

Cons:

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About this review: We received the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit from Cololight for review purposes. Cololight had no input in the contents of this review.

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Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit: Design and Hardware

Every module of the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit adopts a regular hexagonal shape. The Plus Kit comes with a power base, a base mount, a number of hexagonal light panels, and Alexa/Google Assistant/HomeKit support. You can purchase this set of smart lights with a single panel or opt for the 7, 9, 12, 15, or 20-pack. Compared to the Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagons which cost about $200 for a set of seven, the 7-pack of the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit is very inexpensive at $100.

To put things in perspective, the Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels go for $200, but that version includes 10 panels. The Pro version of the Cololight Hexagon Light is even cheaper as opposed to the Plus Kit, coming in at $90 for the 6-pack and $130 for the 10-pack. All it lacks is HomeKit support, which is a fine bargain if you’re not in the Apple ecosystem.

As expected, you can always purchase just a single Cololight Hexagon Light module and expand it later. As these smart wall lights are modular by design, there’s nothing stopping you from adding more panels, up to 255 panels in total, to your kit over time. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to purchase a 5V/2A power brick separately as there’s no wall charger included in the box. If you decide to upgrade over time, also stay mindful that you might need to purchase additional connectors separately.

An individual hexagonal panel measures 86mm by 74.5mm by 30.5mm in size. They are a bit smaller than one would expect, however, once you hook up the set of lights it doesn’t make much of a difference. What I don’t like is the chunky nature of these panels. Whether you choose to attach the lights to your wall or place them as a standing showpiece, the thick sides are clearly visible and don’t look good.

The Cololight Hexagon Light panels can output excellent levels of brightness and the color payoff is brilliant.

The lights themselves can output excellent levels of brightness, and the color payoff is brilliant for what you pay. The panels have a soft matte finishing on top. This gives a more edge-to-edge connected feel to the modules when they’re on and the shades appear to flow naturally. The matte coat also dulls the sharp brightness of the light panels, going easier on your eyes.

Each light module of the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit has a microphone built in for sound reactive modes. The only physical button can be found on the power base and pressing it changes the light modes. There are a total of 19 LED bulbs within every panel and you can individually select a custom color for each one. This applies to the dynamic modes as well. These features make it sound like a fun idea to mount the Cololight Kit on your walls, but the 3.5ft power cable interferes with such plans.

I had a really hard time trying to find a long enough extension in my living room and even after that was done, the mess of cables was bothersome to look at. To top it off, Cololight uses a propriety power base with a cable attached to it, so you can’t just purchase a longer USB cable to fix this issue. If you’re an unlucky gal like me and your space doesn’t have a wall outlet nearby, you’ll be stuck with an extension cord or might have to scrap your wall-mounting plans altogether.

Desks and tables are ideal spaces for placement as you don’t need to hang the panels so high up and you’ve probably got a power outlet at hand. Alternatively, you could just build a pattern you like and let it stand on the wide base included in the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit. I believe the latter is a better idea owing to the size of the cable and the complex construction process.

Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit: Setup and Software

To be very frank, setting up the light panels is a hellish nightmare. I expected the process to be fairly simple, but I ended up being way in over my head. Not only do you have to know exactly what shape you’re gunning for from the start, but you also need to plan where each power connector will be placed. If it doesn’t match the pattern from the one in the app, your lights will not display the dynamic modes accurately.

Just like the flow of water from one pool to the next, the lights follow the path of the connectors in the dynamic lighting modes. It’s not always necessary to follow the templates in the app but if you want to match the output from one of the dynamic modes, you have to follow the instructions. Even if you’re planning to create your own custom static or dynamic mode, you’ll need to select the pattern of the connectors and enter it into the app. I find this unnecessarily complicated and extremely user-unfriendly.

Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit templates in the Android app

All that confusing connection also means that before you connect the panels, you’ll need to set up the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit on your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi using your Android or iOS phone. The app installs and sets up fairly easily, but it can be a laggy experience. My Pixel 6 froze a couple of times during the process, leading me to start all over. I assumed that my Pixel was at fault, but testing with three other phones gave me the same result.

After painstakingly assembling your design to match the layout from the app, you have to then replicate the pattern with the backplates.

After you have painstakingly assembled your design to match the layout from the app, you can’t just throw in the towel and call it a day. Next, you’ll have to create the same pattern again using the plastic frames or backplates for support, complete with connector plates and everything. It is a laborious undertaking and I had to sacrifice many a nail in my endeavors. Once the frame is completed, it needs to be attached to the backside of the Cololight panels.

Without the frame, your light panels will just fall out of place. If you attempt to stick them on the wall as is, the entire rig will fall apart as soon as you pick it up. There are two options available to you for mounting on flat surfaces like walls and Cololight thoughtfully includes them in the Hexagon Light Plus Kit.

You get plenty of circular 3M adhesives as well as screws for nailing your panels in place. I can vouch for the durability of the adhesive — those sticky patches don’t budge. That does make it difficult to remove them though, and you should be prepared for some damage to the paint job after removal. So do keep this in mind.

The Cololight app is full to the brim with rich features. You get wonderful presets that can stay stationary, move, and ambiently change according to the music playing. The DIY mode is playful and allows you to exercise your creativity. You can also collectively give instructions to a bunch of different kits if you have multiple Cololight products. This can be done by creating a “Group” inside the Cololight app.

The slow response and laggy nature of the Cololight app take away from what it could have been.

Unfortunately, the slow response of the app takes away from what it could have been. Navigating through the options and modes is hard enough, but you also have to factor in its stability. The Cololight app seems to have a mind of its own and hangs far too often. Sometimes it crashes and other times it freezes. At times, you’re left with no other option except to restart the app. This especially happened with me a lot when I tried to use complicated functions such as creating my own custom dynamic mode.

Voice commands can be executed through Alexa, Google Assistant, or HomeKit. These are limited to simple instructions such as turning the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit on and off or changing the color to a single, static shade. As Cololight is owned by Lifesmart, you’ll have to look for Lifesmart under the Google Home app or any of the other compatible smart home management apps. This is not explicitly mentioned anywhere and I had a hard time figuring it out at first.

Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit: Should you buy it?

Overall, the performance of the Cololight Hexagon Light panels is more than satisfactory. They look mesmerizing and the colors are beautiful. You’ll especially enjoy the paper-like appearance of the light panels. The single button situated on the power base makes it easy to switch through the light presets without using voice assistants or the app.

