Author Archives: Vincent Nguyen

"Without pain," so the old saying goes, "how can we know true joy?" Happily the stress was all left to the iPhone 12 Pro design team, leaving me to simply take pleasure in how near-perfect this new smartphone's design feels. Resembling a scaled-down version of the iPad Pro, this year's lineup consists of the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max, all having the same flat edges. I've never been a big fan of the rounded edges from Apple's last few generations of iPhone, though not because it looks terrible by any means. For me, it's more about how the iPhone feels in my hand.

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Voice-controlled virtual assistants like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Siri have changed the way many of us interact with our phones, the Web, or even our homes. Whether it's searching for some trivial information, reading a bedtime story, or dimming the lights for movie time, these AI-powered helpers try to make life less stressful by removing the need to physically do things we could just command them to do. Ironically, Google Assistant doesn't offer that convenience on its own turf on Android when it comes to third-party apps. That all changes today as it finally learns how to bring all these apps in line and be at your beck and call.

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Less than two years ago, I was fortunate to get behind the wheel of a pre-production Audi e-tron GT concept on the streets of California. The car I drove is a one-off and is the only model in existence back then. Coupled with drizzling rains (welcome to sunny California!) and real-time traffic, ‘careful’ would be an understatement. Despite all these, everything went well, and the first thing that struck me about Audi’s electric GT car – besides the sports car-like low seating position – is the inherent silence of it all, which is typical of an electric car.

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Volkswagen left the North American market high and dry with its first all-electric ID.3 hatchback. But, as promised, the 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 has finally made an appearance minus the groovy camouflage. And yes, the VW ID.4 is coming to America, and it has some good old American bravado to go along with it.

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Ask any watch fan, and they'll probably be able to tell you when they fell in love for the first time. For me, it was on July 22, 2013. There it was, a post on Facebook featuring a Rolex Red Submariner with full-box and paperwork, up for auction at Christie's auction house in New York.

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While the audio world might be obsessing over noise-canceling earbuds, Phonak just unveiled what could well be one of the most advanced medical hearables so far. The next-generation Paradise hearing technology is the heart of the company's new Audéo Paradise hearing aids, complete with a whole new chipset, motion sensor, speech enhancer, tap control, personalization, and last but by no means least, true multi-device connection to any Bluetooth enabled devices. These are about as far from your grandparents' hearing aids as you can imagine.

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One of the advantages of an interchangeable lens camera is not being stuck with the capabilities the camera came with, presuming you bought one bundled with some lens in the first place. If you need to take a closer look at wildlife without disturbing dangerous animals or need to get up close and personal with critters, you can swap out your normal lens for a zoom lens instead. Fortunately for photographers, Olympus has a new compact and lightweight M.Zuiko Digital ED super-telephoto zoom lens exactly for that purpose.

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It's been a painfully long wait for the 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible. I'm a big fan of the LC 500 coupe, and like many was made that way the first time I laid eyes on its concept-stylings back in 2016. It's a luxurious grand tourer that, even after several years on sale, still turns heads with its elegant design, futuristic trim, and of course the benefit of Lexus' flagship LF-A supercar's aura. Then there's the naturally-aspirated V8 engine, giving it the raw power of a true muscle car. There's no replacement for displacement, after all.

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The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and in this case, I'm referring to the 2021 Kia Seltos. You may know that 'Seltos' derives from 'Celtos,' the son of Greek god Hercules who was fatefully conceived amid a blackmailing affair with princess Celtine. Kia's hierarchy is a little less melodramatic, with Hercules in this case referring to the magnificent Telluride, a three-row SUV that I absolutely love. The Telluride was good enough to run away with the 2020 World Car of the Year award, no small achievement. Is the son of Hercules good enough to merit its own praise?

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Audi was the first German car brand to release a production-ready electric SUV: The e-tron, a vehicle unmistakably an Audi with its familiar silhouette and bold Singleframe grille. The e-tron SUV has none of a modern electric car's quirkiness, which is either a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it: Audi's search for something with mass-market appeal left it looking pretty much like a conventional gasoline-powered SUV. If you’re pining for more style in your electric Audi SUV, though, the German carmaker has unveiled the 2021 Q4 Sportback e-tron.

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Refreshing your most popular model is as much a risk as it is an opportunity in the car world, but it's the challenge Volkswagen faces with the 2021 Tiguan. The automaker sold 109, 572 Tiguans alone in the US in 2019, with the American driver's desire for larger crossovers and SUVs making the midsize SUV VW's bread-and-butter. Further afield, it's the top-selling SUV in Europe: when it comes to refreshing it, VW needs to get things pitch-perfect.

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It's been a long time, in tech industry terms, since Google announced its second-generation Pixel Buds, and it's fair to say that the truly wireless earbud category has moved on considerably in the meantime. In all honesty, I expected to be blown away by Google's promised sound quality, comfort, and features for the Pixel Buds' $179 price tag. So at the end of the day, are they worth your hard-earned money? Let's find out.

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