REDMAGIC has officially entered the launch period for the international version of the Nova gaming tablet. The international version of this device is simply the one that will be available in the US and Europe. It’s the same Nova gaming tablet that was launched in China following this device’s initial announcement earlier this year.

The Nova tablet is REDMAGIC’s first gaming device in the tablet sector, though hardly its first gaming device in general. The brand has been launching gaming phones for quite a few years now, and it recently announced a gaming laptop. It also sells a few different gaming-focused accessories, such as a keyboard and a cooler for your phone. That being said, the launch of the Nova gaming tablet from REDMAGIC marks a shift for mobile brands back to creating tablets that are dedicated gaming devices.

The Nova tablet is built from the ground up specifically for gaming, though it can be used for plenty of other things too. It features REDMAGIC’s signature style and uses what the company says is “the world’s first transparent design.” This refers to the transparent glass panel on the back where some of the components can peek through. It’s eye-catching, and it’s made all the more prominent with the use of some custom RGB lighting.

The REDMAGIC Nova gaming tablet will launch in two variations

A starting price of $500 is a pretty reasonable price to ask for a tablet with these specs. It won’t be the only available option though. REDMAGIC will actually launch two versions of the Nova gaming tablet. The $500 model will come with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Meanwhile, there’s also going to be a second model for $650 that comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Both versions will come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the same chipset that runs in its most recent gaming phone.

The Nova tablet also comes with some seemingly decent cooling technology. There’s a cooling fan for starters. This will help to push hot air out of the device. On the inside, there is also a 3D heat pipe to help spread that heat around and dissipate it with help from a “3D internal air duct.” The interesting thing will be to see how loud the fan is. As REDMAGIC says it runs at 20,000 RPMs. In terms of battery life and display, the Nova is packing a 10,100mAh battery which should be plenty for several hours of gaming.

The display is 10.9 inches with a 2.8K resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. In short, games are probably going to look pretty good on this thing.

Availability opens next month

With the launch of this new gaming tablet consumers who like to game on mobile devices are in for a treat. You do still have to wait a little bit though before you can purchase it. Availability opens up next month on October 16 for the open sale. However, there will be some early bird offers too. the “Early Bird Offer” begins on October 7. Then there will be an Early Access period as well which begins October 15.

The tablet will be available in the US, Canada, and Mexico for North America, as well as several other countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.

I don’t know how many more times I can say what an intense two weeks it’s been since the last time I posted an Engadget review recap without sounding repetitive. Ever since we launched the first of these roundups last month, companies have relentlessly launched new hardware each week, contributing to a growing pile of products for our team to review. With all these announcements overlapping, it can be easy to miss a review that, say, was published at the start of the iPhone 16 event or another that went up at the same time as Meta’s Connect keynote this week.

That’s why I write these — it’s a good opportunity to catch up on reviews that we recently published and revisit some of the products now that we’ve had more time to spend with them. And looking at my list of items for this edition, there’s plenty to go over. From Apple’s iPhone 16 series, AirPods 4 and Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 to the PlayStation 5 Pro and some games and software, here’s a recap of things we’ve been testing lately.

Apple AirPods 4 with ANC review

by Billy Steele

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Apple

Apple offers useful noise cancellation while keeping your ears open on the AirPods 4 with ANC. There are also a lot of Pro features available.

Pros

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• Improved sound quality
• Better fit
• Effective ANC
• Lots of advanced features

Cons

• No onboard volume controls
• Not a great deal when AirPods Pro 2 are regularly on sale
• No hearing protection features

$179 at Amazon

Just a few days after Apple unveiled the AirPods 4, Billy had to file his draft for the review, which was slated to go up on Monday. Thankfully, these were a fairly straightforward update, with evaluating the new active noise cancellation (ANC) feature being the main task. Of course, Billy went further than that, gauging how much the device’s H2 chip and refined design impact the AirPods’ performance. He also went many extra miles, delivering report after report on topics like how the new hearing aid and hearing test features for the AirPods Pro work and a deep dive on how Apple designed ANC for an open-ear headset. Just head on over to Billy’s author page for a full list of the many articles he’s dutifully written up on the AirPods (and more).

Apple Watch Series 10 review

by Cherlynn Low

Apple / Engadget

The changes brought to Apple’s tenth-gen wearable mostly have to do with its size and screen, and blood oxygen detection is still missing. But this is still the best smartwatch for iPhone owners.