The complicated setup process is what really takes the mickey out of this smart home product. It seems ridiculous and unnecessary that you need to follow the templates to a T to achieve certain results, down to the very connectors. Then there are the hard plastic backplates that require even more time and energy to construct and attach to your Hexagon Light Plus Kit. You can’t just build as you like the Nanoleaf Shapes or the Govee Glide Hexa Light Panels.

HomeKit integration gives Cololight a leg up, combined with the competitive price tag. Personally, I would rather pay a few bucks more just for a more stable app and an easier installation process. If you think that all that time and effort is worth the extra savings, then you should go ahead and grab the Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit. Once it’s all fixed up and placed in a nice spot, the cascading smart lights will bring much delight.

Cololight RGB Light

The Cololight Hexagon Light Plus Kit requires a lot of patience. If you're up to the task, these pleasant ambient lights will serve you well. The buggy app, however, will not.

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Amazon Echo (4th Gen) Review: Still the King in 2022

The Amazon Echo is one of those products that truly kickstarted a whole category. The best smart speakers now come from far and wide, many using the same Alexa voice platform. Amazon wasn’t the first to bring a voice assistant to the world, in fact coming behind Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Alexa debuted in late 2014 on the original Amazon Echo. The Genesis moment. The rest is history. The competition is fierce but the Amazon Echo continues to not only exist but improve with each iteration. We’re now up to the 4th generation of the Amazon Echo and it looks a lot different from the first. The iconic cylinder is no more, Alexa as a platform has grown with each passing year, and in many homes, it’s become part of the family. My kids don’t really know of the Amazon Echo, they just know to talk to Alexa and ask for the Encanto soundtrack.

That ease of use is part of what has always made the Amazon Echo such a great device. Even if you’ve never owned one, you probably know who — or rather, what — Alexa is. It’s one of those technologies that transcended its hardware and found its way into the wider world. Now, the Amazon Echo is but a piece in the puzzle, Alexa is everywhere. On your speaker, on your wrist, on your TV, or in your car. But it all started on the Echo.

It’s now 2022, almost eight years on from the debut of the Amazon Echo. Google has some first-rate alternatives, Apple has its own, and third parties such as Sonos are onboard with voice assistants. Is there still a place for the Amazon Echo or has it been usurped by a younger, funkier alternative?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The latest generation of the original smart speaker continues to set the bar with a nice design, great sound and the sheer magnitude of possibilities from the Alexa ecosystem.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Amazon

Navigate this review:

• Pricing and availability
• Specs
• Design and features
• Audio
• Should you buy an Amazon Echo?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen): Pricing and Availability

Amazon has pretty wide global support for both the Amazon Echo and Alexa, selling through its own store. Even those using “international versions” have varying services available if not full support.

The Amazon Echo (4th Gen) is, unsurprisingly, available primarily through Amazon with a regular retail price of $100. You get a choice of three colors, too, with white, blue, and charcoal all available. You can also find them at third-party retailers, such as Best Buy in the U.S., for the same price.

The real magic about shopping for an Amazon Echo is grabbing one at one of the regular discount events. The biggest ones are Prime Day and Black Friday every year, but there will also be sporadic sales throughout the year and Amazon isn’t shy about providing big price cuts on them.

Amazon Echo (4th Gen): Specs

Specification	Amazon Echo 4th Generation
Audio	1 x 3-inch woofer, 2 x 0.8-inch tweeters
Connectivity	802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz) Zigbee Bluetooth Amazon Sidewalk
Ports	3.5mm audio jack
Controls	Voice-activated Play/pause Volume Microphone mute
Dimensions	5.7 x 5.7 x 5.2 inches
Weight	0.96kg
Colors	Charcoal White Blue
Price	$100

Design and Features: The center of your smart home

The latest generation of Amazon Echo moves away from the cylindrical design for the first time. Instead, you now get a sphere, and given the size, I liken it to holding a crystal ball as you extricate it from the packaging. The base is naturally flat, but otherwise, it’s a perfect Echo ball. The controls are still up top, the power connector is still around the back. But the ring light now runs around the bottom with the same iconic blue hue when you trigger it with the magic word.

The newest design for the Amazon Echo is a big departure, and it's a winner.

The move to a sphere means that it’s a lot wider than any of its predecessors. But I also think this design just looks better in the home. That’s subjective, of course, but having owned previous generations right back to the original, the newest is definitely my favorite in appearance. I’ve got the blue one to make a change from past years, and it’s OK. But I wish it was one of the others. It’s not a bad color, but it’s not the greatest shade of blue ever and it clashes with the aesthetics in basically each of my rooms. My tip would be to grab the white one, but maybe the blue does fit into your aesthetics.

The design is supposed to get out of the way and it does. If you need to touch it, you can, but 99% of the time you’re going to be using your voice. The power cable hooks up in the back so you have some possibility of neat cable management, right next to the 3.5mm jack. The Amazon Echo can be hooked up over cable to your existing music system to add some smarts and additional audio power.

Better than this though is the ability to create a stereo pair in the Alexa app. If you also own a Fire TV, this makes for an affordable, easy-to-use home theater setup that you never have to get up from the couch to control. It’s a similar ecosystem play to the Apple TV and the HomePod Mini, and you can’t deny how awesome it is. The last way to get audio out of the Echo is over Bluetooth. This feels more like Amazon couldn’t really leave it out, but it’s nicer to have it and not use it than the other way around.

Inside the Amazon Echo, you also find a Zigbee smart home hub. The most common way of using an Echo with your smart home is through Alexa. But Alexa requires a data connection, a local Zigbee hub does not. Zigbee also uses a different connection with a much lower data speed, so devices are both power efficient and don’t add to network noise on your home Wi-Fi.

I don’t have any Zigbee compatible devices on hand to use with the Amazon Echo, but there are some popular brands that support the technology. Philips Hue is probably the most well-known, along with the likes of SmartThings, Ring, and even some smart door locks. You might not ever touch it, but again, it’s good that it’s there for those who do want it. It makes the Amazon Echo a true smart home hub.

For everything else, there’s Alexa. You can mute the microphone whenever you don’t want the Echo to listen, but other times you just say her name, and away you go. This review isn’t long enough to talk about all the services and skills you can use with the Amazon Echo. Just know that it’s a lot. All the major smart home devices, most of the lesser-known ones, your Xbox, your Fitbit, there’s a ridiculous array of devices that can hook into Alexa.

