Tabla de contenidos para 635 en Computeractive

ZOOM TO AXE CHROMEBOOK APP Zoom is closing its Chromebook app in August, and recommending the ‘Zoom for Chrome PWA’ app instead, which has more features such as live transcription and background blurs. You can download the app from the Google Play Store (www.snipca.com/42379), and read Zoom’s instructions on using it (www.snipca.com/42377). ANDROID THUNDERBIRD BASED ON K-9 APP Thunderbird’s developers have said that the forthcoming Android version of the email client will be based on the existing app K-9 Mail (https://k9mail.app), named after the robot dog in Doctor Who (pictured). They’ll now work on “adding brand new features and introducing quality-of-life enhancements” before launching the app as ‘Thunderbird on Android’. Read more at www.snipca.com/42359. ADOBE TESTS ‘FREEMIUM’ PHOTOSHOP ONLINE Adobe has released a free edition of the online version of…

We’re delighted to say that Fitbit has refunded reader Mike Rogers in time for him to claim a discount of 40 per cent on a new fitness watch (see Issue 634). In March, Fitbit recalled its Ionic watch (pictured) because it “can overheat, posing a burn hazard” (see www.snipca.com/42117). Mike was keen to get a refund of £224 while the discounted offer on a Fitbit Sense watch was still live, and was worried that Fitbit still hadn’t sent the money two months after the recall had been announced. It’s worth pointing out though that while Fitbit had to refund Mike for the unsafe Ionic, it didn’t have to do so in time for him to take advantage of the discount on the Sense. Legally, the refund and the offer were…

I remember my uncle once telling me that when my grandfather was in his 80s and visiting him in Cornwall, he took ill when out for a walk and ended up taking refuge on a bench in a park. It took ages for my worried uncle to find him, but thankfully he was fine. My uncle would have benefitted from the kind of modern location-sharing technology found in the Life360 phone app (www.life360.com), which you can use to keep track of someone else who also has the app installed – as long as they have their phone with them. Life360 works on the idea of circles, which is really just a group: it contains everyone you want to connect with. You all share locations with each other. Once you’ve created…

We’re used to tablets running Apple’s iPadOS or Google’s Android operating system (OS). However, Chinese manufacturer Huawei is still banned by the US government from using Google’s apps and services on its phones and tablets, so the company’s MatePad 11 uses its own HarmonyOS 2. Huawei claims this is a Google-free OS and – to all intents and purposes – that’s true. However, underneath it’s still a reworking of Android. “If you can live without Google, this is a stunning tablet” The biggest problem, therefore, is the absence of Google Play Store. Instead, Huawei tries to make it easy to install Android apps via its own AppGallery. This hosts big names such as Microsoft Office, VLC Media Player and alternative browsers such as Edge and Opera, but there’s still a…

We tested the first version of the OnePlus Nord CE back in Issue 610. Since then OnePlus has launched several Nord models (including the 2T, reviewed in Issue 634) and a second version of the Nord CE. This model is a cut-back version of the latter, with a launch price of under £280, making it the cheapest model in OnePlus’s current line-up. It’s powered by Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 695 5G processor, alongside the Qualcomm Adreno 619 GPU, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (which is expandable if you pop in a microSD card). We found the phone ran pleasingly well, loaded apps quickly and didn’t hang about when we were flicking between several open windows. It struggled a little with larger games, though. Running the performance benchmark test, it…

While built-in TV speakers have improved in recent years, upgrading to a soundbar remains one of the best ways to get a significant boost in sound quality, whether you’re streaming or watching live TV. This is particularly true if you’ve bought a more affordable 4K TV recently, which may offer superb picture quality but has compromised on sound. “A compact speaker that can deliver a huge sound without losing clarity” Sonos has a number of soundbars in its range and the Ray is the smallest and cheapest of the lot. It’s a basic compact device designed to accompany medium-sized TVs (24-50in models). This is because smaller TV sets tend to sacrifice bass since they lack the requisite space that bass sounds need to rumble around in. They can also struggle…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Install drivers using Intel’s ‘Support Assistant’ ✔ Over my 20 years of computing, the one thing that’s baffled me most frequently is when and how to install driver updates. Apart from Computeractive, nobody seems to teach you about these things. Every few weeks my Bluetooth would stop working, and the icon would vanish from my system. I had some vague understanding that I needed to install new drivers, and this worked a few times using the tool Snappy Driver Installer Origin (SDIO, www.snipca. com/41568), after reading about it in Issue 630 (page 38). That did the trick a few times, but I was just ticking boxes randomly – so I think I just got lucky. That luck ran out eventually, and…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 Stop OneDrive syncing to save battery When your laptop goes into battery saver mode, it disables functions that use a lot of power, such as email and calendar syncing. One tool that carries on syncing, though, is OneDrive, which can consume a lot of battery just when you need to preserve it. To stop this happening, open OneDrive from your taskbar, then click the Settings icon (cog), followed by Settings. Click the Settings tab (1 in our screenshot below), then tick the box ‘Automatically pause sync when this device is in battery saver mode option’ 2. Press OK to confirm. WINDOWS 11 Check whether your system is ready for the 22H2 update Microsoft has announced that Windows 11’s first Feature update, codenamed 22H2, will be released…