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Editors’ note: The current score reflects our experience with the hardware, health and sleep-tracking features that will be available to users at launch. We will keep an eye on updates to ongoing litigation, as well as evaluate sleep apnea alerts and other post-launch features over the coming weeks and months, and may adjust our review score if warranted.

Pros

• Bigger screen that’s easier to see from angles
• Thinner frame
• Comprehensive health and fitness tracking

Cons

• Blood oxygen feature from older models is missing

$389 at Walmart

Words alone can’t express how grateful I am that Apple didn’t end up releasing three new models of the Apple Watch like was previously rumored. Considering the review of the Apple Watch Series 10 was published just one week and a day after the launch event in Cupertino, having to test more than one smartwatch was going to be a challenge. Heck, even reviewing a single new smartwatch was tricky, considering the other reviews we were preparing at the same time. That’s why when we first published our review on Tuesday, we did not feel ready to present a formal score, instead sharing just our evaluation of the Apple Watch Series 10 up till that point. We eventually updated our review after spending a few more days getting to know the watch better, adding a score and more findings later that week.

Here’s the summary. Though you might expect a lot more fanfare and features for the tenth Apple Watch simply because it’s the tenth generation model, there’s not a lot that’s changed. And the company arguably didn’t need to do much, since the Apple Watch is a fairly mature device. What it did manage to deliver — a bigger display in a thinner body — is impressive, and the Series 10 continues to deliver the best smartwatch experience that any iPhone owner can get.

Of course, there are questions around the blood oxygen detection feature that remains the subject of litigation between Apple and Masimo. But whether that (or the new sleep apnea feature) are available doesn’t actually impact my experience with the watch, and therefore had little bearing on our score. If you’re using an older Apple Watch that has the blood oxygen detection enabled and it’s something you use frequently, it might be better to hold on to your device for now.

iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max review

by Cherlynn Low

Apple / Engadget

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The iPhone 16 Pro is a great flagship with excellent, fast cameras and editing tools. But you may need to charge it more than once to last all day.

Editors’ note: The current score reflects our experience with the hardware and iOS 18 features that will be available to users at launch. We will evaluate Apple Intelligence and other post-launch features over the coming weeks and months, and may adjust our review score if warranted.

Pros

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• Fast camera with high quality video capture
• Photographic styles are effective and pretty
• Nice customizations available throughout

Cons

• Relatively short battery life
• Camera Control isn’t perfect

$999 at Apple

Those were just the major reviews that were published last Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday, we published my review of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max.

The story of this year’s iPhones is also a pretty straightforward one: Cameras, buttons and a lack of Intelligence. Apple Intelligence, that is. But through my testing, I started to realize that a couple of features began to stand out. The most obvious is the new Photographic Styles, which put Instagram’s filters to shame.

On the iPhone 16s, you can swap these out both before and after shooting. You can also edit the amount of saturation, shadows and more within each Style. Most importantly, Apple has finetuned its processing and depth map so it’s better at keeping skin tones within the realm of reality even as you crank up the saturation or contrast. I’m a huge fan of these improved filters and in the week since my review went up, I’ve been tempted to post nothing but Photographic Style samples to all my social media. The only thing keeping me from actually doing that has been tedium and a complete lack of spare time. But maybe one day I will.

The other thing that I learned was a subtle shift in Apple’s overall approach was greater customizability. Old Apple was rigid and rejected the idea that its design might not be the best for all its users. These days, Apple is more than willing to let you set up your app grid however you like, and iOS 18 brings the ability to finetune your Control Center and lock screen shortcuts to your preferences (and needs) as well. I was surprised when I found out that not only could you tweak the sensitivity of the Camera Control’s touch and pressure sensor, but you can disable the feature altogether.

I prefer this approach as it puts the user’s needs and preferences first while still maintaining a secure and private environment. And while we still await the formal arrival of Apple Intelligence in October, it’s likely that many of the AI-based features, which will be available throughout the iPhone 16 lineup as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, won’t hugely impact our experience and score. Still, like we mentioned in our reviews of this year’s flagship phones, we based our verdict on the devices we tested as they were, and might revisit our score when headline features like Intelligence roll out.

iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus review

by Billy Steele

Apple

For once, you don’t have to wait a year to get the best new features from the iPhone 16 Pro. The iPhone 16 offers all the ones you will appreciate most, and for $200 less.