It means the Amazon Echo can be what you make of it. You could just use it to listen to music and podcasts. Or you could use it to command and automate your entire home. That extends to home security, too, though Alexa Guard probably isn’t the first reason you’d be buying an Echo. Nor is the motion-sensing capabilities, but it sends a clear message about why smart home enthusiasts should look towards Amazon.

Audio: The Amazon Echo (4th Gen) packs a punch

For those who hunt for the highest quality audio, the Echo Studio exists. For those who just want something that sounds good, the Amazon Echo is generally excellent. That starts with what Amazon crammed inside this ball of fun. There’s a 3-inch (76mm) woofer paired with two 0.8-inch (20mm) tweeters, so you get a ton of bass. I’m not the biggest fan of overpowering lows, but generally, the output from the Echo is pleasing.

The Amazon Echo packs a punch with its three speaker setup delivering big sound.

On stock settings, you have a warm tone but you can lose a little clarity and volume from vocals. The sound doesn’t suffer from distortion at higher volumes and it’s a nice room filler. The Amazon Echo sounds like a much larger speaker than it actually is.

You do have some basic controls to tweak the audio, but they are pretty buried in the settings. Amazon could definitely do a better job at putting audio controls for your devices within easier reach. When you find them, though, you have sliders for bass, mids, and treble. Equalizer presets would be nice, but at least you can customize them manually.

If you find yourself looking for even more bass you can link the Amazon Echo to the Amazon Echo Sub. With a stereo pair and one of these, you’ll have a real room shaker.

The sound from the Amazon Echo is good, though, especially for something that costs just $100 and has all the smart features included. The Google Nest Audio perhaps sounds a little better for music, but the Echo will surprise you with how good it is.

Should you buy an Amazon Echo (4th Gen)?

The $64,000 question; should you buy an Amazon Echo in 2022? The answer is a resounding yes. For most people, the Amazon Echo is the perfect addition to their homes. If you’re a music fan it’s worth the extra spend over the Echo Dot for the added, well, everything. The new design is the best yet and while the blue is probably the worst looking, it’s not a disaster.

Perhaps the only thing really missing from the latest Amazon Echo is the LED clock found on the Echo Dot. It would be a nice little addition, even if it was an optional model that cost a little more. But on the whole, it’s really hard to pick fault with this thing.

Amazon’s eight years of making smart speakers show through. When the Echo first debuted and Alexa was new, it was exciting and a device to get enthusiastic about. To some degree that’s worn off. It’s the best at what it does, absolutely anyone can use one, it doesn’t cost a lot and you can’t really, truly find anything meaningful wrong with it. Honestly, the Amazon Echo is so good you could also say it’s actually a bit boring. But is there anything wrong with that?

Amazon Echo (4th Gen)

The Amazon Echo is the best all-around smart speaker for most people with a nice design, great sound and the immense power of the Alexa ecosystem at its disposal.

See at Amazon

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Skyline is an in-development Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works

You can do a lot with an Android smartphone, and the number of emulators that you can get for modern and retro systems alike is incredible. From age-old systems like the NES right up to the Nintendo 3DS, you can play them all from the comfort of your phone. Emulating more recent systems, such as the Nintendo Switch is, a bit more difficult. However, following a conceptual Nintendo Switch emulator launch and then a shady emulator that required a particular gamepad to use, Skyline is the first proper Nintendo Switch emulator that actually works, and you can test it out already.

To roll back a little bit, Skyline has been in development for over a year now, and only recently did some games become playable. As I was told by one of the developers, Skyline is extremely specific to just Android devices and has been built from the ground up following that philosophy — all while making use of community projects to assist its development. For example, Ryujinx is used as a reference throughout the project thanks to its accuracy, and the shader compiler used in Skyline is a fork of yuzu’s. Both the teams behind Ryujinx and yuzu have provided assistance in Skyline’s development, with the Skyline team also being granted a license exemption when it comes to yuzu.

At the moment, the developers tend to focus on getting one game at a time running. The first was Sonic Mania, the second was Celeste, and now the third that’s currently undergoing work is Super Mario Odyssey. This is because when one game runs nearly perfectly, incidentally, other games will start to work, too.

The Skyline app

The Skyline app itself is pretty bare-bones, though it has all of the features that you need. You can set a theme, the layout, performance statistics, change how logs are saved, username, language, and more. There’s also controller support with support for more than one, so that you can play multiplayer with friends. All you need is to ensure that you have your production keys and title keys along with your games, and you can get those by dumping your keys with Lockpick RCM on your Nintendo Switch.

Game compatibility is hit or miss

Currently, Skyline isn’t in a completely playable state right now — in fact, far from it. A lot of games don’t work, and the playable section of the compatibility list is rather short. That being said, we tested out both Super Mario Odyssey and Celeste to give you an idea of what to expect, and it’s quite impressive, to say the least. We also tried to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons but it didn’t run. Note that while the below recording’s audio is out of sync, the audio was not out of sync when playing.

Celeste

Celeste is a fun platformer that’s available on a lot of platforms, though not on Android. It runs between 40 and 60 FPS on my OnePlus 10 Pro with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, making it perfectly playable. It’s a lot of fun, though the touch controls are a little bit dodgy, though that’s because the game requires pretty precise input.

Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is a game that is the latest focus of the Skyline team’s efforts. Currently, it can kind of show the menu, but the world itself doesn’t load on my OnePlus 10 Pro. 3D games are harder than 2D games to emulate, so it could be a while before you see this one running properly on a device.

Download and install Skyline

If you want to give Skyline a try, be sure to join the team’s Discord to see the latest APKs available for download, and read the rules before talking on the server as well. You will need a GitHub account, and typing “.rl ftx1” in the bot commands channel will give you a link to download the latest APK for your device. Otherwise, you can build the app yourself from its source code on GitHub by following the team’s build instructions.

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Which music services are supported on Google Assistant and the Google Nest speakers?

One of the most common uses for all the best smart speakers, like the Google Nest Audio, is as a music device. The Nest speakers are more than just a fancy music device, but it’s definitely one of the most used features. For music, you need a service to supply the tunes.

You could always send music from your smartphone. But when you have an AI like Google Assistant built into the Nest Audio, you’re really going to want to take advantage of that. So, which music services can you use?

Here are all the supported music services for the Google Nest speakers.