Compact discs are assumed to be an almost obsolete format, but – like vinyl records – they seem to be undergoing a revival. Last year, CD sales rose in the US (www.snipca.com/42372) and UK (www.snipca.com/42373) for the first time since 2004, suggesting that physical discs haven’t been completely wiped out by streaming services. Meanwhile, Microsoft has just added support for CD playback to its new Media Player app for Windows 11 (www.snipca.com/42374). Most of us still have lots of old audio CDs, DVDs and backup discs, but no optical drives on which to play them. In this feature, we explain how to restore CD playback to your PC. Buy a PC with a built-in disc drive Laptop manufacturers stopped including optical disc drives around 10 years ago, partly to save…

The BBC must make more content available online in order to stay relevant in the digital age, Ofcom has said. It has proposed modernising the BBC’s Operating Licence so the broadcaster can “innovate and respond to changing audience needs” while still providing essential services. Currently, the BBC’s remit is too focused on providing TV and radio content, Ofcom said. In future, it wants the corporation to do more to make “important content” easier to find online. It gives examples as regional programming and ‘at-risk’ genres including arts, music and religion. Such changes will reflect the “increasingly important” role apps like BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds play in people’s lives, Ofcom said. Ofcom will now consult with interested parties and expects to make a decision in early 2023, in time for…

A while back I had one of my ‘I don’t like Outlook’ moods, and chose eM Client (www.emclient.com) as my alternative, upgrading to the Pro lifetime version (£44.95) to put all my email accounts in one place. However, after a while I fell out with it because it didn’t directly synchronise with my Outlook calendar. I went back to Outlook. Come February, and version 9.0 of eM Client (www.snipca.com/42288) is released. I have another mood swing, decide to give it a try, but I can’t find my licence key. I contacted eM Client using the ‘I forgot my licence key’ option, and within two hours I was sent the key, and I can use the software again. It also gave me the licence key for a version I paid for…

Dell used to offer plenty of configuration options with its desktop PCs, but has switched to a less flexible approach with some of its latest models. The XPS Desktop 8950 is a prime example of this, being part of a range of XPS models that are available with various specifications, though you can’t configure even the most basic of pre-build upgrades. That said, our test unit offered plenty to admire. At its heart is one of Intel’s latest 12th-generation Core i5-12600K processors, backed up by 8GB of RAM. “Performs well, offers plenty of connectivity, and provides upgrade options – shame about the drab case” It achieved a healthy score of 1,729 in the single-core performance test, which is the sort of impressive outcome we’d expect from one of the very…

While you can spend a small fortune on one of the latest Samsung S-series smartphones, the South Korean manufacturer also offers more affordable models in its A-series. The Galaxy A53 is a mid-range model, costing £399 at launch, though we’re already seeing it discounted on Amazon and elsewhere. At the time of writing, it was available for £275 – a significant discount. “A belter of a screen and excellent cameras, but it can be frustratingly slow” One of its highlights is the Super AMOLED screen, which is an absolute belter for a phone at this price. It measures 6.5 inches across the diagonal, has a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate and a maximum brightness level of 800cd/m2. The camera is also excellent. The main unit takes photos…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2021 Back Issue CD: £17 from www.snipca.com/42077 NEW LAPTOP PRICE DROP Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (256GB) £549 from www.snipca.com/41099 Tested Issue 601 Weighing just 1.16kg, this is an excellent lightweight laptop with a great screen and an AMD processor faster than many Intel rivals. It has two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader. The battery lasts for nearly 16 hours. ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 New Intel CPUs and a taller screen make this a more powerful, all-round slim laptop. Prices start at £749 from www.snipca.com/40042 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 £649 from www.snipca.com/42211 Tested Issue 634 Samsung has replaced its own Tab S7+ to become our favourite Android tablet. It’s fast with a stunning…

CHROMIUM Read online content faster using Bionic Reading If you sometimes find it difficult to read long blocks of text on web pages, a new reading system called Bionic Reading (www.snipca.com/42229) can help you focus better and browse content faster. Based on the notion that your brain reads faster than your eyes, Bionic Reading highlights the initial letters of words in bold and lets your brain complete the rest, so that you don’t need to read every individual character. You can test Bionic Reading by installing its official extension (www.snipca.com/42230) – click the toolbar button and the page you’re viewing will open in a special reading mode that applies the system to the text. This can be tweaked using the controls at the top of the page, which let you…