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Editors’ note: The current score reflects our experience with the hardware and iOS 18 features that will be available to users at launch. We will evaluate Apple Intelligence and other post-launch features over the coming weeks and months, and may adjust our review score if warranted.

Pros

• Pro-level features without the Pro price
• Action button is handy
• Bolder new colors
• Photographic Styles are really good

Cons

• Overall design is due for a refresh
• Camera Control takes time to master
• No high-refresh-rate display
• Apple Intelligence isn’t ready yet

$799 at Apple

I have to thank Billy for picking up the review of the base iPhone 16 models this year. Not only was he able to help with the workload, Billy also delivered a thorough and alternative perspective on Apple’s non-Pro iPhones. I was heartened to see that he agreed with me on several things, namely that Photographic Styles are awesome and Camera Control is kind of clunky. I do have to admit that I hated having to look at a frog in the sample photo he included in his piece — frogs are my mortal enemies.

I barely mentioned the Camera Control in my section about the iPhone 16 Pro above, but this new button is just awkwardly placed, and I was glad to see Billy’s experience was similar.

Both of us agree that it’s nice to see the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus get features that are on their Pro counterparts. Sadly, though these phones were designed for Apple Intelligence, that just wasn’t available to the public at the time of our review, which just makes it feel like they’re missing something. That’s not to say these aren’t excellent phones. They’re a nice step up from last year’s base iPhones and come in an aesthetically pleasing array of colors that I adore.

We also have a guide from senior reporter Jeff Dunn on how to choose the right iPhone, which might be particularly helpful since this year’s models all seem so similar. My main advice is: if you’re into multimedia creation on your iPhone, get one of the Pros. If you need your phone to last more than a day, definitely spring for the Pro Max, as the iPhone 16 Pro will absolutely conk out after about 20 hours.

macOS Sequoia review

by Devindra Hardawar

Apple season isn’t limited to new hardware. Last week, the company also released the latest updates to its software for its iPhones, Macs, watches, TVs and more. Our resident computing expert Devindra has been spending time with the new macOS since the beta was available, and was able to quickly put together his thoughts on Sequoia. His joy at being able to mirror his iPhone on his MacBook is evident in his review, and we were so convinced by his review that we also published a guide on how to mirror your iPhone in macOS Sequoia afterwards. To quote Devindra: “It sort of changed my life.”

Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 review

by Billy Steele

Google

Google has once again supplanted the best Pixel Buds in its lineup. These earbuds aren’t perfect, but the improved fit and sound quality alone are worth the upgrade.

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Pros

• Tiny, comfy design
• Punchy bass, full mids, crisp highs
• Slightly longer battery life than predecessor

Cons

• Price went up again
• Spatial audio is limited to video apps
• Smaller touch panel requires precision

$229 at Amazon

I’m sure by now you can appreciate how hard Billy has been working, particularly these last few weeks. On Wednesday, Billy published his review of the Pixel Buds Pro 2, which went up the same time as the start of Meta’s Connect keynote. This is the last of our reviews of Google’s new hardware this year, at least until it launches something else. Billy’s evaluation is that these buds are smaller than before, which is a double-edged sword. They could be a better fit for some people, but the fact that they have smaller touch-sensitive panels means they’re slightly harder to maneuver. Still, they produce decent sound and integrate with the company’s new Gemini assistant to make hands-free requests more convenient.

Now that the last of the Pixel reviews are finally out of the way, we can finally consider the company’s family of hardware as a whole and honestly, I’m impressed. I actually scored the Pixel 9 Pro higher than the iPhone 16 Pro, which is possibly the first time a Google flagship has been rated better than one from Apple. I think Google has proven with its 2024 devices that it has the chops to take on its gigantic rivals, and now just needs to continue its momentum if it wants to reach a larger audience.

PlayStation 5 Pro preview

by Jessica Conditt

After Sony announced the PlayStation 5 Pro the day after the Apple iPhone event, senior editor Jessica Conditt was able to spend some time with the console ahead of its November 7th release. In her preview, Jess says that for the right kind of gamer, the “audaciously priced” PlayStation 5 Pro is absolutely worth it.

Who’s the right kind of gamer here? According to Jess, “If you regularly play PS5 games and can afford to waste (at least) $700 on a more powerful console with extra gills, you absolutely should get a PS5 Pro.”