Which music services are supported on the Google Nest speakers?

Unlike some of the competition, such as the Apple HomePod Mini, the Google Nest speakers have wide-ranging support for third-party music services. The primary one for folks embedded into Google’s ecosystem will be YouTube Music.

YouTube Music

YouTube Music isn’t free, so unlike on the Amazon Echo, you’re going to need to pay to get anything from the first-party service. The good news is that YouTube Music is included as part of YouTube Premium. This subscription gets rid of ads on YouTube, enables background play on mobile, and allows downloads, so it’s worth having just for that.

Access to the YouTube Music library is a nice bonus to have. The service perhaps isn’t as user-friendly as Google Play Music used to be, but for hands-free access on the Nest Audio, you have no worries at all. And since it’s most likely already linked to the same Google account as your speaker, there’s no additional setup involved.

YouTube Premium costs $11.99 a month for an individual plan but there’s currently a two-month free trial to check it out first.

Spotify

Spotify is available on the Amazon Echo for both free and paid subscribers, though if you’re on the free tier your experience is significantly more limited.

Free members can listen to music through Google Assistant but with pretty strict limitations. Paid subscribers will have full access to the Spotify library. In supported markets, this also includes Spotify’s podcast library.

New subscribers who haven’t had Spotify Premium before can currently sign up and enjoy a three-month free trial before paying.

Apple Music

Apple Music subscribers can link their accounts to Google Assistant to listen on the Nest Audio and other supported speakers, but it isn’t as widely supported as some of the other services.

Currently, Apple Music can be used on the Amazon Echo in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

If you haven’t tried Apple Music yet, or in some cases even if you’re a returning user, you can get a month’s free trial to take it for a test listen.

Deezer

Deezer’s 73 million-strong song library is available to use on Google Assistant for paid subscribers on the Premium and Hi-Fi plans.

Deezer is also region-restricted on Google Nest devices to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.. As with other popular services you can try it first for free with a one-month trial.

Pandora

Pandora users in the United States (currently the only market for the service) can link their free, plus, or premium accounts to Google Assistant and enjoy music through the Google Nest speakers.

This includes podcasts and tier-specific perks such as unlimited skips on the plus and premium subscriptions.

Sirius XM

Sirius XM users in North America have full access to the service through Google Assistant with the various subscription tiers available. The service is unavailable to users outside of this region.

Sirius XM has one of the more generous free trial periods available with three-months access to try it out before you have to pay.

iHeartRadio

iHeartRadio is one of the free music services available on the Google Nest speakers, albeit only to users in North America, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.

Radio stations, music, and podcasts are all available through iHeartRadio and if you have an account you can link it up and keep your activity in sync across all your devices.

TuneIn Radio

The basic tier of TuneIn Radio comes preloaded inside Google Assistant for use on the Nest speakers to listen to radio stations from around the world. If you have a premium subscription you can also link this and have full access to your account.

Google Cast

The Google Nest speakers have an additional bonus over the competition by supporting the Google Cast protocol. This means that unsupported services, for example, Tidal, that have Cast built into their apps can be used this way with the speakers.

It works the same as with video. Tap the Cast icon, choose the speaker you want the music to come out of, and you’re all set. While this isn’t quite as convenient as full hands-free access with the Google Assistant, it’s a decent alternative and better than using Bluetooth.

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That covers all the main ways you can listen to music on a Google Nest speaker. While the free services you can use are limited to radio and radio-like experiences, there is at least something to get started with. For the rest, there are plenty of free trials you can use before settling on your favorite service.

Google Nest Audio

Google's latest and best speaker for music pairing a subtle design with a room filling sound at a great price.

See at Best Buy

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WWDC22 Wishlist: 25 features we want Apple to announce for iOS 16

The Worldwide Developers Conference  — our favorite time of the year — is right around the corner! For many of us, it’s more exciting than the actual iPhone event. Apple will be holding the main keynote of WWDC22 on June 6. There’s plenty to expect from this event and even more to wish for. For starters, the company will most likely be revealing iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and macOS 13. Following the keynote, we expect to get our hands on the first developer betas of these operating systems. Last year, iOS 15 and macOS Monterey introduced some interesting features, including Focus, SharePlay, Safari improvements, and more. We’ve heard some rumors regarding iOS 16 upgrading Focus, improving notifications, and bringing additions to Health. However, there’s much more we want Apple to include across its operating systems. Here’s our WWDC22 wishlist for iOS 16 — including 25 features!

iOS 16 Feature Wishlist for WWDC 2022

Redesigned icons

While there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, change is sometimes good and rejuvenating. Our feature wishlist for iOS 16 starts with redesigned icons. Apple has been using these same app icons since iOS 7 — for the most part. It’s true that the company has tweaked or completely changed some of them. However, they retain the same feel as that ancient OS version. When comparing iOS 6 to iOS 7, the design changes were groundbreaking, and that’s exactly the kind of change we hope to see in iOS 16’s app icons. Android brought some sweeping UI changes with Android 12 and Material You, so Apple is in prime position to play catchup with some refreshes of its own.

Tweaked system UI elements

Just like the redesigned icons wish, we also hope for some user interface (UI) element changes. Apple makes changes to UI elements with almost every major, annual release. However, some toggles, icons, and other elements remain out of place. For example, the on/off toggle is too chunky and stands out when Apple still places it on the more minimalistic UI of iOS. It’s about time the company smoothens out some of these elements to make sure they blend with the rest of the operating system.

More default apps

Back in 2020, iOS 14 introduced the default app selection. However, it comes with a catch — users can only change the default web browser and email apps. We only hope that Apple expands its limits in iOS 16 and support more apps. These could include the default Maps, Music, Notes, Reminders, and Calendar apps. One use case would be for those who prefer Google’s tools over Apple’s. Supporting more default apps would let them have a smoother experience on iOS — rather than feeling the need to switch to Android. It would also give the company some breathing room for counter-arguments when regions like EU allege anti-competition practices. Choices here would be much appreciated all around.

System app updates through the App Store

One of the features I miss from Android OS is the ability to update system apps from the Google Play Store. This way, phone manufacturers can implement new features without forcing users to go through a full software update. Despite this being on our feature wishlist, I personally don’t see it happening with iOS 16. iPhones receive software support for a longer time than Android phones. So even if someone has a 4-year-old iPhone, they can still take advantage of the latest changes. Additionally, Apple tends to release new software updates somewhat frequently, so users don’t really have to wait for a long time to get their hands on the latest and greatest. It’s a nice addition to have, though I don’t personally need it, because there are still people out there using iPhones that don’t support the latest iOS version. Decoupling the app from the system might just make Apple’s update situation even better.