What is it? A new Bluetooth technology that lets you broadcast audio to an unlimited number of devices. It means you could transmit a song playing on your phone to other people, who’d be able to hear it on their own device. It potentially works on any device with Bluetooth 5.2: phone, tablet, TV, laptop, speakers, headphones, hearing aids and more. How it works was perfectly summed up by the feature’s previous name, Audio Sharing, but for some reason it’s now called Auracast. Who changed it? The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), comprising 38,000 companies, which since 1998 has been developing and agreeing Bluetooth standards for manufacturers to use. It probably thinks the new name sounds more exciting, and matches their enthusiasm for the technology, which it claims is a…

TESCO MOBILE SCRAPS ‘DOUBLE CLUBCARD’ Tesco no longer lets Tesco Mobile customers double the monetary value of their Clubcard vouchers against their bills. It stopped the offer on 15 June, giving customers six months to use any remaining value before they expire. Tesco says there’s no change in the actual contract price, so you can’t cancel your contract without incurring an early-termination fee. BROWSE THE WEB AS YOU CRUISE THE SEAS Royal Caribbean has applied for permission to have satellite broadband on board its cruise ships. The company has asked the Federal Communications Commission in the US for approval to offer a service provided by Starlink, which is run by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Starlink’s satellites can reach speeds of up to 250Mbps, much faster than the 3-5Mbps currently available…

Bit by bit, setting by setting, Mozilla has been boosting your privacy so adverts can’t use cookies to track you across different sites when you browse the web in Firefox. It’s been able to do this independently because it doesn’t use the Chromium source code that’s the basis for Chrome, Brave, Edge and others. First, in February 2021, it added Total Cookie Protection to the browser’s Strict Mode privacy option. Then, four months later, it turned on the feature so it worked in Private Browsing mode. One year on, it has finally activated the protection by default in all Firefox tabs, a move it claims will protect you from the “alarming reality” of your every move online being “watched, tracked and shared” (www.snipca.com/42274). The tool works by restricting websites to…

SYSTEM TOOL Winaero Tweaker 1.4 www.snipca.com/42383 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 Winaero Tweaker isn’t just our favourite tool for tweaking Windows settings, but one of the best free programs of any kind, so we’re delighted that a new version is now available. This adds several useful options for improving Windows 11, as well as tweaks for previous versions of the operating system. Winaero Tweaker automatically detects which edition of Windows you’re running, and displays settings accordingly, so you won’t be confused by options you can’t apply. This now includes Windows 11 22H2, which is due for release in the autumn but is already available to Windows Insiders. Notable additions in Winaero Tweaker 1.4 include the ability to remove the ‘Add to Favourites’ option from Windows 11’s…

We awarded the original Microsoft Surface Laptop Go four stars and a Recommended award back in Issue 596. Two years and one pandemic later and Microsoft has now launched its sequel, predictably named the Surface Laptop Go 2. For anyone not familiar with the original, this is Microsoft’s most affordable Windows laptop, which starts at £529 for a basic model with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The mid-range model costs £629 and has 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. “A petite laptop that only has room for a 12.4in screen, but it’s a bit of a corker” Our review unit (at £729) is the top of the range and increases RAM to 8GB and storage to 256GB, though the processor is the same across…

What is it? Pixel pitch (sometimes also called dot pitch) is used on some screens to describe the density of pixels. It’s simply the distance between the centre of one pixel and the centre of its neighbouring pixels. It’s directly linked to the resolution and size of a screen, so that a small screen with a high resolution will have a lower pixel pitch than a large screen with a low resolution. What’s it used for? It’s useful for comparing the pixel density of monitors. The one downside is that the latest monitors tend to have a miniscule pixel pitch, often down to fractions of millimetres, because even small screens now usually have very high resolutions. What are the specs? The Huawei AD80HW monitor (£109 from www.snipca.com/42335, pictured) has a…

ANDROID & iOS Control who can see your data in WhatsApp WhatsApp has finally rolled out long-awaited privacy settings that let you control who can see your personal information. This includes your ‘Last seen’ status, profile photo and About data. Previously, you could choose to let everyone view this information, only your contacts or nobody, but the app now offers the option to exclude specific people. To access the new settings on your Android phone, tap the three-dot ‘More options’ icon and choose Settings, then Account and select Privacy. On your iPhone, tap Settings, Account, then Privacy. Next, on either press ‘Last seen’, select ‘My contacts except’ (see screenshot below) and choose the people you want to prevent from seeing your ‘Last seen’ time. Tap the tick icon in the…

we’re all guilty of taking our Wi-Fi for granted until the point when it becomes frustratingly slow or starts knocking our devices offline. And, regardless of the connection speeds promised by our internet providers, it’s safe to say that few of us enjoy consistently fast and reliable wireless signals across every area of our homes. There are plenty of reasons for slow Wi-Fi – from a failing router to network congestion – but the majority of problems are caused by mistakes we inadvertently make ourselves. The good news is that these are usually easy to fix. In this feature, we explain how you can speed up your Wi-Fi by avoiding and rectifying seven of the most common Wi-Fi errors. Some of these are down to personal choices you may not…