Of course, we’ll have to get a device in for testing before we can deliberate on a score and official verdict. But with faster memory, improved rendering as well as support for VRR, advanced ray-tracing and “8K gaming,” the PS5 Pro seems like a promising upgrade.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom review

by Nathan Ingraham

Speaking of gaming, deputy editor Nathan Ingraham published a review this week of the latest in the Legend of Zelda series: Echoes of Wisdom. Nate was a diehard Zelda fan growing up, and found himself taken right back to his youth with this latest instalment.

My gaming tastes begin at Solitaire and end at Animal Crossing or Just Dance, so something as involved as Echoes of Wisdom is not my cup of tea. But even just looking at the pictures in Nate’s review have me impressed at the dedication to detail and quality. As Nate puts it, the story involves “a series of otherworldly rifts that have opened up throughout Hyrule, swallowing up huge parts of the land and the people who reside there.” That’s absolutely the sort of plot that would draw me in, and when I read that this time around you’d play as Princess Zelda as she attempts to rescue Link, I was even more intrigued.

Perhaps that reversal of roles will also appeal to you, or maybe you’re drawn in by the idea of completing puzzles in an adorable 3D environment. I have to admit I’m looking at my Switch and considering playing this instead of getting ludicrously upset at Match Factory. If you’re a fan of the series, Nate thinks you should absolutely check out Echoes of Wisdom.

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Fujifilm

Fujifilm’s GFX100S II is a big improvement over the original and offers the same picture quality as the GFX100 II for $2,500 less.

Pros

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• Outstanding image quality
• Improved autofocus
• Good handling
• Decent battery life

Cons

• Weak video capabilities
• Quality reduced for burst shooting

$4,999 at Adorama

Fujifilm GFX100S II and Logitech MX Creator Console reviews

by Steve Dent

Our photography expert Steve Dent published a couple of reviews this week, showcasing his expert knowledge of cameras and the editing tools that accompany them. His analysis of the Logitech MX Creator Console, for instance, has me itching to get one so I can easily tweak and edit graphics in Adobe’s suite of apps. Meanwhile, his review of the Fujifilm GFX100S II left me wondering how many months I can go hungry so I can afford the $5,000 camera because I imagine it’ll make me as adept at taking photos as Steve. If you’re curious about the actual picture and video quality of Fujifilm’s camera, check out Steve’s video on our YouTube channel.

Up next: What’s on the horizon

Like I said, with all the events taking place these few weeks, there’s plenty of gadget reviews to come. For example, Samsung had a mini event this week where it unveiled the Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra, which are premium tablets that are regarded as the best in the Android space. The company also showed off the Galaxy S24 FE and Galaxy Watch FE LTE, which are lower cost variants of its flagship smartphone and smartwatch. All of these products are good candidates for us to test, since our audience (like yourself!) is likely to be wondering about whether they’re better than their premium counterparts.

This week, Meta also launched the Quest 3S, which is a budget-friendly VR headset that should take the place of the aging Quest 2. Few people are out there shopping for VR headsets, at least, when compared to iPhones or even midrange Android phones. But it’s still worth our time to test something like the Quest 3S, as it helps us learn about the technology that’s available, even in relatively small product categories.

Meta also showed off its Orion AR smart glasses, but as that’s more of a prototype right now, I don’t expect we’ll be properly reviewing it. Similarly, the fifth-gen Spectacles that Snap unveiled last week will only be available to approved developers who are willing to fork over $99 a month. That’s not something we’re likely to formally review, either.

It’s hard to keep up with all the stuff that big tech companies keep launching and want you to buy, but we do our best. We’re anticipating just a few more events coming this year, and are getting ready for the holiday shopping season, too. I’m sure people outside the tech industry are feeling a similar ramp up in work and life. Hopefully, we all get some time to rest and take care of ourselves soon. As always, we appreciate your time and wish you the best. Until the next Engadget Review Recap, good luck.

A company that claims its tech can “revolutionize” emergency calls has raised $27 million in a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

The company, Prepared, enables 911 dispatchers to get a caller’s real-time GPS location if their phone supports it. Via Prepared, dispatchers can also receive and respond to texts and images, and — on iPhones with Apple’s Emergency SOS Live Video feature — answer a video call.

Prepared co-founder and CEO Michael Chime claims that the platform can give operators valuable context they wouldn’t otherwise have.