Some proper goddamn wallpapers

Back in the day, Apple used to put in actual effort when including new iPhone wallpapers. iOS 9 was the first version to start the drift from stunning photography to random abstract pictures that don’t always make sense. iOS 12 was when this transition reached completion and the company switched to total nonsense. It feels like Apple just throws in some colors now and calls it a wallpaper. Yes, there are wallpaper apps on iOS too — but it’s not too much to expect the trillion-dollar company to spend some time giving a better wallpaper experience. Those “Shot on iPhone” images could make for some stunning wallpapers, and it would be a good use of the marketing campaign too.

Background OS upgrades

As someone who installs every single iOS beta build, I can’t stress enough how much I want to see this feature on iOS 16. Instead of watching my devices’ black screens while they all update, it would be very handy for the system to install the update in the background — as the phone remains on and functional. The user can then reboot their iPhone to switch to the updated OS version in an instant manner. We shouldn’t need to wait for an upgrade in 2022. Android has largely moved onto seamless upgrades, with the notable exception of Samsung, and Apple should consider it too.

RCS support

iMessage is a great way to text your friends and family. It’s minimalistic, straight to the point, and fully integrated into the system. What’s not-so-great, though, is that it’s not a cross-platform messenger. So if you’re texting an Android friend, your iPhone will switch to SMS — which lacks most of iMessage’s features and can cost money (depending on your carrier’s plan). If only there was a way to bridge this gap…

Well, there is, and it’s called Rich Communication Services (RCS). If Apple bakes it into the Messages app, Android and iOS users will be able to text each other over mobile data or Wi-Fi and take advantage of more advanced messaging features. Please, Apple, in iOS 16. It’s a pipe dream, but we’re making a wishlist, so why not.

Apple Music additions

Apple Music is about seven years old now, and that’s a lot in tech years. The Cupertino giant has had enough time to catch up with some of its rivals. However, plenty of essential features remain missing from the streaming service. Apple has had products — both hardware (iPod) and software (iTunes) — in the music field for over a decade. So theoretically, there shouldn’t be anything holding it back from filling the gaps, but oh well.

In iOS 16, we would like to see:

• Better algorithms for music personalization and discovery.
• UI/UX improvements — the current design is clean but not very practical.
• Absolute continuity — Apple and Ecosystem go hand in hand. Why is there still no Spotify Connect equivalent? I’m sure it’s easier to implement than Universal Control.
• Richer yearly statistics and listening fun facts.

Better Mail and Calendar

The Mail app on iOS 15 is very limited when compared to other email clients, such as Spark. Yes, you can execute the basics and send emails, but it’s too basic. Additionally, it lacks some of the features Apple includes on the web app — like vacation auto-replies, aliases, and more.

Just like Mail, the Calendar app is also not enough. That’s not to mention that collaboration features on it are a hit or miss. Sometimes you invite people to an event, they accept it, yet it still shows as pending. The app simply won’t refresh. Ideally, a redesigned Calendar app with more productivity features is what we want to see in iOS 16.

Upgraded iMessage

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been resorting to online communications significantly more. There are plenty of free instant messaging apps to choose from. However, iMessage remains an easy option that is available for all Apple users by default. That’s why the company should take it to the next level and offer features that make it similar to Telegram or WhatsApp. Right now, many users find themselves unsatisfied with its limited features. As a result, they seek third-party alternatives. Sharing your name and photo with contacts is far from being enough.

Another wish that is unlikely to happen is iMessage access on iCloud.com. Apple already allows users to store their messages on iCloud. It makes sense to be able to access them from the web app and send an iMessage even if accessed from a Windows or Android web browser

Universal battery widget

On iOS 15, the Battery widget already supports viewing the percentages of connected Bluetooth devices. These include the Apple Watch, AirPods, supported wireless speakers, etc. Considering the Find My app already displays a battery icon of each internet-connected iDevice, it wouldn’t require Apple a lot of resources to display these battery levels on the Battery widget. The iPhone already knows the battery charge of the iPad and MacBook — why can’t we access that from the Home Screen? Fingers crossed we get that in iOS 16.

Interactive widgets

iOS 14 introduced real widgets. However, it eventually turned out they’re not real widgets. Yes, you can place them on the Home Screen for the first time on iOS. They also come in different sizes, offering useful information at glance. But they only do that, and this is the problem with them. You can’t use the Music widget to pause/play/skip, for example. This makes them so limiting — especially since the legacy widgets support controlling an app or getting info without launching the actual app. We hope iOS 16 makes the widgets interactive and adds support for real-time information, rather than refreshing them a few times per hour.

Proper Phone app with predictive dialler

Believe it or not, back in the day I was a hardcore Android power user. My first smartphone was the Samsung Galaxy Mini — that was around a decade ago. It had this little feature that made life so much easier. You could use the Phone app’s dial-pad to type someone’s name (instead of their number) and call them. Additionally, it would suggest to auto-complete the number you’re typing by comparing your input to your saved contacts. Yes, this revolutionary feature indeed existed over a decade ago. Guess what — yes, it still isn’t supported on iOS. You have to either type the correct digits from A to Z on the dial-pad or use the Contacts section/Spotlight Search/Siri to call someone. We beg you, Apple. Better late than never. iOS 16?

Revamped Podcasts app

The Podcasts app used to be in sync with the Music app in terms of some design elements. Apple would use the same UI for both apps’ players. This would add some coherence and harmony between the company’s system apps. At some point, though, Podcasts started lagging behind — as Music got some extra additions and fresh coats of paint. The Podcasts app now feels half-baked and features some outdated design elements. It’s almost like a malnourished creature fighting for its last breath.

This surprises us because Apple now offers paid podcast subscriptions. So the company is making money out of the commission it charges creators. Why it neglects this app makes no sense. If it can’t spare the resources to rebuild it, at least kill it and merge it with the Music app as an independent section — the Spotify way.

Wireless OS recovery

Remember when you’d need to take your Apple Watch when it bricks to an Apple Store or authorized repair center for software recovery? Apple recently added support for wireless watchOS recovery. This allows users running the latest iOS and watchOS versions to use their iPhones to bring their dead watches back to life.

In iOS 16, we want Apple to add this feature to the iPhone. This way if you brick your iPhone, you can seamlessly restore it with a wireless solution — through another iPhone, iPad, or Mac. This would spare users needing to connect it through a cable and use Finder/iTunes. Additionally, it allows users who use the iPad as a PC replacement to restore their iPhones through their “PC replacements.” That’s not to mention that this would be needed if Apple decides to go portless on a future iPhone model.

Push notifications from PWAs

Safari on iOS supports Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) — in a limited manner, though. You are allowed to add a web app as an icon to your Home Screen, and it will load as an “app” rather than launching Safari. However, PWAs still don’t support push notifications. So if you’re trying to use the web instead of a native app solution, you won’t get the timely information you need. Push notifications remain absent on Safari as a whole, not just in PWAs. That surprises us because Safari on macOS has supported push notifications for a very long time. iOS 16, please?

iTunes retirement

Apple sometimes implements new features on macOS before it rolls them out on iOS in the following years. For example, macOS Mojave introduced Dark Mode on the Mac. Then Apple brought this anticipated feature to iOS 13 — a year later. The tech overlord killed the iTunes Mac app on macOS Catalina a few years ago. That’s because TV purchases live in the… TV app, and Music purchases live in the… Music app. iTunes on iOS is even more broken than the Podcasts app — and this says a lot. On iOS 16, Apple should just follow suit on the iPhone and bring the iTunes Store to the Music and TV apps for the respective purchases.

More iCloud storage

What’s a “5GB,” and what do I do with it? In 2022, even as a free offering, 5GB of cloud storage is unacceptable. Call me a choosing beggar, but back when cloud storage used to cost companies more, Google was offering 15GB. Apple has no excuse to stick to this low quota. I get that it’s a free trial (of sorts) to give people a taste of iCloud and then lure them to pay for iCloud Plus. However, even as a free trial, it is still below the acceptable minimum. Most people (including me) have more than 5GB of data and a significant portion is willing to pay for the expansion and additional features. The low number 5 is just shameful when associated with a company as wealthy as Apple.

Scheduled Optimized Battery Charging

One of the features I immediately turn off when setting up a new iPhone is Optimized Battery Charging (OBC), and not because I want my battery to die faster. The engineers in Cupertino probably assume we all have our lives figured out. The truth is, not even I know when I’ll charge my iPhone and till what hour. I don’t even plug my iPhone every day. The OBC algorithm never gets me because I don’t have stable charging routines. We want to see the option to specify the time we want the iPhone to fully charge on iOS 16.

View saved Wi-Fi passwords

A few years ago, Apple added a handy feature to its devices. When one of your contacts attempts to join a Wi-Fi network that you have the password of, your device will prompt you to share it with them. This feature requires both devices to be in proximity and have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled. However, if an Android user or a guest whom you haven’t saved to your contacts comes over, there’s no way to view your saved Wi-Fi passwords from iOS. Apple must stop pretending that everyone around the globe is an iPhone user and design features that are friendlier to other platforms. We can only hope that iOS 16 allows users to view saved Wi-Fi passwords.

Face ID screen orientation

You know how some people (most of us?) use their phones when lying down on their sides? For some reason, our smartphones are still not smart enough to detect that our faces are sideways before switching to landscape orientation. A simple fix would be using the Face ID sensors to analyze the face’s position and switch the orientation accordingly. We shouldn’t be needing to toggle the orientation lock each time we lie down. iOS 16, maybe?

Lock Screen customizations

The camera is accessible from the Lock Screen and Notification Center with a simple left swipe. Why Apple places another Haptic Touch toggle to access it on these screens is beyond me. It’s redundancy in its peak form. It would be cool if iOS 16 allows us to add custom app/action shortcuts to these screens, and maybe even customize the clock’s style/font.

A smarter Siri

Almost every WWDC, Apple claims that Siri has gotten smarter. However, these changes seemingly aren’t obvious. I can’t tell the difference between iOS 15 and iOS 10 Siri. Both are equally dumb in my opinion. The smart assistant still struggles with maintaining context and understanding commands when worded in a certain way.

“Hey Siri, call mother dearest.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell which mall is the nearest to you right now.”

More Translate languages

If Apple wants to compete with Google Translate, the least it could do is provide more language. Right now it only supports a handful, while the latter goes for over a hundred. People need more than just Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese. And don’t get me started on the actual accuracy of the translations. It’s a shame I have to keep Google Translate installed on my iPhone only because the Cupertino tech giant doesn’t take its equivalent seriously.

Custom Wallet cards

The Wallet app is a great place to store passes, QR codes, tickets, bank cards, and more. The problem, though, is that you can’t add a custom card by default. There are third-party apps that support creating custom cards with a QR code or barcode of your choice. However, not all of us are comfortable sharing this data with other developers. We can hope that iOS 16 allows us to create our own so we can add our gym entry code, vaccination certificates in unsupported countries, and more to our Apple Watches.

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With WWDC22 being around a month away, we can only cross our fingers and hope that Apple has some exciting surprises for us. Considering major software updates only land once per year, it will be really disappointing if the company settled for mostly bug fixes across iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and macOS 13. Now we sit and wait. In the meantime, check out our feature wishlist for iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and macOS 13!

What’s your personal wishlist for iOS 16? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post WWDC22 Wishlist: 25 features we want Apple to announce for iOS 16 appeared first on XDA.

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Acer TravelMate P6 (2021) review: A super-light business laptop

Acer’s latest TravelMate P6 is a delightful business laptop. It’s lightweight, and it’s stylish yet subtle. But as with any Acer PC, you just have to get past the bloatware, which can be done by uninstalling software or installing a clean build of Windows 11.

It comes in an a black aluminum-magnesium chassis that weighs in at 2.2 pounds, or just less than one kilogram. That makes it super easy to carry, and it doesn’t compromise on performance or ports, offering 11th-gen vPro processors, modern ports like Thunderbolt 4, and legacy ports like USB Type-A.

Indeed, it’s a pretty sweet business laptop. For a business user that’s productivity focused and on-the-go, it’s easy to recommend.