“The goal of our technology is to reduce the burden of each individual call so that emergency response can move faster,” Chime told TechCrunch. “If we can save even a few seconds on a given 911 call, we want to do that.”

Nationwide, a number of 911 centers are landline-bound, struggle to locate callers, and can’t process SMS or photos. That’s despite a two-decades-old effort, Next Generation 911 (NG911), to modernize the more than 5,500 emergency call centers in the U.S.

NG911 is internet-based, and capable of receiving multimedia and more accurate caller info. However, deployments have only reached about 56.2% of the U.S., according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

Launched by Chime, Dylan Gleicher, and Neal Soni in 2019, Prepared initially focused on a single type of emergency response: school shootings. The trio, who grew up near the sites of devastating school shootings, including Sandy Hook Elementary, dropped out of Yale together to build a public safety app for school administrators.

A year in, Chime, Gleicher, and Soni realized there was a larger customer segment — 911 call centers — that could benefit from Prepared’s tech. So they pivoted the company.

Today, Prepared offers a web-based platform that shows dispatchers a running transcript of calls. It uses AI to pull out potential items of importance, like addresses and descriptions of emergencies, even translating texts for dispatchers where necessary.

Prepared recently launched a tool that lets dispatchers chat with a Spanish speaker using an AI-generated voice. Prepared transcribes and translates the dispatcher’s speech, and then reads the translation aloud over the phone; Chime claims that this can reduce the need to conference with a third-party translator, which is the typical procedure with non-English callers.

“With a growing non-English speaking population, especially in larger cities, this has been a high-priority request from agencies,” he added, “which otherwise depend on language translators that can sometimes take several minutes to join a call after a request.”

Minutes shaved off an emergency response could make a difference. According to U.S. regulators, thousands of lives could be saved each year by reducing 911 response times by just a minute.

But AI translation and Prepared’s other AI-powered features also come with risks. AI often gets summaries wrong. And it’s been found to transcribe speech from some speakers more accurately than others. One recent study showed that speech recognition systems from leading tech companies were twice as likely to incorrectly transcribe audio from Black speakers compared to white speakers. 

Chime notes that Prepared’s AI features are optional — the company’s video, GPS location, and texting capabilities are free for 911 centers. But he also argues that, on the whole, AI can help process dispatcher calls faster and more accurately.

“We have pioneered the use of AI in public safety to synthesize data and make it actionable,” he said. “Prepared’s summarizer allows dispatchers to read short AI-generated summaries of incidents rather than listening to minutes of call audio or reading lengthy notes. And we believe that our translation feature will prove crucial in enhancing accessibility for Spanish speakers while simultaneously improving response times for Spanish-speaking calls.”

Prepared, which has deals with close to 1,000 public safety agencies across 49 states, plans to put the cash from the Series B toward product R&D and go-to-market efforts. Prepared will also step up hiring, with the goal of adding 20 staffers to its 50-person, New York-based workforce by the end of the year.

“We’ve only just tapped the surface when it comes to the potential of unlocking critical citizen data,” Chime said. “We’re moving toward a world where Prepared as a platform connects and optimizes the end-to-end workflow from the second a call comes in to when a field responder is on scene.”

First Round Capital, M13, and undisclosed angel investors also participated in Prepared’s Series B. It brings the company’s total raised to $57 million.

The portability of a laptop is nice and all, but oftentimes, the tradeoff is a smaller screen that can feel cramped if you’ve got a lot of tabs open. Thankfully, there are laptops like Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 Edge, which offers a 16-inch display in a thin and lightweight package. It typically starts at $1,499.99, but right now, Best Buy is selling it with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for just $999.99 ($450 off), which is a new all-time low price. If you prefer a slightly smaller display, the 14-inch model is also on sale for $899.99 ($450 off).

We were struck by how stunning the Galaxy Book4 Edge is. Along with being spacious, the laptop boasts a lovely OLED display that makes colors pop, while its chassis is beautiful. The screen also boasts a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother scrolling and is powerful enough for the average consumer.

Granted, its Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chipset didn’t quite compare to rivals like the AMD-powered Asus Zenbook S 16 on graphics performance, but the laptop’s still capable of handling multiple apps and letting you multitask with ease. Plus, you likely won’t need to worry about battery life, as it can last a little over 14 hours on a single charge — more than enough to get you through the average work or school day.