Acer TravelMate P6

The Acer TravelMate P6 weighs in at a kilogram, making it among the lightest 14-inch business laptops. It also packs 11th-gen processors, an FHD webcam, and more.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Amazon

Navigate this review:

• Acer TravelMate P6 (2021) Pricing and availability
• Acer TravelMate P6 (2021) specs
• Design: Super-light, but still stylish
• Display: The 14-inch FHD display is satisfactory
• Keyboard: It’s standard for Acer’s products
• Performance: Like all Acer laptops, it comes with a ton of bloatware
• Should you buy the Acer TravelMate P6 (2021)?

Acer TravelMate P6 (2021) Pricing and availability

• The Acer TravelMate P6 starts at $1,299.99 and is available now.

Refreshed in 2021, Acer’s TravelMate P6 doesn’t have a whole lot of configurations. You pretty much get a Core i5-1135G7 model with a 512GB SSD for $1,299.99, or a Core i7-1165G7 model with a 1TB SSD for $1,499 (Acer sent me the latter for review). There might be other models from some retailers that I’m unaware of, but these are the ones that show up on Acer’s website.

The rest of them are the same. They both come with 16GB LPDDR4x memory, and they have a 14-inch 16:10 1,920×1,200 display. Probably even more importantly, they weigh in at 2.2 pounds, considering that the ultra-light form factor is a key feature of the device.

You can order an Acer TravelMate P6 from the usual suspects, such as Acer, Amazon, and Newegg.

Acer TravelMate P6 (2021) specs

CPU	Up to Intel CoreTM i7-1165G7 processor (12 MB Smart Cache, 2.8 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 4.7 GHz, DDR4 or LPDDR4x, Intel Iris Xe Graphics)
Graphics	Intel Iris Xe Graphics, supporting OpenGL 4.5, OpenCLTM 2.2, Microsoft DirectX 12
Display	14” display with IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology, Full HD+ 1920 x 1200, high-brightness (340 nits) Acer ComfyView LED-backlit TFT LCD. Wide viewing angle up to 170 degrees.
Body	12.28 x 8.9 x 0.66 inches, 2.2 pounds
Memory	Dual-channel LPDDR4X SDRAM support 16 GB of onboard LPDDR4X system memory
Storage	Solid state drive 1TB, PCIe Gen3, 8 Gb/s, NVMe
Audio	DTS Audio, featuring optimized bass response and micro-speaker distortion prevention Two built-in front facing stereo speakers at any display modes by discrete smart amplifier with real time sensing on I/V protection Acer Purified.Voice technology with AI noise reduction in dual built-in microphones. Features include far-field pickup, dynamic noise reduction through neural network, adaptive beam forming, and predefined personal and conference call modes. Compatible with Cortana with Voice Acer TrueHarmony technology for lower distortion, wider frequency range, headphone-like audio and powerful sound
Connectivity	WLAN networking • Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 6 AX201 802.11a/b/g/n/acR2+ax wireless LAN Dual Band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) 2×2 MU-MIMO technology Supports Bluetooth 5.1 Wi-Fi CNVi Interface
Ports and interfaces	USB Type-C port supporting: USB 3.2 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps) Thunderbolt 4 USB charging 5 V; 3 A One USB 3.2 Gen 2 port featuring power-off USB charging HDMI port with HDCP support 3.5 mm headphone/speaker jack, supporting headsets with built-in microphone microSDTM Card reader Nano SIM slot optional NFC (Near Field Communication) optional
Keyboard and touchpad	Keyboard: 83-/84-/87-key Acer FineTip keyboard with international language support TouchPad: Multi-gesture touchpad, supporting two-finger scroll; pinch; gestures to open Cortana, Action Center, multitasking; application commands Microsoft Precision Touchpad certification Moisture resistant
Webcam	T-Type MIPI FHD camera + IR camera 1920 x 1080 resolution 1080p HD video at 60 fps with Temporal Noise Reduction Dual Mic (33 mm + 33 mm)
OS	Windows 11 Pro
Material	Magnesium-aluminum
Price	$1,499.99

About this review: Acer shared the TravelMate P6 with us for review. It did not have any input in this review.

Design: Super-light, but still stylish

• The Acer TravelMate P6 weighs a kilogram.
• It comes in black with silver accents.

I really like reviewing super-light laptops like this one, which comes in at just 2.2 pounds. There’s something about devices at that kilogram mark that are just delightful. They’re so easy to carry around in a bag that you’ll forget they’re even there. They’re comfortable to use when you’re just lounging around the house.

The magnesium alloy build looks clean, yet stylish.

The thing I enjoy the most is seeing what OEMs do to make them not look and feel cheap. In order to get to this weight, you have to use a magnesium alloy, and that can feel plasticky. Acer does a pretty good job here in making a solid-looking laptop from a magnesium alloy. It comes in black, but the hinges have silver accents, which is a nice touch. I really like how it looks and feels, although like most magnesium alloy laptops, you’ll find that the lid easily bends if you press on it, and stuff like that.

The lid has a squared-off Acer logo stamped in the corner, which is typical for the company’s business laptops. The consumer notebooks tend to have a logo stamped in the middle, which is more flashy. This is meant to be a cleaner design.

As for ports, there are lots of them, something that you’d expect from a business laptop. On the left side alone, there are dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and HDMI. Either of those Thunderbolt 4 ports can connect to dual 4K monitors, one 8K monitor, an external GPU, or something else.

On the right side, you’ll find the 3,5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot. A microSD card slot is always welcome, even if it’s not quite as useful as a full-size one.

I really like the design of this laptop, as I do with a lot of Acer’s laptops. The company makes magnesium sexy. I’ve seen Swift laptops in blue with silver accents or green with gold accents, but for a TravelMate, the design needs to be a little more subtle. That’s why we have a sort of metallic black with silver accents. And of course, it only weighs a kilogram.

Display: The 14-inch FHD display is pretty good, and it’s 16:10

• The matte, anti-glare display is better than a lot of Acer laptops that I’ve used.
• The FHD webcam is excellent.

The Acer TravelMate P6 comes with a 14-inch 1,920×1,200 display, and yes, that resolution means that it has a 16:10 aspect ratio, something that’s becoming more and more common. 16:10, as opposed to 16:9, it taller, and it has more surface area. Screens are measured diagonally, so the closer the aspect ratio gets to square, the more surface area you get.

It’s a matte non-touch display, but it doesn’t suffer from some of the pitfalls I’ve seen on anti-glare screens in the past. In fact, this is actually a better display than I’ve seen from a lot of Acer laptops.

As you can see, it supports 100% sRGB, 78% NTSC, 83% Adobe RGB, and 85% P3. That’s pretty solid, at least compared to the rest of the market. 100% sRGB isn’t uncommon for a laptop to obtain, but averaging in the 80s for the rest of the categories is pretty good.

Brightness maxed out at 366.9, which exceeds the 340 nits promised by Acer but still less than I’d like in a laptop. It’s not going to be great for outdoor use. Contrast is 1250:1, which is pretty good.

The FHD webcam on the TravelMate P6 is excellent.

Above the display, you’ll find a 1080p webcam, which is pretty solid. Indeed, considering that this laptop comes from the 11th-gen Intel age before FHD webcams were added to the Evo spec (as a suggestion), it’s really impressive that Acer took the initiative on this. Considering how many people are working from home and taking video calls, webcam quality is super important, and this one is quite good.

Keyboard: It’s standard for Acer’s products

• The keyboard is backlit and it has a Microsoft Precision touchpad.

The keyboard and touchpad on the Acer TravelMate P6 are pretty straightforward. The keyboard is Chiclet-style, and it’s pretty standard for Acer’s laptops. It’s fine, but frankly, it just doesn’t compete with some of the phenomenal stuff that HP and Lenovo are doing with their business laptop keyboards.

The keyboard is backlit, which is good, but the keys themselves feel pretty standard. It’s not particularly quiet, it doesn’t have that particularly comfortable force curve that we see from other laptops, and so on. It’s definitely accurate, but other than that, it’s average, which is fine.

As you can see, the Precision touchpad doesn’t quite make use of the available real estate that it could, although it still feels big enough. I just personally want touchpads to be as large as possible.

Performance: Like all Acer laptops, it comes with a ton of bloatware

• You’ll have to spend some time getting rid of bloatware.
• It has 11th-gen Intel processors.

The model that Acer sent me includes a Core i7-1165G7, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD, which is pretty sweet. It’s also got a pretty sizable 56WHr battery, and unfortunately, a ton of bloatware.

The bloatware

You can identify bloatware in a number of ways. Some people consider any pre-installed software that they don’t find useful to be bloatware, and while that’s fair, that’s not the definition that we’re going for here. We’re not even going to talk about the bloatware that Microsoft installs with Windows, such as Solitaire Collection, although that would be fair too. The difference is that Microsoft’s bloatware is a constant across the Windows landscape. No, we’re talking about software that’s been separately installed by Acer.

Acer bundles more third-party software than any other mainstream PC manufacturer.

Most companies don’t do this anymore. Over a decade ago, it was common for companies to load up PCs with third-party apps, which would subsidize the cost a bit. This can still happen on the low end, but for a $1,499 PC, it’s very rare. OEMs like Dell, Lenovo, and HP will install an antivirus program on consumer PCs, but that’s about it, and business PCs won’t even have that.

Let’s take a look at some of what’s pre-installed on the Acer TravelMate P6:

• Acer Jumpstart
• Acer Product Registration
• Acer ProShield Plus
• Aura Privacy
• AxCrypt
• Booking.com
• Control Center
• Dropbox Promotion
• Evernote
• Firefox
• Norton Security Ultra

Believe it or not, this is actually impressive compared to a consumer Acer laptop, which usually contains an array of games as well. My biggest issue is with things like Norton, Evernote, and Firefox. They’re all there to compete with something that’s already in Windows. It reminds me of the older days of Android phones when they’d all have two of everything, one from Google and one from the OEM.

Some of it is super useful. Acer ProShield Plus is great. You can drag and drop files into it to encrypt or decrypt them, there’s a File Shredder functionality that overwrites the data so it can’t be recovered, you can make a partition as a Personal Secure Drive, you can control which kinds of USB devices can be used, and more. It’s phenomenal. ProShield Plus is a one-stop shop for all of your security needs that you’d expect from a business laptop.

But ProShield Plus is really all we should be getting from Acer here. You shouldn’t have a shortcut to Booking.com on the Start Menu of a business laptop.

It’s easy enough to get rid of this stuff, as you can just uninstall it. Like I said, there’s a lot less useless stuff than on an Acer consumer laptop, so it doesn’t even take a lot of time.

Performance and battery life

The Acer TravelMate P6 checks the right boxes for a business laptop. Sure, 12th-gen processors are better than 11th-gen, and I’m sure Acer will refresh the product at some point. But still, for a productivity machine on the go, this thing is nearly perfect.

If you’re doing your work in the browser or something similar that’s not graphics-intensive, this gets the job done. Speaking of graphics though, the Iris Xe graphics in 12th-gen chips are mostly the same as in 11th-gen, so you’re really not missing anything there. My work load, as usual, consists of having over a dozen tabs open in a Chromium browser (the browser varies, but these days, it’s usually Vivaldi), while using other apps like OneNote, Skype, Slack, and Photoshop. There were no pain points in usage.

	Acer TravelMate P6 Core i7-1165G7	Lenovo ThinkPad Titanium Yoga Core i7-1160G7	HP EliteBook 840 Aero G8 Core i7-1185G7
PCMark 10	4,498	4,488	4,948
Geekbench 5	1,427 / 4,887	1,333 / 4,055	1,518 / 4,966
Cinebench R23	1,362 / 4,690	1,127 / 2,597	1,296 / 3,975
3DMark: Time Spy	1,618	1,334	1,560

Interestingly, when I sort my benchmark scores by PCMark 10 scores, the Acer TravelMate P6 aligns more with the lower-watt Tiger Lake UP4 chips, like the one in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga.

Battery life is solid, maxing out at just below six hours. The way I test laptops is by using them. Then, I create battery reports and average the times, so this is real-world usage, as opposed to streaming video constantly or something. On average, it got between five and five and a half hours, which is still better than many of the laptops that I test. It’s impressive.

Should you buy the Acer TravelMate P6 (2021)?

As is the case with everything, the Acer TravelMate P6 is not for everyone.

Who should buy the Acer TravelMate P6:

• Business professionals that are on-the-go and need something portable
• People who want something that’s great for productivity, and has some additional security features

Who should not buy the Acer TravelMate P6:

• Consumers that want a laptop for consumption
• Anyone that needs dedicated graphics

I found the Acer TravelMate P6 to be an excellent laptop that checks all of the right boxes. It’s a great business laptop, but it seems to be something that would be great for almost everyone.

The post Acer TravelMate P6 (2021) review: A super-light business laptop appeared first on XDA.

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